Saudi Arabia-based Wyld VC has launched the MENA region’s first $50 million AI-native venture capital fund, with a mission to bridge the AI talent gap and support early-stage startups in artificial intelligence across the GCC and San Francisco Bay Area.
Founded by Saudi investor Tala Hasan Al-Jabri, the firm is focused on AI middleware and applications, the segments seen as driving the next wave of industrial and societal transformation.
The fund is backed by the New York-based family office of Lawrence E. Golub and other leading investors from Silicon Valley. It reflects growing regional momentum in AI investments, as Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries continue to build infrastructure, invest in research, and create innovation-friendly regulation.
Tala Al-Jabri, the first woman partner in a VC firm in Saudi Arabia and a 2022 Woman of the Year in Finance by Arabian Business, emphasized the fund’s role in supporting “Wyld minds” — founders building frontier AI technologies.
“The greatest gap in the region is talent. Wyld VC is here to change that,” she said.
Artificial intelligence is a key pillar of Saudi Vision 2030. In 2024 alone, the Kingdom allocated $10 billion for digital infrastructure, while private AI-linked startups raised over $1.7 billion. Saudi Arabia now leads the region in data center infrastructure and supercomputing capacity.
