STV AI Fund

Overview

STV AI Fund is a venture capital firm investing in artificial intelligence and machine learning companies in the Middle East and North Africa region. The fund was launched in May 2025 with an initial commitment of $100 million, backed by Google, to support the growth of AI-native startups across the region. The fund focuses on application-layer AI, localized AI models, and supporting infrastructure, aiming to close the significant funding gap for AI innovation in MENA. Since its inception, the fund has made several investments, including co-leading the seed round of Sawt, a Saudi-based pioneer in Arabic-native AI voice agents for customer service, alongside T2, a leading communications company in Saudi Arabia. This investment marks the first from STV’s AI Fund. Additionally, the fund has invested in Clarity, an agentic AI platform for customer service analytics, and Signit, the leading AI legal startup in Saudi Arabia. These investments reflect the fund's commitment to supporting the next generation of AI-native startups in the region. In May 2026, STV secured a strategic commitment from Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB) for its Emerging Tech & AI Fund, further strengthening the partnership between STV and SAB. This commitment underscores the growing confidence in application-layer AI as a key engine of economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa. The fund continues to attract investments from regional semi-sovereign entities, endowments, and institutional investors, signaling a transformative step towards enabling AI startups at their early stage and accelerating their growth beyond the region.

Investment Focus

• Focus on application-layer AI
• Localized AI models
• Supporting infrastructure
• Early-stage startups
• Middle East and North Africa region

Portfolio Companies