Indonesia state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) is setting up its second $40m corporate venture capital fund, according to DealStreetAsia.
In mid-2019, BNI raised up to $50m for its debut fund.
The move follows similar state-led initiatives to invest directly in startups.
Saudi Arabia said it would commit a further $6.4bn to future tech, according to newswire Reuters, including a $2bn joint venture between eWTP Arabia Capital, a fund backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and China’s retailer Alibaba and J&T Express Group, minister Abdullah Alswaha said.
Saudi state-owned oil giant Aramco will use its long-term corporate venture capital fund, Prosperity7 Ventures, to invest $1bn in green tech, while Saudi Telecom will invest another $1bn in the infrastructure of submarine cables and data centres, he said.
Neom, a futuristic megacity being built on the Red Sea coast, has launched $1bn of investments in a metaverse.
The government also expects $1.4bn to be spent in entrepreneurship and allocated to funds to support digital content, including an initiative known as The Garage, a space in the capital Riyadh that will host startups specialised in new technologies, the minister told Reuters.
Separately, the European Union through its European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund has committed €1bn to develop space-focused startups (see Global Industrials Council first quarter report).
