Saudi venture capital funding fell 74% year on year to $219 million in H1 2026, from roughly $853 million in H1 2025, across 72 deals, down 41% from 122. Fintech took 67% of dollars ($147 million); the Kingdom held a 34% share of MENA deal count, with early-stage rounds at 83% of all deals.
Deal count fell 41% while dollar volume fell 74%, the average check shrank even faster than the number of deals. Investors aren't just doing less; they're doing smaller, which is the more telling half of this number.
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One rulebook for the Gulf
The Cabinet approved unified GCC rules for jointly owned properties, standardizing common-area governance, owner rights, and asset management.
The takeaway: Disputes over shared ownership are the quiet friction in every tower, an unglamorous fix that unlocks investment.
Surplus up, non-oil down
Trade surplus SR26.03bn (+328.8%) in May, but oil exports +19.5% to 75.6% of the total, while non-oil exports fell 26.1%.
The test isn't whether the surplus grows, it's whether it can grow when oil doesn't.
Money market funds stay home
The Capital Market Authority decided to require managers of public money market funds to ensure that investments and assets held outside Saudi Arabia do not exceed 5% of a fund's net asset value. All overseas investments must also be with counterparties holding an investment-grade credit rating issued by a licensed credit rating agency, according to a CMA circular to capital market institutions.
Limiting foreign exposure to 5% of net asset value means money market funds are mainly used for domestic funding. This change affects where riyal liquidity is held more than it changes what savers earn.
