Jan. 17, 2012 - Prosperity7, a fund of Aramco Ventures, has increased its size from $1 billion to $3 billion. 20 domestic innovative companies, several of which lead the track. Aramco Ventures also announced that it will expand its total investment size from $3 billion to $7 billion between 2024-2027.
Prosperity7, which has been operating since 2020, has investment teams in Saudi Arabia, China and the US, and has invested in more than 40 companies globally, covering a wide range of cutting-edge sectors beyond energy, including enterprise IT, fintech, AI, B2B, consumer tech, and healthcare tech. Backed by Saudi Aramco, Prosperity7 has a unique global network and resources to support outstanding and innovative companies with a long-term vision to accelerate internationalization and achieve growth at scale.
In early January, news broke that Saudi Aramco was planning to increase its investment in China. According to a Jan. 3 filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange by Rongsheng Petrochemical, Saudi Aramco is in talks with it to buy a 50 percent stake in Rongsheng Petrochemical's subsidiary Ningbo Zhongjin Petrochemical Co. - a company in which Saudi Aramco has previously invested 24.6 billion yuan.
There's also the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is considering making "sizable investments" in the semiconductor industry this year, while the PIF is also planning to create a national aerospace company that will invest in and acquire assets in the sector. It should be noted that the PIF only recently released a major announcement: it plans to open an additional office in mainland China.
Compared to financial returns, Middle Eastern countries are equally interested in bringing new energy, healthcare, and high technology to the region. As a common observation goes, "Chinese companies have the capacity and technology that the Middle East currently needs, while the Middle East, with its wealth accumulated over the past decades, can provide the market and capital that Chinese companies need."