Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund reveals its VC portfolio
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The Saudi Arabia sovereign wealth fund's venture arm revealed on its website its portfolio of venture capital and private equity funds, which includes the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, and Techstars.
Why it matters: The 2018 killing of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi raised a lot of questions about who in Silicon Valley had taken money from the Saudis — and what they'd do about it going forward.
- While a number of business leaders bailed on the fund's big confab (or at least skipped the main stage) and some investors said they'd never take money from limited partners whose values don't align with theirs, some stayed mum.
Details: According to Sanabil's website, it invests about $2 billion per year, and its current venture and growth equity fund portfolio includes 40 firms:
- Its VC portfolio includes: 1984 Ventures, 500 Startups, 9Yard, Andreessen Horowitz, B Capital, Coatue, Collaborative Fund, Costanoa Ventures, Craft Ventures, Dragoneer, eWTP Arabia Capital, Flagship Pioneer, G Squared, General Atlantic, Greenoaks Capital Partners, Griffin Gaming Partners, HLC, Human Capital, Iconiq Capital, Insight Capital, Jazz Venture Partners, JMI Equity, KKR, Legend Capital, March Capital, NEA, OrbiMed, Polychain Capital, Race Capital, Soma Capital, Stripes, TA Associates, TCV, Techstars, Third Point Venture, Treasury Fund, Uncorrelated, Valar Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, Village Global.
- Its PE portfolio includes: Advent, Affinity, Apax, Apollo, CVC, FSN, HIG Capital, Hellman & Friedman, K1 Investment Management, Leonard Green & Partners, Novacap, Platinum Equity, PSG, Silver Lake, TA Associates, Thoma Bravo, Triton, Vista Equity Partners.
- According to its website, it's been operational for about a decade, though its venture strategy was only approved in 2019 (it also invests in real estate and directly into companies).
The Information earlier reported on Sanabil's portfolio disclosures.
Between the lines: As Axios has covered in the past, some business leaders have made a slippery slope argument about ignoring some governments' atrocities and not others, that amounts to virtue signaling in select moments.
The bottom line: At least we're getting a bit more transparency.
