Riyadh Al Ruwais

Riyadh Al-Ruwais is a Partner at STC Ventures, the venture capital fund anchored by Saudi Telecom Company (stc), the largest telecom operator in the MENA region. He joined STC Ventures as an Operating Partner from stc Group, bringing (per the firm and later his LinkedIn) roughly 17–20+ years of management and investment experience concentrated in the telecommunications industry. He was announced as a new addition to the firm's investment team alongside Angus Paterson, joining Iris Capital's team that manages the fund.

Before moving to the fund, Riyadh was Portfolio Management Director at stc Group. In that role he performed equity valuations and financial analysis; analyzed and measured the risk profile of assets on both a stand-alone and portfolio basis; evaluated and recommended investment, diversification and liquidation strategies; measured the financial and operational performance of stc's subsidiaries; and advised directors and board members on financial matters relating to their resolutions.

Riyadh also has hands-on experience building and structuring companies and investment vehicles from the ground up. At stc Group he managed the establishment of several investments, including Intigral (a digital-media content solutions provider serving regional telecom operators), the creation of a dedicated call-centre company to outsource stc's call-centre business, and — notably — the establishment and structuring of the STC Ventures Fund itself, which Iris Capital was appointed to manage from its 2012 launch. This background gives him a rare combination of corporate-portfolio, telecom-operator, and fund-formation perspective.

• Invests through STC Ventures' mandate: equity investments in technology companies across IT, telecoms, internet, and digital media/entertainment, with the dual goal of financial return and strategic relevance to stc Group's digital ecosystem.
• Backs early-stage and growth companies across MENA and Turkey; STC Ventures has historically been willing to lead seed rounds (it led Careem's seed) and to follow on into later rounds of winners.
• Typical entry checks are in the low single-digit millions, sized to a modest ~$50M fund; the firm concentrates capital in a small number of companies (roughly 9 companies by early 2019) rather than spraying broadly.
• Values strategic fit with a telecom operator's platform — companies that can integrate with, distribute through, or benefit from stc's reach and infrastructure are especially aligned with the firm's mandate.
• The firm frames itself as providing "both capital and strategic networking support" to founding teams, emphasizing innovative businesses with regional leadership potential — a corporate-VC value proposition of operator relationships plus money.