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Best of LinkedIn: FII 9th Edition 2025 · Best of LinkedIn: Strategy, M&A & Investments

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: provided by Thomas Allgaier and Frennus.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Based on the most relevant LinkedIn posts talking about the FII ninth edition, twenty twenty five, Frennus specializes in B to B market research for strategy and consulting teams with a focus on tech and ICT.
• 0:15
  Speaker 0: Welcome to the deep dive.
• 0:17
  Speaker 0: Today we're taking a look at the future investment initiative in RIA, the FII ninth edition, twenty twenty five.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: And our mission here is really to deliver the strategic insights that professionals in our world M&A, private equity strategy, really need to know.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Because this wasn't a typical conference.
• 0:34
  Speaker 0: No, not at all.
• 0:35
  Speaker 0: It felt like a definitive signal.
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  Speaker 0: The whole focus seems to have decisively shifted.
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  Speaker 0: From
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  Speaker 1: vision to execution.
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  Speaker 1: That was the phrase we saw everywhere.
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  Speaker 0: It's a huge shift.
• 0:43
  Speaker 0: I mean, the conversations weren't about these abstract promises anymore.
• 0:46
  Speaker 0: They were about treating capital markets, AI, and Saudi Arabia's transformation as well connected operational levers.
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  Speaker 0: We're
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  Speaker 1: past the... if it's going to happen.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's all about the how.
• 0:55
  Speaker 0: Exactly.
• 0:56
  Speaker 0: So our goal is pretty simple.
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  Speaker 0: We wanted to still the top trends that came out of FI-nine.
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  Speaker 1: We've clustered them around a few key themes.
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  Speaker 1: First, the new architecture of capital flows, then AI becoming actual infrastructure, and finally, the kingdom's own pivot to project delivery.
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  Speaker 0: Okay, so let's jump right into that first one.
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  Speaker 0: because it really does impact every valuation model out there, the new architecture of capital and private markets.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and the consensus seemed to be that the old liquidity models just aren't working.
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  Speaker 1: in this, you know, sustained high-rate environment we're in.
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  Speaker 0: They're not, and the solution everyone was pointing to is private credit.
• 1:32
  Speaker 0: We've talked about it before, but FI-IX really cemented its status.
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  Speaker 0: It's
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  Speaker 1: the essential tool now for financing growth.
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  Speaker 0: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 0: But it demands discipline.
• 1:41
  Speaker 0: David B. Golub from Golub Capital, he really highlighted this.
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  Speaker 0: He emphasized that their focus is on lending to, how did he put it?
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  Speaker 1: Resilient businesses and resilient industries.
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  Speaker 0: Exactly.
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  Speaker 0: and crucially backed by top quality private equity sponsors.
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  Speaker 0: It's a very specific risk mitigated way of deploying capital.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: It's all about selectivity and strength.
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  Speaker 1: And if you look at who's setting that agenda, who's deploying that capital, you have to talk about sovereign wealth funds.
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  Speaker 0: They're definitely not the quiet co-investors they used to be.
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  Speaker 0: Katie Cough of TCW noted they're now seen as active architects of global capital flows.
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  Speaker 1: Not just passive asset owners anymore.
• 2:19
  Speaker 0: Not at all.
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  Speaker 0: This long-term patient capital is fundamentally reshaping the investment map, you know, pushing us towards a multipolar world where regional capital really dictates the terms.
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  Speaker 1: And the sheer scale of private markets in general is just staggering.
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  Speaker 1: Faria and Sari Javed and some others were projecting that private capital, which is at what, It's projected to hit over twenty trillion in the next five years.
• 2:45
  Speaker 0: That's incredible.
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  Speaker 0: It basically means if your firm isn't fluent in private capital, you're already playing yesterday's game.
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  Speaker 1: So if private capital is the engine, FII showed us the new fuel.
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  Speaker 1: It's sort of evolving ideology about how that capital should be deployed.
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  Speaker 0: You're talking about the globalization theme.
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  Speaker 0: My call, Katz, made the point that globalization is being Deliberately reshaped
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  Speaker 1: especially in supply chains.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not just about cost efficiency anymore.
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  Speaker 1: It's about resilience and strategic advantage precisely.
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  Speaker 0: and that led right into This concept being called patriotic capitalism
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  Speaker 1: championed by figures like Donald Trump Jr.
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  Speaker 1: And Omid Malik the core idea being to deploy capital for national strength investing in your own talent, strategic industries.
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  Speaker 0: Which sounds like a pretty radical departure from just maximizing shareholder returns.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: It does.
