Venturing Into The Unknown
The saying goes that money makes money; you need to spend it to accumulate it. But deciding where to plant your hard-earned cash—or someone else’s—is not an easy one unless you’re well-versed in the world of finance. It’s risky and complex and not for the faint-hearted, especially if, like me, you’re pretty risk-averse. Understanding all the options takes a solid understanding of constantly-changing markets, whether you’re investing as an individual, an organization, or a government entity. Thankfully, experts are around to help and, as technology takes over, it’s becoming easier to access advice, control your investments, and keep an eye on your stash. These days you don’t have to be a millionaire or money guru to be an investor, and traditional assets are far from the only path to profit. If the last year has taught us anything, it’s to hedge your bets.
Asset managers are the shrewd specialists in the business of foreseeing opportunities and growing wealth for paying clients, and they are playing with some serious numbers. The biggest asset manager in the world, according to ADV Ratings, is Black Rock, which had assets under management worth over $9 trillion in Q1 2021, followed by the Vanguard Group with $7.2 trillion, and the UBS Group with $1.1 trillion. The biggest Arab counterpart is Saudi Arabia’s NCB Capital, with $50.4 billion under management. But although the companies on our new regional ranking may seem small in comparison to their global competitors, their investments are making big waves in the Middle East. The 30 companies have a total of $258.2 billion in assets under management. This sizable chunk of capital is invested across a wide variety of different asset classes of course, but for our featured leaders this month at least—Karim Awad of EFG Hermes and Jassim Alseddiqi of SHUAA Capital—technology and startups seem to be key areas of focus.
But then, it seems these are themes for many investors, with various sectors now having “tech” specific branches, such as Fintech, foodtech, proptech, edtech, and healthtech. Just looking at a couple of big announcements from June shows the extent of investors’ appetite for online platforms. Saudi’s Watheeq Financial launched a $26.7 million Venture Capital Fund purely to invest in proptech startups. Egypt’s celebrity video request platform, Minly, raised a $3.6 million seed round. U.A.E.-based IoT startup iWire secured $34 million in a Series A. And Kuwait’s flowers and gifts e-commerce platform Floward announced a $27.5 million Series B. In Fintech alone, we estimated that by June startups in this space in MENA had raised more than $243 million from 32 deals since the beginning of the year, the biggest of which was for Saudi’s Tamara, which secured a $116 million investment.
Whether you’re placing your bets on startups and stocks, securing safe assets in real estate, or bravely venturing into crypto, investing is about calculating risk and taking a chance. Stay as informed as possible, and enjoy this month’s issue.