Over 700 exhibitors including the world’s leading technology companies and over 1,500 of the most innovative start-ups, along with more than 500 international speakers joined LEAP22, which concluded yesterday in Riyadh, making it the largest ever first edition for a technology event.

LEAP22 saw more than US$6.4 billion of investments and new technology initiatives announced, with US$1 million in prizes awarded to the winners of the Rocket Fuel Start-up Competition, an international contest to find the best new business ideas.

LEAP22 – Leapfrogging Entrepreneurs, Startup and investors

LEAP22 saw the announcement of multiple investments and funds for start-ups and entrepreneurs of over US$266 million.

Among the announcements was the completion of closing of the second round of Khwarizmi Ventures fund with a value of US$69.8 million; investment into the Emkan VC fund of over US$49.8 million and the launch by Saudi Venture Investment Company of the Investment in Advanced Stage Funds, with a value of over US$134 million, to promote the growth of start-ups.

A new partnership to build start-ups between Unifonic and TheSpaceKSA, called UnifonicX, was also revealed.

Startup deals included Nana closing an investment round led by FIM Partners and the STV Fund, worth US$50 million; and Quant closing an investment round worth US$800,000 led by VentureSouq with participation by RaedVC and Seedra, and also announced an additional round of investment.

Muzn Artificial Intelligence raised an investment round of US$10.1 million, led by Raed Ventures with the participation of Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, Sukna Ventures and others; while Taffi raised more than US$1.8 million investment, and SIFI and Tamawal closed pre-seed rounds.

Rocket Fuel Startup |competition

Startups from around the world went head-to-head in the Rocket Fuel Startup Competition, promoting their innovative business ideas to powerhouse venture capitalists and leading international investors, to win a share of the US$1 million prize fund.

Seven startups were victorious overall, taking home cash prizes for exciting and impactful new business ideas, scored on creativity, innovation, potential, functionality and impact on people and society.

Apple Development Academy

Apple selected Riyadh for its first Apple Developer Academy headquarters in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The academy caters solely to female programmers and developers and is located at the Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University.

The Apple Developer Academy will play a significant role in building coding talent in Saudi Arabia and encouraging women to develop their skills and explore careers in this exciting new sector.

Female participants have already enrolled at Apple’s Developer Academy in Riyadh.

Michael Champion, Regional Executive Vice President – MEA, Informa, said LEAP22 is a breakthrough success, attracting the biggest audience for a technology event in recent years, surpassing even CES, and setting a new record for most attendees to a new platform.

“LEAP22 has been able to bring to Riyadh the leading names in technology with the most exciting new start-ups and creators, to present cutting-edge innovations that will reshape the world around us. We would like to thank our world-class speakers, sponsors and partners and look forward to hosting an even bigger LEAP next year,” said Champion.

The debut edition of LEAP was sponsored by stc, Ericsson, Mobily, Huawei, Cisco, SAP, Microsoft, Saudi Digital Academy, National Technology Development Program, Monsha’at and Jahez.

Key Points

• US$1.1 billion Ignite plan will make Saudi Arabia a center of digital content creation and production
• Saudi Arabia launches WiFi 6E, ranks first worldwide in WiFi spectrum availability
• Trend Micro announces local data lake and opens its Riyadh HQ

The latest round of announcements was made on day two of LEAP22, the global technology platform taking place in Riyadh.

The new program and investments are all part of Saudi Arabia’s plans to accelerate its digital ecosystem and leverage its position in the MENA region to become a leading international digital economy.

IGNITE

The Digital Content Council announced Ignite, a new program that will transform the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia into a leading digital entertainment and media production hub.

The program aims to create a comprehensive ecosystem which will attract digital content companies and grow the local media and content creation sector.

Ignite aims to triple Saudi Arabia’s digital content market size in gaming, audio, video and advertising.

The program is backed by a US$1.1 billion investment and will include incentives including financial support for local, regional and international companies and start-ups; infrastructure development; talent development programs and improved policy and regulations to enable the sector to grow rapidly.

Training courses will be available in three sectors, gaming, films and digital ads, to upskill more than 4,400 participants in the next three years.

The training programs will ensure that Saudi Arabia is developing the skillsets required by the industry and giving Saudi youth skills that will improve their employment opportunities.

The program will supplement the film fund which will be allocated for the infrastructure, development, production and distribution of locally produced movies, and another fund which will focus on gaming to develop games and build the required infrastructure such as game studios.

To further attract local and international partners to Ignite, Saudi Arabia will also enhance intellectual property protection measures.

International and local partners will be able to benefit from an investor’s ‘one stop shop’ that will streamline the process for investment into the Saudi digital content economy.

CITC WiFi 6E Launch and LEO Satellite Technology

The Kingdom announced the launch of WiFi 6E, supported by the largest amount of spectrum available for WiFi of any country worldwide.

The combination of state-of-the-art technology and record amount of spectrum will allow Saudi Arabia to benefit from the fastest achievable WiFi speeds globally (2.4 Gbps).

Enabling this advanced connectivity is expected to quadruple WiFi’s overall contribution to Saudi Arabia’s GDP rising from US$4.7 billion in 2021 to more than US$18 billion by 2030.

The Kingdom’s WiFi upgrade is to be accompanied by other connectivity-boosting initiatives, including the first regional trial of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite technology to extend reliable coverage to remote areas of the Kingdom.

CITC will also hold a frequency auction during the first half of this year, a development which is likely to place Saudi first globally for spectrum available to fifth-generation (5G) networks and mobile communications.

