THUWAL — King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and Sinovation Ventures signed an MOU with the aim of establishing a working relationship to serve their strategic interests through technology venture building, technology development partnerships, and related consulting services.
Both parties highlighted that KAUST is the first university with whom Sinovation Ventures has signed an MoU.
KAUST President Tony Chan and Vice President of Innovation Kevin Cullen met with Sinovation CEO Dr. Kai-Fu Lee to formalize the agreement and discuss the dynamic opportunities to work together in areas including natural language processes technology for the Arabic language and venture-building possibilities.
Sinovation Ventures will meet with a number of KAUST startups in areas of interest, and a range of academics working in tech fields that Sinovation has identified as having commercial potential.
Chan was delighted to sign the MoU with Dr Kai-Fu Lee, whose career is legendary in computer science.“Sinovation is one of the most successful venture capital companies in the world, with special expertise in AI-related startups in China,” Chan said. “As KAUST aims to expand its entrepreneurial activities and fulfill its mission and contribute to Vision 2030, this partnership with Sinovation will put us in a great position to achieve our goals.”
Sinovation Ventures CEO Dr. Kai-Fu Lee stated, “With this Memorandum of Understanding, we show our commitment to look for KAUST technologies and use our venture building expertise to perhaps look at the China market, and also later the Saudi market as a way to helpthe emerging productmake an impact in both the China and Saudi markets.”
“We also have never made a Memorandum of Understanding with any university, and it is our honor to do the firstwith KAUST. We look forward to a long and prosperous relationship and partnership with KAUST,” he added.
Sinovation Ventures is a leading Chinese technology venture capital, started in 2009 by a team led by Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, with a presence in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Guangzhou. The organization currently manages more than $3 billion AUM between ten USD and RMB funds in total, and over 400 portfolio companies across the technology spectrum in China.
