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NEOM Fund Invests $100 Million In Pony.ai Self-Driving Vehicles
The collaboration will help to develop advanced vehicles and smart infrastructure for NEOM and other regional markets.
The NEOM Investment Fund, a newly formed organization that works on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s mega-city NEOM, has invested $100 million in Pony.ai, a California-based autonomous vehicle solutions company.
As part of the investment, a joint partnership will be formed between NEOM and Pony.ai to develop, manufacture, and deliver self-driving autonomous vehicles and their required infrastructure.
The investment aligns with NEOM‘s plans to provide sustainable, hyperconnected transport across the $500 billion urban development, explained Majid Mufti, chief executive of the NIF, who said, “Pony.ai’s autonomous driving technology is already available today, and we are excited to be able to utilize it in NEOM in the near future,” he said.
Pony.ai’s expansion into NEOM isn’t the company’s first entry into the MENA region. Last week, the vehicle firm joined Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry, which will trial its latest technologies at the Yas Island testing zone.
NEOM is a vital part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy, a major economic diversification program that hopes to shift the country’s reliance from the oil industry to technological developments. The NIF will focus on private sector investment and will directly fund solutions piloted and grown in NEOM, which could then be exported worldwide.
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The fund will also assume the role of portfolio manager for NEOM’s assets and companies, safeguarding returns for shareholders and investors and underpinning NEOM’s long-term financial sustainability.
The NIF’s strategy is designed to align NEOM’s objectives with those of institutional investors and innovators, “de-risking opportunities for them to participate in creating core global growth businesses and a thriving economy” in the new mega-city, Mr. Mufti explained.
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NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders
A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.
It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.
The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.
For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.
“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.
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NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.
The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.
NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders
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