Newlab, a New York City-based company that helps launch and fund startups in industrial sectors, is opening a new hub this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The hub aims to attract startups to Saudi Arabia, focusing first on the mining industry.
Future programs will focus on energy, logistics and advanced manufacturing.
The company would not say how much funding is going into the new hub. In an interview, Liz Keen, chief strategy officer, said that its larger hubs, such as Riyadh, require funding commitments totaling hundreds of millions of dollars from governments and large companies. The hub in Saudi Arabia is another sign of the Kingdom’s commitment to economic transformation. It has already increased women’s labor force participation and launched a series of initiatives under the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 to create more innovation – arguably the two most significant drivers of economic growth.
“As a woman, I can see it,” Keen said. You have a generation of skills that returns to Saudi Arabia to contribute to transformation. This is one of the reasons why we are excited about the center.
Newlab, which already operates hubs in Brooklyn, Detroit and Montevideo, Uruguay, was founded by David Belt and Scott Cohen in 2011 as a strategy to redevelop the decaying Brooklyn Navy Yard by attracting small companies. The company has evolved over the years to incorporate finance and market and product development. In addition to the hub in Riyadh, the company also plans to open two smaller hubs this year, Keen said.
Muneef AlMuneef, the new director of Newlab Riyadh, was previously director general of renewable energy policies at the Ministry of Energy, where he helped lead the progression and implementation of policies and methods aimed at advancing the renewable energy sector in Saudi Saudi. according to Newlab.
Funding for the launch of the company’s new centers comes from private corporations and governments that have an interest in transforming specific sectors. “This is literally the generation needed to address the demanding situations facing the world,” Keen said.
Ford Motor Co. , for example, helped fund the launch of the 270,000-square-foot center in Detroit, aiming to remain a player in the shipping formula of the future. The Newlab centre is home to more than a hundred new companies from the maritime sector in a construction designed by Albert Kahn. Startups secured a total of $700 million in funding, the New York Times reported in 2024.
Saudi Arabia’s focus on mining likely reflects a new global shift toward price chains for critical minerals needed for computer chips and the transition to a new energy economy. Newlab is considered a venture capital platform, meaning it selects startups, helps them grow, and connects them with customers and funding.
For decades, the venture capital industry has achieved its greatest successes through investments in software. Software-based startups are relatively fast and easy to grow because their business models were primarily based on replacing hard human work with the promise of software algorithms. In the best-known example, Internet sites replaced agencies. The websites were more convenient and very profitable.
More and more people are looking to use the levers of finance to fund new corporations that take on disruptions similar to “deep tech” or “critical tech. ” Basically, new venture capitalists are looking to fund corporations that are successful; poker game, but it also brings to the market answers that solve some of the world’s biggest disruptions, such as the progression of a new energy formula or a new transportation infrastructure.
For decades, the venture capital industry has benefited from the flexible movement of capital across borders. Countries around the world have also used their own venture capital industries and sovereign wealth budget to invest in new technologies that align with their strategic goals, forcing cutting-edge startups. move to another country. The result of this situation was probably a net flight to the United States, which at the end of the 20th century was home to the maximum number of cutting-edge companies and the maximum innovation financing systems. Today, innovation is increasingly global, perhaps due to this knowledge movement.
There are signs that finance could also be subject to more restrictions in an era of greater protectionism, namely against China. Biden’s outgoing leadership recently restricted venture capital investments through US institutions in Chinese companies and criminalized investments in certain sectors such as quantum. “Ugh, let’s talk about the final barn door once the horse bolts: The United States will restrict its venture capital investments in China starting tomorrow, just as the Federal Reserve recognizes that this is exactly the time to make an effort to get its corporations to invest more in China. James Mawson, founder of Global Corporate Venturing, noted in a post on LinkedIn.
In this confusing context, Saudi Arabia is betting on the concept that the Kingdom remains America’s closest best friend and that it devotes its enormous resources to the advancement of an ecosystem of innovation, a new economy, and now a set that is imaginable: a new energy system.
Newlab said it will identify a first beta area in Riyadh in 2025, while creating a larger center to open in 2026. Keen said Neom, the futuristic city that has drawn skepticism, is an option for a smaller center in the Kingdom. . As is the case with startup hubs, the Riyadh build will come with flexible workstations and personal studios, labs, workshops and event areas. As is also common, Newlab will launch industries and challenge-based systems to attract new companies. Here is a link for startups to apply.
Less typical: Newlab’s relationships with industry players and government entities in Saudi Arabia will help startups find consumers to help them develop their business style and find financing. Newlab invests in startup stocks as it also finds venture dollars from around the world to invest. in startups, according to Keen.
Newlab said the first program, The Mining Innovation Studio, will focus on startups that:
Newlab also listed some of its initial partners:
The National Industrial Development and Logistics Program
The Ministry of Industry and Mines
Saudi Geological Survey
Saudi Arabia Mining Company
Saudi Mining Services Company