Aramco Ventures
Corporate VCSeed–Growth · 10 people tracked
Investment thesis
Leverages Aramco's assets, engineers, procurement, and market access to develop and deploy upstream, downstream, renewables, and industrial technologies in Saudi Arabia, with 6–7 year holding periods.
Team · 10 people
from the firm's websiteDaniel Carter helped build the firm from two people and now oversees Sustainability and Digital Industrial funds in Western North America and Europe while serving as its public face.
Hans Middelthon brings 25+ years in energy CVC and PE, connecting Middle Eastern capital with European climate firms while a City of London capital‑markets background informs risk and exits.
Jim Sledzik leads North America activities, bridging startups and one of the world's largest energy companies, blending incumbent and disruptor perspectives in energy while publicly championing corporate–startup decarbonization.
Hanson Zhou leads on-the-ground China investing as part of his firm's dedicated China team and is recognized as an Investment Principal and senior leader, indicating a decision-influencing role.
Simone Less, Investment Principal with a PhD in Chemical Engineering, evaluates early-stage climate and industrial technologies, speaks at forums like VivaTech and engages communities on CO₂ capture and gas processing.
Bruce Niven has 20+ years in corporate venturing at Saudi Aramco and Itochu, blending trading-house, industrial and energy‑tech expertise while building Aramco’s venture platform and large sustainability and climate funds.
Meshal Mashari, Executive Managing Director for Late Stage Venturing, leads late-stage strategy from Dhahran as a decision-maker at one of the world's largest corporate venture platforms based in the Gulf.
Raed Twaily, a top leader across Aramco's venture activities, bridges corporate scale and venture agility as interface between growth-stage companies and one of the world's largest industrial energy players.
Zayed Alamri is Executive Managing Director of Strategic Venturing in Dhahran, backing industrial and deep‑tech startups aligned with Aramco’s operational and digital transformation, leveraging upstream energy operations experience.
What they invest in
from 16 of 72 portfolio companiesDeep Tech ×6Energy ×6Enterprise Software ×6Cleantech ×5Climate Tech ×4Cybersecurity ×4Hardware ×4AI & Machine Learning ×3
HQs:United States×12Switzerland×1Singapore×1
Investments · 72 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathANYbotics develops autonomous robots that perform inspection and maintenance tasks in industrial facilities, particularly in energy, oil & gas, and manufacturing sectors.
Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechEnergyHardwareIoTRoboticsZurich, CH
Dr. Péter Fankhauser(Co-Founder & CEO)in
908 Devices manufactures handheld mass spectrometry and chemical analysis devices for rapid detection in defense, security, and hazardous materials response applications.
Deep TechDefense TechHardwareMedical DevicesBoston, US
Kevin J. Knopp, PhD(CEO & Co-founder)J. Michael Ramsey(Director)Christopher Brown(Executive Officer)Joseph Michael Griffith IV(Executive Officer)Corey Michael Steffek(Director)Mark Michael Spoto(Director)
Amogy develops patented ammonia cracking technology that converts ammonia into electric power for hydrogen fuel cells and engines, targeting decarbonization of heavy industries including transportation and maritime.
CleantechClimate TechDeep TechEnergyHardware
Seonghoon Woo(Founder & CEO)
AttackIQ provides automated red team exercise software that scales security testing across organizations without increasing headcount.
CybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareLos Altos, US
Brett Galloway(Executive Officer, Director)Kevin Dillon(Director)Danielle Murcray(Executive Officer)Rajesh Sharma(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardShardul Shah(Director)Brian Byun(Director)
Sophos provides cloud security software for multi-cloud environments, protecting workloads, identities, networks, and applications through extended detection and response (XDR), managed detection and response (MDR), and identity threat detection and response (ITDR) across AWS, Azure, GCP, and OCI platforms.
Cloud ComputingCybersecurityEnterprise Software
Desktop Metal develops additive manufacturing (3D printing) platforms and materials for production-volume manufacturing, targeting engineers, designers, manufacturers, and medical professionals.
Advanced ManufacturingDeep TechHardwareBurlington, US
Ric Fulop(Executive Officer, Director)Dayna Grayson(Director)
Dragos provides cybersecurity software, threat intelligence, and professional services to protect operational technology (OT), IT, and IoT assets in industrial environments.
CybersecurityDefense TechEnterprise SoftwareHanover, US
Robert M. Lee(CEO and co-founder)ROBERT LEE(Executive Officer, Director)
HT Materials Science develops Maxwell, a patented non-toxic nanofluid additive that is added to water-based or water/glycol closed-loop cooling and heating systems to improve heat transfer and energy efficiency.
CleantechEnergyNew Materials
APX operates the TIGR Registry, a global platform for tracking, trading, and retiring Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) from renewable energy projects across over 40 countries.
B2B MarketplacesCleantechClimate TechEnergySingapore, SG
Rondo manufactures thermal battery systems that store energy by heating refractory bricks with renewable electricity and release it as continuous industrial heat and power for manufacturing processes.
Climate TechDeep TechEnergyCalifornia, US
John O'Donnell(Co-founder & CEO)
Seattle, US
Lisa M. Graham(Executive Officer)Michael M. Risse(Executive Officer)Matt M. Koran(Director)Mark M. Derbecker(Executive Officer)Pete M. Higgins(Director)Tammy M. Martin(Executive Officer)
Sikka provides integrated software for dental practices that consolidates scheduling, insurance, payments, reviews, and reporting in a single platform while automating administrative workflows like recalls and claim management.
Enterprise SoftwareHealthtechSaaS
Spiritus develops direct air capture (DAC) technology to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it, providing a scalable and modular system for carbon dioxide removal at lower cost.
CleantechClimate TechDeep TechSan Francisco, US
Houston, US
Patrick R. Poon(Director)Suman Khatiwada(Director, Executive Officer)Ann R. DeWitt(Director)Michael R. Biddle(Director)Matthew R. Hill(Director)Trevor Best(Executive Officer, Director)
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Aramco Ventures invest at?
- Aramco Ventures invests at the Seed, Series A, Series B, Series C, Growth stages.
- What sectors does Aramco Ventures focus on?
- Aramco Ventures focuses on Advanced Manufacturing, Climate Tech, Energy.
- Does Aramco Ventures lead rounds?
- Aramco Ventures typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
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