LEAP22 tech conference records more than 100,000 visits and ranks high among global technical events

The first edition of the LEAP Tech Conference in the Kingdom concluded, which was attended by a large crowd of technology enthusiasts from more than 80 countries and recorded more than 100,000 visits, in addition to 700 exhibitors that included technology companies, global leaders and over 1,500 most innovative startups, joining 500 international speakers.
This conference is considered the largest international technical event in its first edition, with the support of the Kingdom’s leadership and in line with the directives of Prince Mohamed bin Salman al-Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, to enhance the role of the digital economy in achieving the goals of vision 2030.
The LEAP tech conference saw $6.4bn in investments and new technology initiatives, and $1mn in prizes awarded to the winners of the Rocket Fuel Startup competition, an international competition aimed at finding the most prominent and innovative new business ideas.
Qualitative leaps for
entrepreneurs, startups
and investors
During the LEAP22 technical conference, multiple investments and investment funds supporting startups and entrepreneurs with more than 1bn Saudi riyals were announced, as the second closure of the “Khwarizmi Ventures” fund was announced, with a value of 262mn riyals, and the announcement of the closure of the first investment fund for Emkan VC, with a value exceeding SR187mn, and the launch of UnifonicX in a Saudi partnership to build start-up companies between Unifonic and TheSpaceKSA, and the Saudi Venture Investment Company also announced the “Investment in Advanced Stage Funds” product to promote the growth of startups with a value exceeding SR500mn.
It was also announced that “Nana” closed an investment round led by FIM Partners and the STV Fund, with a value of 187.5mn riyals, as well as the closing of an investment round of “Quant” worth 3mn Saudi riyals led by VentureSouq and with the participation of RaedVC and Seedra, and a round was also announced. An investment of SR38mn for Muzn Artificial Intelligence, led by RAED Ventures, with the participation of Shorooq Partners, VentureSouq, Sukna Ventures, and others. A round of Taffi, worth more than 7mn riyals, was announced, and the pre-seed round was closed for SiFi and Tamweel.
Rocket Fuel startup
competition
Startups from around the world competed in the Rocket Fuel competition, submitting innovative business proposals to boost their venture capital and encourage international investors, in an effort to win a share of the award’s $1mn investment fund.
Seven startups won the competition, each of which received cash prizes for their innovative ideas and new proposals that have a great impact in terms of creativity, innovation, capabilities and ability to implement and their impact on people and society.
Apple Developer Academy
And Apple chose the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as the headquarters for the first Apple Developer Academy in the Middle East and North Africa. The academy provides its services and tools only to programmers and developers, and it is located at Princess Nourah Bint Abdul Rahman University.
The Apple Developer Academy will have an important role in building talented programming skills in the Kingdom and encouraging women to develop their skills and explore available jobs in this new and exciting sector. There are already female participants who are currently benefiting from the training sessions provided by the Academy in Riyadh.
Michael Champion, Regional Executive Vice President of Informa in the Middle East and Africa, said that LEAP22 was an exceptional success and attracted the largest number of visitors to technical events held over the past years, even outperforming the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and setting a new record for the largest A number of attendees to a new technology platform.
He said: “The LEAP International Tech Conference was able to attract the leading names in the technology sector to Riyadh, in addition to the most distinguished startups and new innovators who presented their cutting-edge innovations that will redirect the world around us. We would like to thank the global speakers, sponsors and partners, and we look forward to host a larger-scale LEAP conference next year.”
The first edition of LEAP was sponsored by a group of leading companies, including Saudi Telecom Company, Ericsson, Mobily, Huawei, Cisco, SAP, Microsoft, the Saudi Digital Academy, the National Information Technology Development Program, Monshaat and Jahez.