Saudi's Biotech Ambitions Take Shape with $50 Million Fund
Riyadh-based IB Ventures has launched a new $50 million fund to invest in biotechnology companies across Saudi Arabia. The investment aims to strengthen domestic innovation in therapeutics, diagnostics, digital biology, and manufacturing.
“We are not just launching a fund but establishing an integrated Saudi ecosystem that makes biotechnology one of the pillars of the next economy.” — Faisal Al-Abdulsalam, co-founder of IB Ventures
At the BIO-Europe conference in Vienna, Austria, Yazeed Alsufyani, general partner and CEO of IB Ventures, said he founded the company “to connect the dots between infrastructure, capital, and policy.”
The initiative aligns with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, a national program designed to promote economic diversification and reduce reliance on oil by fostering innovation in key industries, including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.
- National Biotechnology Strategy targets vaccine development and biomanufacturing.
- Focus areas include genomics research and plant optimization.
- Saudi Arabia currently exports about $1.5 billion in pharmaceutical products, with plans to raise this to $5 billion by 2030.
Alsufyani highlighted that the new fund will directly contribute to achieving these national goals by channeling growth capital into local biotech enterprises and research.
Author’s Summary
Saudi Arabia’s $50 million biotech fund by IB Ventures marks a pivotal step toward building a self-sustaining, innovation-driven life sciences ecosystem under Vision 2030.