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  Speaker 1: So how do you square that circle?
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  Speaker 1: Investors still need to see high returns, right?
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  Speaker 0: Well, that was the interesting part.
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  Speaker 0: They argued very strongly that this is not isolationism.
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  Speaker 0: It's about securing a strategic advantage.
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  Speaker 0: It means you invest domestically or regionally where it protects or enhances your national competitive edge.
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  Speaker 1: So the idea is you get superior, sustainable returns.
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  Speaker 1: by aligning with the long-term national interest.
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  Speaker 0: Exactly.
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  Speaker 0: And to handle capital on that scale, the financial plumbing itself needs an upgrade.
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  Speaker 0: This brings us to tokenization, which was a huge topic.
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  Speaker 1: It was positioned as the essential financial software update.
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  Speaker 1: The most definitive statement, I think, came from Larry Fink at BlackRock.
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  Speaker 0: Oh, absolutely.
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  Speaker 0: He basically said finance leaders are spending too much time on AI and not nearly enough on, quote, how quickly we're going to tokenize every financial asset.
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  Speaker 1: he called it the next wave of opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, coming from the head of the world's largest asset manager, that's a seismic statement.
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  Speaker 0: It is.
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  Speaker 0: And the practical consequences are all about efficiency and liquidity.
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  Speaker 0: Mark Nesif and Efi Palerini detailed how it works.
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  Speaker 0: You convert assets into secure digital tokens.
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  Speaker 1: And the key is that it shrinks settlement times from days down to seconds.
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  Speaker 0: Seconds.
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  Speaker 0: It cuts out layers of intermediaries, frictional costs.
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  Speaker 0: It's a massive unlock for institutional liquidity.
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  Speaker 1: And this isn't just a theory, right?
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  Speaker 0: No, we are well into implementation.
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  Speaker 0: I mean, J.N.I.
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  Speaker 0: Diamond's J.P.
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  Speaker 0: Morgan is already processing billions in tokenized collateral through its Kenexi's network.
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  Speaker 0: This is happening now.
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  Speaker 1: where it gets really interesting.
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  Speaker 1: Let's pivot to our second thing.
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  Speaker 1: AI is transitioned from talk to actual hardened infrastructure.
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  Speaker 0: Right.
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  Speaker 0: Hussein M. Dejani and Sandy Carter both noted this clear shift at FI-IX.
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  Speaker 0: It wasn't about experimenting with AI anymore.
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  Speaker 0: It was about scale deployment and... Importantly, governance.
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  Speaker 1: The big idea seems to be viewing compute, energy, and data as the new scarce resources.
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  Speaker 1: Sandy Carter framed AI as a central national infrastructure.
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  Speaker 0: Yeah, comparing it to ports or the power grid.
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  Speaker 0: You just can't rely on imports for something that strategic.
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  Speaker 1: Which explains Saudi Arabia's huge ambition to become an AI powerhouse.
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  Speaker 1: The poo-ifes humane venture, for instance.
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  Speaker 1: They're not just funding startups.
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  Speaker 0: No, they're building five hundred megawatt data centers.
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  Speaker 0: and developing the world's most advanced Arabic multimodal LLMs.
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  Speaker 0: They want to own their AI stack.
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  Speaker 1: That localization is key to controlling their own strategic data.
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  Speaker 1: And the investment is real.
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  Speaker 1: Eric Lozon pointed out the massive three billion dollar partnership between Humane and Blackstone backed AirTruck.
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  Speaker 0: And it goes beyond just data centers.
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  Speaker 0: They're into deep tech like NeuroFab, which is focused on next gen computing.
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  Speaker 0: What Amir Hussein was talking about, it's an intense strategy.
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  Speaker 1: So if the infrastructure is the hardware, then the human element is the software.
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  Speaker 1: The conversations weren't just about silicon.
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  Speaker 0: Not at all.
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  Speaker 0: There was an equal focus on governing AI ethically and preparing the workforce.
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  Speaker 0: Danish Nazir mentioned how Saudi Arabia is moving methodically from vision, to principles, to implementation, and then to regulation.
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  Speaker 1: Creating a predictable ecosystem.
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  Speaker 0: Exactly.
• 6:37
  Speaker 0: And even in applications like in HealthTech.
• 6:39
  Speaker 0: Kingsley Eye, Nudo's hero in AI is a good example of using it for personalized care.
• 6:44
  Speaker 0: There was a strong push for ethical guardrails.
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  Speaker 1: Fifa Ali was cited as reminding everyone that technology has to keep human dignity, well-being, and agency at its core.
