SEDCO Capital, one of the largest asset managers in Saudi Arabia, has participated in the Islamic Finance Forum as an associate sponsor to discuss the benefits of combining Shariah finance principles with ethical investment.
The forum, which took place at Mansion House in London, included several panels and workshops focusing on trends in Islamic finance and European markets. Panel topics included the role of European stock exchanges in facilitating Islamic capital raising, Islamic corporate financing activity in Europe and the impact of Brexit.
Kamran Butt, managing director at SEDCO Capital, participated in the panel discussion entitled “Responsible Investing: The Shift toward Green Finance, ESG & Ethical Funds,” alongside executives from the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and other global institutions.
Butt said: “We call this Prudent Ethical Investing, combining Shariah principles, which involve avoiding excess leverage, and ESG principles which ensure our investments serve society. We have found that both sets of principles combined, create optimal risk adjusted returns and provide the right investment characteristics for our clients.”
The participation from SEDCO Capital comes after Hassan Al-Jabri, SEDCO Capital’s CEO, launched the firm’s new Prudent Ethical Investing (PEI) investment strategy, integrating Shariah-compliant investment approach with ethical investing.
PEI stresses the importance of due diligence and transparency around investment structures, processes and reporting while also integrating the analysis of environmental, social and governance criteria in the investment process. The strategy seeks to avoid high financial risk and aims to enhance long-term risk-adjusted returns.
Al-Jabri, who has been developing the PEI approach since 2013, recently oversaw the publication of a seminal SEDCO Capital white paper, entitled “How can Responsible Investors Benefit from Islamic Criteria?” which looked at the performance of responsible investments, Islamic investments and conventional portfolios across the US, Europe and Asian equity markets. The research showed that Shariah-compliant portfolios have outperformed conventional and responsible investment strategies over the last decade on an absolute return and risk-adjusted basis across all analyzed markets.
SEDCO Capital was the first Saudi asset manager and the first fully Shariah-compliant asset manager to become a signatory of the United Nations Principles of Responsible Investing (UNPRI), an initiative started by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. This principle-based framework called for the incorporation of environmental, social and governance variables when analyzing risk for any investment.
SEDCO Capital participates in Islamic Finance Forum
SEDCO Capital participates in Islamic Finance Forum
SVC invests $1.2bn and contributes to Kingdom’s pole position in VC funding
Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC) released its annual “Impact Report,” which highlighted SVC’s role in the record growth rates achieved by the Saudi private capital ecosystem in 2025.
The report emphasized SVC’s impact on the Kingdom's private capital ecosystem (Venture Capital, Private Equity, Venture Debt, and Private Debt) since the company’s establishment in 2018.
The report showed that SVC's total committed investments since its inception have reached $1.2 billion, while its investments have stimulated partner commitments totaling $5.9 billion, or 4.9 times SVC’s commitment. This highlights SVC’s role as a key catalyst and market maker in the private capital ecosystem.
The report indicated that the number of funds backed by SVC increased to 65, while the number of startups and SMEs supported exceeded 1,000 across several vital sectors, including e-commerce, fintech, healthcare, education technologies, transport, and logistics.
Commenting on the report, Nora Alsarhan, Deputy CEO and Chief Investment Officer at SVC, said: “The report highlights the transformative progress happening across Saudi Arabia’s private capital ecosystem as a direct result of the initiatives and goals of the Saudi Vision 2030.”
She added: “We remain committed to developing investment programs, products, and developmental initiatives based on market needs analysis and aligned with leading global models, which enhance the competitiveness of the Saudi private capital ecosystem, support diversification of the national economy, and help achieve the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030.”
The report showed that SVC’s strategy contributed to the Kingdom’s maintaining its first rank in the MENA region for the third straight year in VC funding in 2025, reaching a historic total of $1.7 billion. This reflects the growth seen across various economic and financial sectors under Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to strengthen the national economy.
The report indicated that the number of venture capital investors has increased sixfold since SVC was founded in 2018, when the number did not exceed 34, reaching 200 in 2025. This reflects the depth of the market and the expansion of the institutional investor base in Saudi Arabia.
The report also highlighted the launch of the inaugural Private Capital Forum, a regional platform to advance dialogue on private capital. The forum brought together 1,070 participants and 59 speakers across 20 sessions, reaching 7.2 million people digitally and generating over 10.5 million media impressions.
