Sobriety and nuance

The future of innovation is global. We discuss it here.

Yes, there’s a slowdown in VC. It is hitting unevenly. AI in Silicon Valley remains red hot. Emerging market tech, growth, and certain sectors like fintech or commerce have been hit harder. Even within that, there is nuance.

I enjoyed discussing with Bloomberg about these complex trends in action across the Middle East.

Overall, venture capital investment in MENA dropped to $768 million, the weakest first-half performance since the pandemic. Yet, in the first half of 2024, Saudi Arabia ranked second among emerging markets for venture capital, trailing only Singapore. This is highlighted by software startup Salla raising $130 million or our portfolio company BRKZ which recently raised a Series A.

There is good news here. In 2021, “People had been investing with very little diligence in much larger rounds. Blitzscaling was in vogue. What’s coming back today is a little bit of sobriety on how to build a company and invest in that company.”

Call For Writers

Are you interested in global innovation trends? Do you invest or build companies? Do you want to share your lessons with founders and VCs around the world?

Here’s your opportunity to share your learnings with the 99%Tech audience (10K CEOs, Partners at VCs, journalists, etc).

Over the last year, we’ve done a number of guest posts, including with Jeremy Solomon (C-Suite at Affirm), Eric Glyman (CEO of Ramp), Guy Kawasaki, Alex Branton (Sturgeon), Sofia Ilsley (my colleague at Fluent VC), Heather Hartnett (Human VC) and many more.

In the next few quarters, I’d like to host guest writers to contribute around emerging trends and business models outside Silicon Valley across a few specific verticals (e.g. fintech, health, proptech, commerce enablement) and horizontal enablers (e.g. artificial intelligence, government ID / real time payment systems, entrepreneurial enablers, etc).

Email me directly if you’re interested!

Interesting discussions

Since we’re on the topic of the Middle East, I figured I’d share a couple pieces I thought were fascinating (and one that is fun!).

Saudi Arabia is on the brink of becoming the world's largest construction site, thanks to its Vision 2030 initiative. The Kingdom is set to invest $1.25 trillion in infrastructure and real estate projects, making it an unparalleled opportunity for construction-related ventures. Riyadh's population is projected to grow from 7.5 million to 17 million by 2030, driving a massive demand for residential units, hotels, retail, and office spaces. Key projects like NEOM, Diriyah Gate, and The Red Sea Project exemplify the scale and ambition of Saudi Arabia's construction boom. NEOM alone aims to house 9 million residents across 300,000 new homes, positioning itself as a transformative urban hub. Diriyah Gate, with its blend of heritage and modernity, will provide 20,000 homes and become a major cultural and commercial center.

This is close to our heart at Fluent Ventures: our ideal portfolio companies benefit from two major tailwinds: 1. A business model category with at least one proven scaled instance somewhere globally. 2. A local market with unique dynamics that make (a localized and unique) version of the category particularly applicable.

One of our recent investments is BRKZ, a B2B marketplace for construction in the MENAP region. BRKZ draws inspiration from the unicorn success of Infra.Market in India, but operates in what could arguably be the most promising market for this strategy.

The rise of Silicon Valley fundraising in MENA has been well chronicled. Less discussed, are some of the power players investing in top deals globally. Good piece on Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi based player. The ecosystem itself is growing meaningfully. “The artificial island has aspirations of becoming a mini Silicon Valley. It’s home to Hub71, a Mubadala-backed startup accelerator Ajami helped create; the Rosewood Abu Dhabi, a sibling hotel to the Sand Hill Road location where venture capitalists frequently cut deals; and a branch of Barry’s Bootcamp, the fitness franchise favored by San Francisco techies. A range of tech celebrities has been sighted there recently.”

Camels, so hot right now. In Racing, that is. “As the Arabian Peninsula’s fastest camels galloped around a track in the Saudi desert, Kasseem Dean, a Grammy Award-winning hip-hop producer from the Bronx, watched nervously from an air-conditioned V.I.P. viewing hall.... Though the camels sprinting past were the main event, Mr. Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, felt as if all eyes in the room were on him — one of the newest competitors in Saudi Arabia’s deep-pocketed camel racing scene.”

Book of the month

This month I read Joshua Foer’s “Moonwalking With Einstein”.

The book delves into the power of memory and its impact on our cognitive abilities.

To me, the most interesting (and surprising) takeaway was that memory was less an innate ability, but more an exercise in perseverance. To master memory, you have to train.

The author Joshua started his journey with a short article in Slate about the US Memory Techniques. He was drawn to the space because of the candidate’s insistence that it was less raw skill, and more about learning particular skills. With the help of a coach, Joshua trained for a year, and ultimately became the US champion a year later.

As the NY Times reviews it: “How did Mr. Foer come to join the ranks of these competitive mnemonists? How did he go from being a guy with an average memory — who regularly forgot his friends’ phone numbers and where he left his car keys (or, for that matter, his car) — to being one of those extraterrestrials able to memorize a deck of cards in 1 minute 40 seconds? The chronicle of his metamorphosis forms the spine of this engaging book.”