Saudi Wealth Fund Plans San Francisco Office

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Matthew Martin, Bloomberg News

Feb 13, 2019

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(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is following its peers in Abu Dhabi and Qatar by opening an office the U.S. tech hub of San Francisco.

The Public Investment Fund is looking to open offices in San Francisco, as well as New York and London, Managing Director Yasir Al-Rumayyan said at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Sovereign wealth funds in Gulf Arab states are seeking to plow some of their oil and natural gas billions into technology and communications to lessen their reliance on volatile crude markets and to bring home the businesses and skills that will help transform their economies. The Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Co. have in recent years opened offices in Silicon Valley to focus on the technology industry.

The Public Investment Fund plans to have about 700 employees by the end of this year, up from 450, Al-Rumayyan said. It aims to boost that number to as much as 2,000 by 2025.

Al-Rumayyan also said:

  • PIF is looking to bring vertical-farming startup Plenty to Saudi Arabia
  • The startup is backed by Masayoshi Son’s Vision Fund, in which PIF is an investor
  • NOTE: SoftBank-Backed Vertical Farm Is to Open Middle Eastern Facility

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Martin in Dubai at mmartin128@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Shaji Mathew

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