RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s investment landscape continues to expand across diverse sectors, with industry leaders participating in global funding rounds, driving innovation beyond the Middle East and North Africa region.
Aramco Ventures has led a $30 million Series A funding round for US-based climate tech startup Spiritus, joined by Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures.
The investment will help Spiritus scale its direct air capture technology, designed to reduce carbon emissions from data centers and industrial construction without slowing expansion.
“We’re seeing soaring demand for data centers and heavy industries, yet we can’t ignore the carbon that comes with it,” said Charles Cadieu, CEO and co-founder of Spiritus.
“Our DAC technology brings large-scale decarbonization within reach. This funding advances our vision of supporting America’s explosive growth while keeping emissions in check,” he added.
Bruce Niven, executive managing director of strategic venturing at Aramco Ventures, said that direct air capture has the potential to play an important role in decarbonizing hard-to-abate sectors of the economy, but until now, it has been too expensive to be meaningful.
“Breakthrough approaches like Spiritus are needed. We are excited to partner with Spiritus and bring this important technology to market,” Niven added.
Talabat acquires Instashop from Delivery Hero for $32m
Kuwait-born and UAE-based q-commerce and food tech platform Talabat has completed the acquisition of 100 percent of Instashop from Delivery Hero SE for $32 million.
The acquisition strengthens Talabat’s grocery and retail segment while expanding its partner network across the MENA region.
Instashop, founded in 2015 by John Tsioris, will continue to operate as an independent brand under Talabat’s grocery and retail division.
The platform connects users with vendors in the UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon and Qatar and has an annual gross merchandise volume of $300 million.
Talabat, founded in 2004, was acquired by Rocket Internet in 2015 for $170 million and operates in the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt.
SC Ventures and Visa partner to support SMEs in MENA
SC Ventures, the fintech investment and innovation arm of Standard Chartered, has signed a memorandum of understanding with Visa to develop digital solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises across the MENA region.
The partnership was formalized at a signing ceremony at the Visa Innovation Center in Dubai.
Rola Abu Manneh, CEO of Standard Chartered Middle East, UAE, and Pakistan, and Saeeda Jaffar, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the GCC, highlighted their commitment to fostering SME growth in the UAE and beyond.
