Modus acquires Saudi Arabia-based Agile Ventures

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 24, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Modus has announced its acquisition of Saudi Arabia-based Agile Ventures to expand its Venture Builder (VB) network to the Kingdom. New York-based Modus is a Venture Platform operating in MENA comprising VC funds, Venture Builders, and a Corporate Innovation arm. The acquisition will allow Modus to launch Venture Builders in KSA to build with, and invest in the country’s most talented founders.

The acquisition of Agile Ventures marks Modus’ official expansion and set up in the Saudi market. Modus aims to directly support Saudi’s ambitious Vision 2030 of boosting the country’s innovation ecosystem by educating and supporting entrepreneurs, and increasing the pipeline of top-tier startups through venture building.

Modus’ KSA-based builder is its third to launch in the region as part of its VB network and $50M Venture Builder Fund. It will have several industry agnostic Venture Building teams, and one exclusively focused on developing the country’s gaming industry following HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz recently unveiling plans to make Saudi Arabia a global hub for the gaming sector by 2030.

The Venture Platform, which launched its first Venture Builder in Egypt in 2019, has expanded rapidly in the past 18 months. Its Abu Dhabi Venture Builder in collaboration with Mubadala’s Hub71 (Ventures Lab) launched last year and recently doubled in size following its success, having received over 1,600 applications and its startups securing investment prior to the completion of the program.

The region’s aggressive demand for Venture Building expertise has also led Modus’ Corporate Innovation arm to launch Venture Building programs with family offices, corporates, and governmental institutions.

Kareem Elsirafy, Managing Partner at Modus commented, “We’re thrilled to partner with the Agile Ventures team as we continue on our journey of building companies that bring value to the ecosystem.

“Our KSA Venture Builders will provide access for Modus’ existing portfolio companies to enter the Saudi market, will leverage the country’s highly skilled workforce to grow the Saudi VB to include over 100 teammates, and generate new job opportunities through the companies we build.

“This is already reflected in our acquisition of Agile Ventures, who are a rockstar team with extensive experience in the Saudi ecosystem, and we’re looking forward to building startups and supporting founders alongside them.”

Agile Ventures is a Jeddah-based Venture Builder that was established in 2016 to develop new digital platforms in KSA. As one of the pioneers of Venture Building in the MENA region, Agile have built startups across several sectors, including Ananas – a fruit & vegetable app, ASAS – a platform for personal construction project management, FastCircle – a platform to manage daily logistics between factories and clients, and Nawra – a platform helping to simplify the journey for Umrah.

Its team of serial entrepreneurs have spent their careers building startups from scratch and are made up of product designers, engineers, and growth hackers who operate in, and intimately understand the KSA market.

Ahmad Abutaleb, Co-Founder and CEO at Agile Ventures commented, “Successful Venture Building is about an empowering culture and proper processes; that’s what we love about Modus. We share similar values, cultural beliefs, and each have robust Venture Building frameworks.

“Modus believes in Vision 2030 and together, we are building a solid team to develop innovative startups that can add value to the economy and equip Saudi talent with the skills required in the 21st century. We believe together, we will do extraordinary work.”

The KSA-based VB will build 30 companies over the next 3 years, and will hire the best local KSA talent while leveraging Modus’ existing global team of seasoned startup building experts. Each VB company selected will receive up to $750K in both cash and operational support throughout the program, growing them to late Seed and Series A, with follow-on investment opportunities from Modus’ VC fund upon graduation.

Modus’ KSA Venture Builder will open for applications towards the end of the year.