Saudi Arabia’s Technology, Trade and Finance Momentum Accelerates

This week the Kingdom's momentum arrived on four fronts at once. The fifth edition of LEAP opens on 31 August and runs to 3 September at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham, north of the capital, under the theme To New Worlds, convening more than 1,800 technology companies, more than a thousand speakers and global experts, more than 600 startups and more than 1,900 investors and venture fund representatives. Alongside it, the General Authority for Statistics reported wholesale and retail trade operating revenues up 3.2% year on year in the second quarter with sector wages up 9.0%; the Saudi Central Bank opened a 30-day consultation on new supply chain finance rules; and Riyadh Air and Saudia launched the first phase of their cooperation agreement, the sector's first digital partnership. Technology, consumption, credit and connectivity all moved in the same week.

Technology: LEAP 2026 Convenes 1,800 Companies, 600 Startups and 1,900 Investors in Riyadh

Saudi Arabia is hosting the fifth edition of the global technology event LEAP from 31 August to 3 September 2026, under the theme To New Worlds, at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham to the north of Riyadh. The programme brings more than a thousand speakers and global experts together with more than 1,800 technology companies, more than 600 startups and more than 1,900 investors and representatives of venture capital funds, roughly three capital allocators for every startup on the floor. The organisers frame the edition as reinforcing the event's role in forming partnerships, attracting investment and opening new horizons for the growth of technology companies and entrepreneurs.

The timing places LEAP in the middle of an already active venture cycle. Saudi Arabia recorded 72 venture deals in the first half of 2026, around 34% of all MENA transactions, and information and communication was among the fastest growing licence categories in the second quarter, with 753 investment licences issued against 272 a year earlier. The companies convening this week are arriving into a market that is registering new technology businesses at pace, on a digital infrastructure base ranked first among G20 countries in the ICT Development Index.

For investors, this is the most efficient screening window of the Saudi technology year. Six hundred companies presenting into a room of 1,900 allocators compresses months of origination into four days, term-sheet conversations begin in Riyadh rather than in London, Dubai or the Bay Area, and the depth of the venture market behind the event is what makes those four days worth clearing the calendar for.

Domestic Trade: Wholesale and Retail Operating Revenues Rise 3.2% as Wages Climb 9.0%

The General Authority for Statistics reported that the overall operating revenue index for the wholesale and retail trade sector rose 3.2% in the second quarter of 2026 against the same quarter last year, with growth of 0.6% on a quarterly basis against the first quarter. Retail trade excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles led the way at 5.2% year on year, wholesale trade excluding motor vehicles and motorcycles rose 0.8%, and the sale and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles added 2.7%.

The labour picture strengthened alongside revenues. The compensation of employees index for the wholesale and retail trade sector rose 9.0% year on year in the second quarter, comfortably ahead of revenue growth, while the car sales index rose 0.6% year on year and 0.9% against the first quarter. The Authority reads the quarter as continued momentum in commercial activity, supported by revenue growth, rising electronic sales and higher employee compensation.

For investors, this is the consumption engine behind the investment cycle. Retail outpacing wholesale points to demand at the till rather than inventory building, wages rising 9.0% put more spending power into the same channel, and a wholesale and retail sector expanding on both quarterly and annual measures gives consumer-facing operators, logistics providers and payment platforms a widening base to underwrite.

Regulation: SAMA Opens 30-Day Consultation on Supply Chain Finance Rules

The Saudi Central Bank published its draft Rules for Practising Supply Chain Finance for public consultation through the Istitlaa platform of the Saudi Center for Competitiveness and Business, inviting views from interested parties and specialists over a 30-day window. Comments will be studied once the period closes, ahead of adoption of the final text, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

The draft sits within SAMA's supervisory role over the finance sector and its continuing work to develop the financial sector, safeguard its stability and sustainability, raise the effectiveness and flexibility of financial transactions across commercial sectors and encourage innovation in financial services. Its purpose is to set the standards and procedures governing the practice of supply chain finance activity and supply chain finance brokerage activity, in a way that enables the growth of the supply chain finance sector in the Kingdom.

For investors, a dedicated licensing framework is what turns working capital finance into an investable asset class. Regulating both the finance activity and the brokerage activity creates a clear route to market for fintech platforms, banks and non-bank funders, and gives corporates and their suppliers a supervised channel for receivables and payables financing at a moment when trade revenues and licence formation are both expanding.

Aviation: Riyadh Air and Saudia Launch the Sector's First Digital Partnership

Riyadh Air, the Kingdom's new national carrier and a Public Investment Fund company, and Saudia announced the launch of the first phase of their strategic cooperation agreement in the aviation sector, described as the first digital partnership of its kind in the industry. The step extends the strategic memorandum of understanding signed at the Dubai Airshow in 2023, which established a comprehensive framework for cooperation between the two carriers covering codeshare agreements and loyalty programme benefits, in support of Saudi Vision 2030 targets for aviation.

The first phase is technical at its core. Riyadh Air has established a connection with Saudia's passenger services system, allowing both carriers to operate the codeshare agreement inside their own technology environments and giving their guests broader and more integrated connection options, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Integrating at the reservation-system layer rather than the commercial layer alone is what allows the partnership to scale across networks.

For investors, two national carriers sharing a digital backbone is how the Kingdom's aviation strategy converts capacity into connectivity. Codeshare inside a linked passenger services platform means each airline sells the other's network as its own, lifting load factors and route viability without new aircraft, and it sets a template for the loyalty, distribution and ancillary integration that follows in later phases.

Read together, the week describes an economy strengthening every channel through which growth travels. Riyadh convenes the companies, founders and capital of the technology sector in a single venue; wholesale and retail revenues rising 3.2% with wages up 9.0% show the consumption base broadening beneath them; SAMA's supply chain finance rules build the credit plumbing that lets suppliers and corporates fund that trade; and two national carriers now integrated at the systems level widen the network that carries goods, visitors and business into the Kingdom.

For investors, the thesis sharpens: Saudi Arabia is adding capacity to its technology, consumer, financing and aviation channels in the same quarter, and the opening days of September are the clearest window in which that alignment becomes visible in one place.

Sources

• LEAP 2026 organisers, via Saudi press reports — Fifth edition of LEAP, Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center, Malham, 31 August to 3 September 2026: theme, speakers, participating technology companies, startups and investors

• Ministry of Investment (MISA) / SVC — Economic and Investment Monitor, Q2 2026: venture capital deals and MENA comparison, investment licences by activity, and global index rankings

• General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT) — Wholesale and Retail Trade Operating Revenue, Compensation of Employees and Car Sales indices, Q2 2026

• Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), via Saudi Press Agency (SPA) — Draft Rules for Practising Supply Chain Finance released for public consultation on the Istitlaa platform, 30-day comment period, August 2026

• Riyadh Air / Saudia, via Saudi Press Agency (SPA) — Launch of the first phase of the strategic cooperation agreement, passenger services system connection and codeshare implementation, August 2026