The entrepreneurship arm of Saudi Aramco has invested a further $500,000 in a Saudi drone operator to help scale its operations to expand overseas, it was announced on Wednesday.
Wa’ed’s first investment in FalconViz came in 2016, and the new funding will help the company grow in Europe, the US, and Africa.
The firm, based at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), north of Jeddah, offers a range of drone services, including 3-D surveying and mapping, inspections, construction monitoring, and data visualization.
Mohamed Shalaby, FalconViz’s co-founder and vice president of business development, said the Wa’ed investment was “a welcome injection of funds and confidence in our offerings and business strategy. This will enable us to keep investing in our people, growing our services, and expanding our global presence across different sectors.”
Salman T. Jaffrey, the chief investment officer of Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Wa’ed, said: “It’s great to see FalconViz flying high. To me, it’s gratifying to see one of our earliest venture capital investments commercialise its research technologies and grow globally.”
Wassim Basrawi, managing director at Wa’ed, said: “FalconViz is a perfect example of a Saudi startup identifying and filling a market gap by delivering innovative services.”
Founded in 2015, FalconViz currently has 24 employees and is licensed by the General Authority of Civil Aviation. Wa’ed was established by Saudi Aramco in 2011 to offer loan financing activities to entrepreneurs, while its Wa’ed Ventures VC arm oversees a $200 million investment fund and a portfolio of more than 30 Saudi-based companies.
