STV has announced a new $100 million AI fund to support AI startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The fund is launched in partnership with Google.
The company shared that in 2024, only 1.5% of venture capital funding in the region went to artificial intelligence. In comparison, 38% of the financing in the United States and 13% in India went to AI.
This difference highlights a significant opportunity to increase innovation and economic growth. Artificial intelligence could also help improve efficiency.
AI technologies in the Gulf countries could bring an immediate return of over $23 billion, with the long-term opportunity being double that amount.
So, the AI Fund will focus on investing in projects that create AI-based applications, local models, and the necessary infrastructure to support them.
Najib Jarrar, Google’s Regional Marketing Director for the Middle East and Africa, highlighted the company’s commitment to making AI opportunities accessible to everyone. This includes projects like the AI Opportunity initiative launched last year and Google for Startups.
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