Riyadh: Wa’ed, the entrepreneur from Saudi Aramco, has invested $ 500,000 in Ynmo, the first Arabic-English software platform for teachers of students with disabilities.
The funding from Wa’ed Ventures will help the Mecca-based startup invest in its software, hire more people and expand its services.
“With Wa’ed’s support, we will significantly increase the number of children with disabilities we can help in Saudi Arabia and beyond,” said Ynmo co-founder Abdullah Murad. “It’s a way for us to give back to our community and make a big and lasting social impact.”
“Our mission is to advance the Saudi startup economy and Ynmo is an innovative solution to an urgent problem that affects many Saudi children and their families,” said Wassim Basrawi, Managing Director of Wa’ed. “At Wa’ed, we want promising Saudi entrepreneurs such as [the developers behind] Ynmo, the architects of our kingdom’s economic future. “
According to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, there are around 100,000 disabled students in the kingdom. However, Ynmo’s co-founder Fahad Al-Nemary said the actual number could be up to 14 percent of all students, in line with the global average.
Founded in 2011, Wa’ed provides institutional venture capital investments for Saudi Arabia-based startups as well as comprehensive mentoring, incubation and loan financing support.
Earlier this year, Wa’ed reported that the amount of money lent to startups in the kingdom had tripled over the past year.
The Dhahran-based initiative made 12 loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), up from four in 2019, with the value increasing from SR 10 million in 2019 to SR 31 million (USD 8.27 million).
In terms of venture capital funding, Wa’ed deployed SR 43 million for SMEs, an increase of 34 percent over the previous year.
“In a very challenging year, I am proud of the Wa’ed family, which includes my team and our resilient entrepreneurs who rose to the challenges and kept us on the right track to make an even bigger impact in 2021.” said Basrawi.
