Saudi energy giant Aramco announced on Monday a strategic partnership with Zoom and an increase in funding for Wa’ed Ventures, Aramco’s venture capital fund that invests in tech-based startups. The announcements were made on the sidelines of LEAP, a major international technology conference held annually in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
As part of the deal, Aramco aims to build Zoom’s first global data center in the Kingdom, to support the digital transformation ecosystem, the state-owned company said in a press release.
The data center is expected to connect to the Zoom global data center network and will serve Saudi Arabia and the region. With Aramco, Zoom will also explore the joint development of innovative technology solutions for the energy sector. The partnership aims to contribute to the digital transformation of various market sectors, such as energy, industry, education and healthcare.
Aramco also announced allocation of $300 million to Wa’ed Ventures, increasing the size of its Kingdom-focused venture capital arm to $500 million. The increase aims to enable the company to deliver an accelerated investment performance regionally and globally. Wa’ed Ventures aims to localise global frontier technologies to advance the Kingdom’s innovation ecosystem; expand investments in mid and growth-stage startups; and fund underserved domains such as environmental, social and governance, the metaverse and quantum computing.
Amin H. Nasser, Aramco’s president and CEO, commented: “Our establishment of a diversified network of partners has helped us maintain a track record of reliability, and our new strategic partnership with Zoom is expected to further enable innovative solutions focusing on the digital transformation ecosystem. Furthermore, with an expanded fund size, Wa’ed Ventures aims to facilitate the cross-pollination of innovation between the global and local markets.”