Riyadh-based Elm, a digital security company owned by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, seeks to raise as much as $820M from an IPO
Shaji Mathew / Bloomberg : Tweets: @technology Tweets: @technology : The kingdom is pushing ahead with plans to raise money through selling stakes in a raft of companies https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Elm's IPO is the listing leg of a pivot Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund has been telegraphing since at least 2018, when it was reported shifting its focus toward tech bets like Uber and Tesla ($225B fund's tech turn). The kingdom is now pushing ahead with selling stakes in a raft of companies, and Elm — a digital security firm wholly owned by the fund — is one of the marquee names in that queue.
The deal matters because it tests whether Riyadh can convert state-held tech assets into public-market value without denting them: Elm raised $820M and then jumped 30% to $44.30 on its Riyadh trading debut, and three years later used its position to buy Thiqah back from its own majority owner for $906M (the Thiqah acquisition) — a closed loop between the fund and its listed champion.
First-order effects
- Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund converts part of its Elm holding into roughly $820M of cash while retaining majority ownership, advancing its stated plan to sell stakes across a raft of companies.
- Elm gains a public currency and disclosure obligations in Riyadh, with digital security — a sector tied to government demand — now priced daily by outside investors.
Second-order effects
- A 30% debut pop strengthens the case for the rest of the kingdom's privatization pipeline: startups like Salla, which raised $130M from Investcorp and Sanabil in what was framed as a likely last round before an IPO, now have a domestic listing venue with demonstrated appetite.
- The fund can recycle proceeds internally — as it later did by selling Thiqah to Elm for $906M — letting it monetize assets twice: once at listing, again through related-party consolidation.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, Saudi Arabia builds a class of state-founded but publicly listed tech champions, with the sovereign wealth fund acting as both controlling shareholder and serial seller — a structure closer to strategic state equity than conventional privatization.
- Regional private capital adapts around that venue: growth rounds like Lean Technologies' $33M Sequoia-led raise sit upstream of an exit path increasingly defined by Riyadh listings rather than Western ones.
The trend: Gulf sovereign wealth funds are turning state-built tech assets into publicly traded champions, using local IPOs to recycle capital while keeping control.