Silicon Valley-based tech investor Plug and Play Tech Center, an early backer of firms including Dropbox and PayPal, is looking to raise $100 million to invest in Saudi tech startups, potentially with backing from a unit of the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund.
Plug and Play is in talks with Jada, a $1 billion fund of funds established by the Saudi wealth fund to help kick-start the domestic venture capital industry, Saeed Amidi, the firm’s founder and CEO, said in an interview in Riyadh.
According to Amidi, the fund is set to be launched by January, with Plug and Play contributing as much as 10% of the total and the rest raised from Saudi funds and family offices, Plug and Play manages a portfolio of five funds, totalling $500 million, and has plans to establish five more.
