The Comprehensive Venture Investing Guide

Venture investing is the willingness to enter high-risk business opportunities in exchange for the potential of high returns, unlike traditional projects that rely on stable, familiar business models.

• When it is innovative and offers a distinct, added value.
• When it has the potential for rapid scale and growth (unlike traditional projects).

The concept of venture investing began in 1946 with Georges Doriot, who founded a company to finance start-ups launched by World War II veterans.

In the 1950s and 1960s, major firms emerged in Silicon Valley, California, such as:

In 2023 alone, the funding gap was estimated at SAR 350 billion.

The number of new projects continues to grow, which is natural: everyone has the right to dream, experiment, and build new businesses.

The five classic funding stages are:

Investors often repeat the famous saying: “The success of one or two projects can offset the loss of ten or twenty others.” Yet in practice, many investors in our region still expect every deal they enter to succeed, forgetting that venture investing is built on risk-taking and accepting that most projects will fail.

In the US, angel investors and venture capital funds back thousands of early-stage start-ups every year (pre-seed and seed), fully aware that more than 95% of them will fail.

They do not view this as a disaster, because the outstanding success of the remaining 5% more than compensates for the losses and generates outsized returns.

We already have local examples that followed a similar path:

The real driver is the founder’s character:

• Do they have genuine passion?
• Do they truly believe in their idea?
• Are they ready to sacrifice and persevere?

Of course, there are fraud cases in the world of venture investing—that is a global reality. The real challenge locally, however, is telling the difference between a fraudster and a founder who simply made a strategic mistake.

A sincere founder who takes a wrong turn can sometimes be treated like a criminal, even though failure is inherently part of the venture game.

• Legacy thinking that demands guarantees, personal guarantors, promissory notes, and property collateral before partnering.
• A culture of fear of failure and intolerance of loss.
• Low appetite for risk and limited willingness to experiment.
• Suspicion and distrust toward founders of new ventures.

• Because it respects failure as a necessary step on the path to success.
• Because investors are willing to lose a hundred times if the 101st attempt creates a major winner.
• Because it provides a supportive ecosystem that believes in risk-takers and stands behind them.

Vibes Holding was founded in the summer of 2022 as a start-up with a clear vision: to acquire stakes in as many different companies as possible over the next ten years. The model is inspired by global accelerator Y Combinator, which began in 2005 with modest steps and now owns stakes in more than 5,000 companies, including Airbnb, with a combined market value exceeding USD 600 billion.

After three years of practical experimentation, Vibes Holding realized that copying the US model exactly does not work in Arab markets for many reasons.

Vibes therefore developed its own operating system (ecosystem) built on two main pillars:

• Investors Club: a growing base of members and an expanding virtual capital pool.
• Success Partners Program: the primary source of deal flow and projects.

This system combines a grassroots style (similar to Haraj’s marketplace model) with a sophisticated, accelerator-like approach (similar to Y Combinator), creating a unique model tailored to our local business environment.

• Vibes Holding will not invest in very early stages (pre-seed and seed); these stages are better suited to governments, large corporates, banks, and major investment funds.
• We focus instead on joining existing, operating projects as a silent partner.
• We prioritize businesses that have already started generating revenue, with preference for those that are profitable.

If you want to diversify your investments, entering one or two projects on your own may be fine. Joining Vibes Holding, however, means taking part in a vehicle designed to hold stakes in a large number of companies, which significantly reduces risk compared with investing alone.

1. Globally, around 70% of new businesses fail within the first five years, and the figure rises to about 90% over a longer horizon. At Vibes Holding, we acknowledge and accept this reality.
2. Our goal is to build a strategic entity that lasts for generations, similar to global companies that have been operating for over 100 years.
3. If you are looking for quick, short-term gains, Vibes Holding is probably not the right place for you.

• Our plan through 2026 is to acquire stakes in 40–60 companies.
• The major upside is expected to come from exits and acquisitions (partial or full), alongside the recurring profits generated by portfolio companies.

• Vibes Holding started with an initial valuation of SAR 100 million and offered 10% of its shares to attract partners.
• The company became an officially “mixed” entity under the Ministry of Investment regulations after a foreign investor acquired a 1% stake, opening the door for additional foreign investors.
• 9% of the company’s shares remain from the first round and will be closed after allocation.
• Once we reach 50 stakes in 50 companies, we plan to restructure the offer and release an additional 5–10% at a higher valuation.
• With God’s will, we expect Vibes Holding to reach a billion-riyal valuation in less than five years.

Vibes Holding is more than just a company; it is a complete investment system that combines hands-on experience with a forward-looking vision.

Choosing to join today is a step toward building an investment legacy that can endure for you and for future generations.