Saudi Arabia’s investment landscape is evolving with significant funding activities across various sectors. Recently, Aramco Ventures spearheaded a $30 million Series A funding round for Spiritus, a climate tech startup based in the United States. Other notable participants in this funding round included Khosla Ventures, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America, and TDK Ventures.

According to ArabNews, the investment aims to support Spiritus in scaling its direct air capture technology, which is designed to mitigate carbon emissions from data centers and industrial construction while facilitating expansion. Charles Cadieu, the CEO and co-founder of Spiritus, emphasized the urgent need for solutions to counteract the carbon emissions associated with the rising demand for data centers and heavy industries. He stated, “Our DAC technology brings large-scale decarbonization within reach. This funding advances our vision of supporting America’s explosive growth while keeping emissions in check.”

Bruce Niven, the executive managing director of strategic venturing at Aramco Ventures, highlighted the potential of direct air capture in decarbonizing hard-to-abate industry sectors. He noted that until now, such technology has been prohibitively expensive. Niven expressed excitement about partnering with Spiritus to bring this essential technology to market, saying, “Breakthrough approaches like Spiritus are needed. We are excited to partner with Spiritus and bring this important technology to market.”

This funding round reflects a broader trend in the region, where industry leaders are actively driving innovation and investment beyond the Middle East and North Africa region.