Aramco Ventures Allocates $7.5 Billion to Strategic Tech, with a Focus on AI and Sustainability

The venture capital funding arm of Saudi Arabia’s majority state-owned integrated energy and chemicals giant Aramco is focusing much of its effort on artificial intelligence and sustainability, according to its chief executive officer.

Aramco Ventures has $7.5 billion in assets under management, backing deep technology startups based on what CEO Mahdi Aladel describes as “solid science and engineering wherever they may be in the world.”

Aladel said the firm aims to bring some of these technologies back to Saudi Arabia to address local needs and internal processes, including upstream operations and information or operational cybersecurity. He added that while localization is a desired outcome, the primary investment filter is technology with a large enough total addressable market and product demand that can materialize either immediately or in the future.

Three core focus areas led by AI

Aladel said the Aramco Ventures portfolio can largely be divided into three segments.

First, the largest segment is investments in AI and digital technologies. He noted that not all digital solutions are AI solutions, even as the market pivots toward AI. He said the firm covers the AI stack “from chips to compute,” including network, modelling, orchestration and applications. He also said its humanoid robotics investments fall within this segment.

Second, the sustainability or cleantech segment is the second-largest. Aladel said these investments include low carbon fuels, hydrogen, ammonia, carbon capture and energy storage.

Third, a smaller segment combines life sciences, health-tech and fintech, described as featuring “interesting” business models.

Value creation for Aramco

Aladel said many investments generate value for Aramco when the parent company adopts solutions across its broader business.

He cited two examples: Norway’s InflowControl and Hong Kong’s Insilico Medicine.

InflowControl has developed autonomous valve technology intended to boost oil production and reduce water and gas breakthrough in wells. Aladel said the technology also supports enhanced oil recovery and lower emissions per barrel, and that Aramco has implemented it in its wells to improve sustainability and efficiency.

Insilico Medicine uses AI for drug discovery and has licensed cancer-treating drugs. Aladel said the company has shortened drug development time from five years to about one year in some cases, and that it recently completed an initial public offering in Hong Kong.

He added that while Insilico is not strictly in the energy sector, Aramco is using its AI capabilities to synthesize an absorbent for capturing CO2 from direct air capture, working with Aramco research and development teams.

Local market strategy and a long-term approach

Aladel said Aramco Ventures places investment professionals in local markets to identify technology and talent early. He said the firm has teams in Palo Alto (U.S.), Beijing and Shanghai (China), and Bengaluru (India), and that it has recently committed to having a team in Paris (France). He said the investment committee and business development team are based in Saudi Arabia.

He described the firm as not “tourist investors,” but “VC market strategists,” while noting Aramco is the dominant limited partner.

Aladel also discussed the challenges of VC investing, saying he began the role on August 1, 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that at the time, about a third of the portfolio was in the red, another third had “yellow warning lights,” and the remainder was “ok,” leading to “tough and painful decisions” about which companies to back.

He said that early in his tenure, Aramco Ventures wrote off two portfolio companies after syndicates pulled back during Covid-19 and the firm decided it would not be the only investment backer in both cases.

Patient capital and impact beyond financial returns

Aladel said the experience strengthened the firm’s focus on what he expects will be great in the future rather than what looks good in the moment. He described Aramco’s approach as “patient capital,” where financial returns matter but the reward also comes from the “several multiples of value” Aramco can extract from startup technologies.

He said that if Aramco Ventures delivered returns of 3x to 4x to the parent company, “give or take” about $1 billion, the amount would be significant for the venture arm but “small change” for Aramco.

For context, he said Aramco had a full-year adjusted net income of nearly $105 billion in 2025.

Aladel said the key driver is applications and the technology advantages the firm brings, which can translate into savings or gains by enabling Aramco to execute processes faster, safer, better, cheaper and more sustainably.

He also said Aramco Ventures is not constrained by typical fund timelines, where investors face an investing period followed by a harvesting period and pressure to exit. Instead, he said the firm can focus on longer development cycles.

Sandbox approach and access to Aramco

Aladel said Aramco Ventures offers startups a “sandbox” approach, providing a gateway and a conduit to Aramco to pilot new technologies. He said this includes areas such as cybersecurity and upstream operations, medicine, and Formula 1 racing.

He concluded that there are few corporates willing to take on “big bets” using VC to scout, support and deploy nascent technologies, and said Aramco Ventures is “just getting started” with “more to come.”