The contribution of 5G technology to GDP is expected to increase from US$1.4 billion in 2021 to more than US$15 billion by 2030.

Trend Micro Announces Local Data Lake and Opens Its RIYADH HQ

Trend Micro announced the opening of its regional Middle East & Africa (MEA) headquarters in Riyadh, a security data lake, and other investments in Saudi Arabia totaling over US$50 million.

The investments aim to amplify Trend Micro’s continued commitment to protect public and private organizations in the Kingdom and across the entire region.

Trend Micro announced a cybersecurity Software as a Service (SaaS) data lake for cloud security, endpoint security, network security as well as extended detection and response solutions which will all be provided locally from inside the Kingdom.

This demonstrates Trend Micro’s leadership in the cybersecurity industry, and its commitment to serve the country and the entire region as the first global cybersecurity company to launch its MEA HQ and a local cloud data lake inside Saudi Arabia.

A security data lake is a centralized repository aimed at maintaining and managing all log or other data sources relevant to an organization’s security posture. It provides a single place for security data to be housed, parsed, searched and utilized.

The company also announced the establishment of a center of excellence for cybersecurity expert advisory resources in the Kingdom and will develop services and initiatives to help businesses improve their cybersecurity, as well as create programs that will help raise awareness of cybersecurity and online safety issues for families.

The new Riyadh HQ office is equipped with world-class facilities including an executive briefing center, a learning and innovation center, meeting rooms and community gathering spaces as well as many other facilities for the benefit of the entire cybersecurity ecosystem.

The first edition of LEAP is set to become the world’s largest debut technology platform, putting a spotlight on the global innovation ecosystem, connecting pioneers and disruptors with business and government leaders, entrepreneurs and investors to experience and learn about the technologies of the future.

The competition will be held as part of LEAP, the world’s largest debut technology event, which will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in February 2022.

Entries are now open for the Rocket Fuel Start-up Pitch Competition, which will challenge start-ups in a pitch contest to find some of the most exciting and impactful new businesses from around the world. Ninety start-ups will be invited to pitch their business ideas live on stage during LEAP on 1st and 2nd February.

The finalists will have just five minutes to present their best pitches to a panel of international and local investors during LEAP22, and convince them that they have what it takes to be one of the top 10 businesses who will go into the Grand Final on 3^rd February.

These 10 best entrepreneurs will then get another chance to showcase the merits of their businesses, scored on creativity, innovation, potential, functionality and impact on people and society. The winner will be presented with the LEAP Award for the strongest, most outstanding start-up across the whole competition, and will be awarded the grand prize of $200,000.

The finalists will also compete for three other awards, including The Shooting Star Award for best early-stage start-up, which will win $100,000; the Aviatrix Award for best female-led start-up; and the Technology for Humanity Award for the start-up that best embodies the spirit of LEAP “Technology for Humanity”.

The winners of these awards will each receive a prize of $150,000.

LEAP has assembled a world-class judging panel of celebrity investors and business leaders to assess the Rocket Fuel Pitch Competition contestants and put them through their paces.

The panel will include:

• Steven Bartlett, businessman, speaker, investor and content creator, best known for the BBC’s Dragons’ Den;
• Baroness Karren Brady, business executive and television personality;
• James Caan, entrepreneur and television personality;
• Kelly Hoppen, interior designer, author and entrepreneur;
• Michael Salgado, retired Real Madrid footballer and celebrity investor;
• Dr. Nabeel Koshak, CEO and board member of the Saudi Venture Capital Co., a prominent Saudi academic, entrepreneur and angel investor, and
• Hattan Ahmed, Director of Entrepreneurship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)

“Innovation and entrepreneurship are at the core of the technology sector, so it is fitting that the Rocket Fuel Start-up Pitch Competition will recognize some of the best start-ups worldwide as part of LEAP.

“Saudi Arabia is developing its own booming start-up ecosystem, supported by the Saudi government and private investors, and we look forward to welcoming outstanding international start-ups to join us in Riyadh for LEAP,” said Eng. Haitham Alohali, vice minister at Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

“I am honoured and excited to be speaking at LEAP, which brings together the worlds of technology, entrepreneurship and innovation all in one place,” said Steven Bartlett, founder of Social Chain and an investor on BBC One show Dragons’ Den.

LEAP is the largest debut technology event in history, taking place from the 1st – 3rd of February 2022 in Riyadh, and is set to become a truly global platform for the entire innovation ecosystem, connecting pioneers and disruptors with business and government leaders, entrepreneurs, investors and more to experience and learn about the technologies of the future.

The Rocket Fuel Start-up Pitch Competition is taking place as a part of LEAP’s Investor Program, which will connect local and international VC investors and funds through an exclusive line-up of matchmaking, networking and investment events that will take place during LEAP.

The investor program will include workshops, 1-on-1 meetings and after-hours functions, to connect VCs and funds from the Middle East region with new tech-focused investment opportunities, as well as supporting local start-ups to explore potential new sources of funding from outside the region.

“LEAP will feature an extensive, dedicated program of activities for investors in line with Saudi Arabia’s aims of developing its own entrepreneurial ecosystem and technology industry. Informa is very excited to be organizing the program and the Rocket Fuel Start-up Pitch Competition to showcase the ingenuity and business potential of local and international start-ups and to connect them with a global investor audience,” said Michael Champion, regional executive vice president – MEA at Informa.

Entry:

Entries for the Rocket Fuel Start-up Pitch Competition close on 18^th January 2022.