Joe Chang has become managing director and the senior leader in China for Prosperity 7 Ventures, Saudi Arabia-based oil and gas supplier Saudi Aramco’s newly formed $1bn corporate venturing fund.
Prosperity 7 Ventures, named after the first well that discovered oil in the Saudi Arabian desert, has a large focus on China (split about half and half with the US) under the overall direction of unit head Aysar Tayeb.
The fund is designed to help Aramco diversify over the longer-term from oil and gas into technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, industrial automation, robotics, the cloud, data and analytics, the internet of things and blockchain services, complementing Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures (SAEV), the corporate venturing unit now led by Mahdi Aladel after Majid Mufti’s departure last month.
Aramco’s global corporate venturing initiatives now manage about $1.8bn across Prosperity 7 Ventures, SAEV, the Middle East-focused Wa’ed Ventures and its participation in the $1bn OGCI Climate Investments alliance.
Chang had previously co-led the technology team and investments for Eight Roads Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of US-based investment and financial services group Fidelity formerly known as Fidelity Growth Partners, in Greater China for nearly four years.
The role came after Chang spent almost two years as a partner for corporate VC unit Softbank China Venture Capital and four years leading Cisco’s corporate development team in Shanghai, where his deals had included Nasdaq-listed internet and data centre services provider 21ViaNet.
