Stride Ventures, Saudi Arabia’s PIF partner on credit expansion

Stride Ventures announced a partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, marking a step in its global expansion.

Founded in 2019, Stride has enabled over US$1.6 billion in credit across nearly 200 companies, operating in India, the GCC, and the UK/Europe.

The collaboration with PIF’s Jada Fund of Funds supports private credit deployment, with Stride targeting around US$200 million in Saudi Arabia’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem over the next two years.

Stride also partners with other sovereign-backed investors, including SAB Invest in Saudi Arabia.

The firm aims to deploy over US$1 billion globally in venture debt, growth credit, and private credit strategies in the coming years, according to its announcement.

PIF’s Jada Fund of Funds was launched in 2018 with around US$1 billion to develop Saudi Arabia’s private capital ecosystem.

🔗 Source: Stride Ventures

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Saudi Arabia is building a private credit market with a clear plan

Jada Fund of Funds, a Public Investment Fund (PIF) unit, treated the Stride Ventures partnership as part of a wider push to increase its private credit allocation 1.
PIF’s Jada Fund of Funds, launched in 2018 with around US$1 billion, aims to grow Saudi Arabia’s private capital ecosystem. The mandate covers venture capital, private equity, and private debt to back small and medium enterprises (SMEs) 2.
Jada is moving into a gap in funding as local Saudi banks slow lending growth 3.
Stride said the tie-up will help put private credit to work. Stride plans to target about US$200 million in Saudi Arabia’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem over the next two years 4 3.

Gulf capital is moving into private credit as Western markets draw questions

Jada’s commitment arrives while the US$1.8 trillion private credit market faces questions about valuation practices and lending standards 3.
Gulf investors describe their regional market as “nascent” and structurally different, and argue it does not carry the same “bubble” dynamics seen in Western markets 1 3.
Moves in Qatar and Abu Dhabi add to the pattern, with sovereign wealth funds there also increasing exposure to private credit 3.
This approach supports economic diversification efforts, including Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, by putting more capital into local innovation ecosystems 4.