STC Ventures adds two new partners to its investment team

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Pictured (left to right): Ruwais Al Riyadh and Angus Paterson, Partners, STC Ventures.

STC Ventures is pleased to announce the addition of two new partners to its investment team, Angus Paterson and Riyadh Al Ruwais.

Angus Paterson joins as a Partner from twofour54. Angus’ background is in venture capital investment and corporate finance advisory, focused on start-up, early and growth stage businesses in the broader TMT space. Most recently Angus was responsible for setting up and leading the venture capital activities of Abu Dhabi based twofour54 (the Abu Dhabi Media Zone authority), successfully establishing it as a well-recognized name in regional start-up – growth capital funding circles, tasked with providing sector specialist funding and support to help develop the Middle East’s entrepreneur base, in digital media, media and entertainment. Previously Angus worked for: the ventures division of Ingenious Media, a UK based media investment and advisory business, targeting growth capital deals across the broader media/digital sectors; Genesis Investments, a specialist fund providing early stage finance to growing media businesses in the UK; and the TMT sector corporate finance practice of Arthur Andersen (latterly Deloitte), where he also trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Angus will be full time based in STC Venture’s Dubai office.

Riyadh Al Ruwais joins as a Operating Partner from STC Group. Riyadh has over 17 years’ management and investment experience in the telecom’s industry. Most recently Riyadh worked as Portfolio Management Director for STC Group, evaluating and recommending investments, diversification and liquidation strategies, performing valuations and financial analysis, analyzing risk, measuring the financial and operational performance of STC subsidiaries and advising directors and board members on financial matters. Riyadh managed the establishment of a number of investments for STC Group, including Intigral, an end-to-end solution provider focused on delivering digital media content services to regional telecommunication operators, as well as a call centre company to outsource STC’s call centre business, and also the establishment and structuring of the STC Ventures Fund. Prior to this Riyadh worked in STC Group as Future Mobile Technology Director, responsible for identifying and recommending new technologies & services. Riyadh will be full time based in STC Venture’s Riyadh office.

Commenting on the new additions, Antoine Garrigues, Managing Partner of Iris Capital and STC Ventures said “We are delighted to welcome two seasoned industry professionals to the STC Ventures team, and look forward to an acceleration of our investment activity with the expanded team resource”.

About STC Ventures
STC Ventures is a venture capital fund, independently managed by Iris Capital Management, whose anchor investor is the STC Group. We are focused on equity investments that will help to build companies in the information technology, telecommunications, internet and digital media/entertainment sectors. One of the key objectives of our fund is to support the development of innovative technology companies in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, Levant, North Africa and Turkey, in addition to funding globally minded international companies seeking capital and access to the MENA region and other exciting, emerging markets.
Website: www.stcventures.com

About Iris Capital
Iris Capital is a pan-European venture capital fund manager specializing in media, telecoms, internet and IT. Since its inception in 1986, the Iris Capital team has invested more than €870 million. Iris Capital targets opportunities in service or technology companies seeking growth capital in order to realize their strategy. Iris provides active support to its portfolio companies on the basis of its strong sector specialization and experience. Based in Paris and Dusseldorf, the Iris Capital team has invested to date in 18 European countries.
Website: www.iriscapital.com

About STC Group
STC Group is the largest telecommunications company in the MENA region, based on market capitalization, total revenue and number of employees, and was recently ranked in the top 20 mobile networks in the world. The Group owns and operates the largest and most advanced mobile infrastructure and broadband services in the Middle East and has made major investments with global reach in various continents, operating in Turkey, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Africa.
Website: www.stc.com.sa