Twenty years ago, starting a tech company in Saudi Arabia meant running on belief more than infrastructure. There were no playbooks. No proven exits. Just a handful of founders chasing possibility.
Last week, in a candid conversation at FII Institute , His Excellency Yasser Al-Rumayyan and Faisal Al-khamissi, Chairman of SAFCSP, Tahaluf and SCCC, reflected on Saudi Arabia's evolution from a few bold founders with big dreams to a thriving ecosystem built by and for them.
That conversation hit home for us, because we’ve lived that journey too, and we were honored to be recognized by Chairman Alkhamisi as an accelerator supporting that ecosystem.
When 500 Global first launched in Saudi Arabia in 2012, we weren’t just standing up accelerator batches. We were helping to lay the foundation of what would become one of the world’s fastest-growing startup ecosystems.
We sat with founders, helped early teams find product-market fit before “PMF” was a common phrase, and we stayed through shifts in policy, funding cycles, and Vision 2030’s ambitious economic evolution.
Over ten batches and more than 100 startups later, here’s what we’ve learned about building something that lasts:
-Go deep, not wide. Saudi founders don’t need generic programs. They need partners who roll up sleeves, take on risk, and share the grind.
-Back belief before traction. Some of today’s standout startups began as ideas everyone else overlooked. We didn’t.
-Build for here, not there. Saudi Arabia isn’t Silicon Valley, and that’s its strength. Every workshop, every metric, every pitch session we design reflects that.
-Stay founder-first. While others chased headlines, we focused on helping founders build real businesses with traction, growth, and resilience. Outcomes beat optics, every time.
We’re proud to be part of the rise of Saudi Arabia's startup ecosystem, but prouder still of the founders writing the next chapter. And we’ll keep showing up batch after batch to help turn that vision into velocity. 🚀
Amal Dokhan | Courtney Powell | Abdulrahman AlJiffry | Daif Alrajhi | Alaa Ibrahim | Amal Bin Jurays | Fahad Alharbi | Mohammad Khdair, CMA | Karim Masri | Reem Khamis
قصة ريادة الأعمال في السعودية 🇸🇦
مختصر التطورات في المملكة خلال الـ 8 سنوات الماضية
يحكيها Faisal Al-khamissi في مبادرة مستقبل الاستثمار FII Institute :
