The new venture studio, DeepTech, will invest in tech firms operating within Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Hedera, the team behind the Hedera hashgraph distributed ledger network, announced a five-year partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Investment Association to support local tech startups.<\/p>\n
Announced on Feb. 6, the\u00a0dea<\/a>l will see Hedera launch DeepTech, a $250M venture studio, to support Saudi Arabia-based firms operating with blockchain, AI, and other emerging technology sectors.<\/p>\n According to Zepzi, a Hedera HBAR Foundation member, Hedera\u00a0committed<\/a>\u00a0$50M and the Ministry of Investment Association tipped $200M to support local tech startups. Only firms operating within Saudi Arabia that leverage Hedera\u2019s hashgraph can qualify for investment from DeepTech.<\/p>\n \u201cThe DeepTech Venture Studio will be specially designed to empower local Saudi companies, as well as international companies interested in operating in the Kingdom,\u201d the announcement said. \u201cThe studio will develop innovative solutions and benefit from deep technology such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, robotics, Internet of Things, virtual reality, and quantum computing.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Saudi Ministry of Investment Association\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0the initiative will \u201cfoster innovative investment opportunities in [Saudi Arabia] through partnering locally and globally to support the entrepreneurship ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n The partnership was formalized with the signing of a memorandum of understanding during the Saudi-Swiss roundtable meeting in Riyadh on the same day.<\/p>\n Hedera\u2019s hashgraph is an alternative distributed ledger architecture to blockchains, comprising a decentralized and open-source Proof of Stake public ledger. The project boasts a total value locked of $78M, according to DeFi Llama.<\/p>\n The news follows a spate of interest in the Middle Eastern region from web3 projects.<\/p>\n On Dec. 12, Coinbase announced the launch of Project\u00a0Diamond<\/a>, an institutional-facing smart contract platform set to join the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM)\u2019s RegLab sandbox. Project Diamond completed its first pilot on Nov. 10, issuing and maturing a USDC-denominated digital debt instrument as a technical demonstration for the ADGM.<\/p>\n On Dec. 7, SBI Holdings, the leading Japanese financial services company, signed a memorandum of understanding with Aramco, Saudi Arabia\u2019s national oil company, to explore investing in one another\u2019s digital asset portfolios.<\/p>\n <\/p>\nWeb3 firms look to Middle Eastern states<\/h2>\n
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