• Saudia Arabia-based visual content platform The Stock has raised $667,000 in a pre-Seed funding round, led by VEST Investment Company with the participation from an angel investor group.

• Founded in 2021 by Abdullah Al Musharraf, Saudi producer and photographer, The Stock aims to empower Saudi photographers by providing them with an accessible platform, where they can showcase and sell their visual content.

• The Stock provides innovators, professionals, and business owners with on-demand high-quality visual content.

• The new funding will allow The Stock to add new offerings and develop its platform.

Press release:

KSA-based visual content platform, The Stock has announced closing its first investment round. The Pre-Seed funding rounding was capped at around $667,000 and was led by VEST Investment Company with the participation of a key angel investor group. 

Founded in the second quarter of 2021, by  Saudi producer and photographer Abdullah Al Musharraf, the platform aims to empower talents and create supporting opportunities for Saudi photographers, by allowing them to share and sell their visual content in a professional and accessible space; launched in alignment with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030: believing in the role of Saudi youth and investing in their talents. 

Even though fintech and food & beverage have taken the lead as the 2 most funded sectors in Saudi Arabia as of the first half of the year, the VC ecosystem in KSA seems to be invested in good ideas no matter how early the startup stage could be. As a matter of fact, based on MAGNiTT’s H1 2021 Saudi Venture Capital Report, 82 per cent of the 54 deals in H1 2021 were closed by early-stage startups, alongside top multi-million dollar funding rounds.

The Stock allows innovators, professionals, and business owners to work with on-demand high-quality visual content. In creating media communication assets, KSA-based communicators had a visual gap where image stock platforms like Shutterstock or Envato had a visual disconnect culturally, socially, and aesthetically from the real dynamics in KSA. The KSA-based platform provides a solution that enhances the aesthetics of ideas and reflects the Saudi culture offering options such as images, videos, graphics, logos, and more. 

The KSA-based startup will utilise its newly acquired funds to further develop its platform and offerings. On this occasion, the founder and CEO Abdullah Al Musharraf expressed contempt with the funding round and his vision for the platform “Our goals are vast, we know that creators are the wealth of the nation, and providing a supportive platform for them will inspire many to develop and produce, and this will contribute to enriching the local visual content to reflect our true identity. And we look forward  to being The largest encyclopedia and the first reference for Saudi professional photos soon.”