Emad Kashgari, CEO of 1957 Ventures
The size of the investment fund of 1957 Ventures currently exceeds SAR 800 million and the investment will be made over four years, CEO Emad Kashgari told Argaam in an interview, pointing to a plan to boost the fund size.
On the sidelines of 24 Fintech 2024 Conference, the top executive explained that the fund is unique in its focus on building venture technology firms and investing in them, adding that one of 1957 Ventures’ goals over the next four years is to build companies from scratch and invest in them, in order to create multi-billion businesses.
1957 Ventures is newly established. Over the past period, it has worked to build four modern Fintech companies in different fields, whose launch is pending obtaining the necessary licenses, said the CEO.
In 2025, 1957 Ventures will work to build two to three startups from scratch, he underlined, adding that the ultimate goal for the next four years exceeds setting up 15 companies besides those that will be invested in directly.
There is a desire to attract investors in local funds and foreign sovereign funds to invest in the fund's portfolio, Kashgari said.
As for the volume of funding provided to target companies, he stated that it varies from one company to another. Some of them require large capital of up to SAR 50 million due to certain licenses that define the size of investment rounds, which are distributed among the launch phase, prototype building, then market entry and growth.
Moreover, there is a specialized team dedicated to measuring the performance of the fund's investment portfolio, through developing and analyzing businesses. Each company in this portfolio has independent board members who perform this role directly, while the fund performs the supervisory role to ensure efficiency and raise the value of investments, according to the CEO.
In May, Riyad Capital launched 1957 Ventures, a closed-end investment fund backed by Riyad Bank, aimed at driving transformative growth in the Saudi Fintech sector, in line with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030 and the Financial Sector Development Program, according to Argaam's data.
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