PIF

PIF is Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, formally the Public Investment Fund, which has become the dominant force in the kingdom's economic transformation since the current crown prince took power. Though founded in the 1970s, it operated largely in obscurity until recent years, when it made headline moves including a $45 billion investment in SoftBank's Vision Fund, the Aramco partial IPO, and acquisitions of global sports franchises . Since 2017, PIF has actively created roughly 80 companies across 13 sectors, with particular emphasis on technology, tourism, and entertainment—industries Saudi Arabia previously lacked .

The fund sits at the center of Saudi Arabia's tightly state-directed investment ecosystem. As one local founder put it to 暗涌Waves, "In Saudi, everything is connected and PIF push everything" . PIF's capital dwarfs the country's weak private investment base, creating a "siphon effect" where Chinese and other foreign fund managers find PIF's money the hardest to actually raise, despite hundreds of GP visits to the kingdom .

PIF deploys capital through several vehicles. Jada, its fund-of-funds platform created under the Vision 2030 reform agenda, invests in venture and private equity funds to build the domestic startup ecosystem and diversify the economy beyond state-owned and family enterprises . Sanabil, another fully PIF-owned institution, has backed major global managers including KKR, Blackstone, and Coatue, and 暗涌Waves reported in late 2023 that a Chinese dual-currency fund had also received Sanabil capital . PIF planned to expand its Asia presence with offices in mainland China and India, building on its 2022 Hong Kong opening, as disclosed by PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in December 2023 .