• 6:54
  Speaker 0: which is a vital check on the tech sector's, you know, move fast and break things mentality.
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  Speaker 1: So AI is the new infrastructure, but the bottleneck is still human capital.
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  Speaker 1: Mark Minovich talked about preparing the next generation, developing adaptive minds.
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  Speaker 0: It's a huge challenge.
• 7:09
  Speaker 0: Haiyan Lee, the CEO of Squirrel AI, he pointed out that a third of jobs could be automated by twenty thirty.
• 7:15
  Speaker 0: That's from data shared by Monisha Contrapati.
• 7:17
  Speaker 0: A
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  Speaker 1: third.
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  Speaker 1: So what's the solution?
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  Speaker 0: His solution is to use AI itself for personalized learning and skills-based credentialing to rapidly reskill people.
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  Speaker 0: It's an urgent call to action.
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  Speaker 1: Which sets the stage perfectly for our third theme.
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  Speaker 1: This concentration of capital and technology brings us back to Riyadh itself.
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  Speaker 1: Eduardo Masiu-Paredes said you could feel the shift from vision setting
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  Speaker 0: to
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  Speaker 1: concrete project delivery.
• 7:44
  Speaker 0: The symbolism was pretty powerful too.
• 7:47
  Speaker 0: Magnuson eBay pointed out the irony of the Ritz Carlton.
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  Speaker 0: Once a detention site now hosting this global investment conference, it's like discipline finally catching up to the vision.
• 7:56
  Speaker 0: And
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  Speaker 1: the PIF, the Public Investment Fund, is clearly the engine driving that execution.
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  Speaker 1: We saw a really significant pivot in their strategy.
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  Speaker 0: This is a key takeaway.
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  Speaker 0: Rana Maristani and Omar Alinezi detailed how the PIS, what, nine hundred twenty five billion dollar war chest?
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  Speaker 1: Almost a trillion dollars.
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  Speaker 0: Is pivoting away from some of the longer term real estate ventures.
• 8:16
  Speaker 0: Yeah.
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  Speaker 0: Gene Abilama put it as less neo, more scaffolding.
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  Speaker 1: Towards what though?
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  Speaker 1: Towards
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  Speaker 0: high yield strategic investments.
• 8:22
  Speaker 0: They're targeting an aggressive seven and a half to eight percent annualized return.
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  Speaker 0: That
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  Speaker 1: is a very high target.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: for a sovereign fund of that size.
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  Speaker 1: What is that signal?
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  Speaker 0: It signals a huge demand for efficiency.
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  Speaker 0: Athermobium called it shift from capital abundance to capital efficiency.
• 8:37
  Speaker 0: So for foreign investors, the message is clear.
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  Speaker 0: The PAF is looking for partners.
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  Speaker 1: But those partners have to bring projects with massive scale, strategic alignment, and the potential for those high yield returns.
• 8:48
  Speaker 0: Exactly.
• 8:49
  Speaker 0: And we're seeing tangible results.
• 8:51
  Speaker 0: Charles Beale was showcasing how residential communities like ROSHN are moving forward quickly.
• 8:57
  Speaker 0: And it's also about scaling up premium experiences.
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  Speaker 1: Like in tourism, Kathy Wagstaff and Ciaran Mullen highlighted the dream of the desert, that five star luxury train set for twenty twenty six.
• 9:07
  Speaker 0: It's a high value experience driven strategy.
• 9:10
  Speaker 0: It fits the whole premium feel of the giga projects
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: and sustainability is a core part of that.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Beatrice Buffon mentioned how projects like AMALA are prioritizing resilient, low-carbon electricity supported by advanced battery storage.
• 9:24
  Speaker 0: That's built in from the ground up, though it's not without its challenges.
• 9:27
  Speaker 0: Riyadh Air's CEO, Tony Douglas, was very candid about how difficult meeting net zero targets in aviation is.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: But the commitment is there.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: And that complexity is why they're so open to partnerships.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Michael Matier detailed that collaboration between Namco and Young Ventures.
• 9:43
  Speaker 0: Right, a one hundred million dollar fund to bring twenty innovative companies in science and next-gen energy into Saudi Arabia, they're essentially co-investing to acquire strategic capability.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Which leads us right into our final theme.
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: The maturation of the whole VC and entrepreneurship ecosystem.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Philippa Hoshi said the renaissance startup scene is past just experimenting.
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  Speaker 1: It's attracting serious international attention now.
• 10:08
  Speaker 0: And the numbers are there.
• 10:09
  Speaker 0: Nor Swede pointed out that the Saudi venture ecosystem hit a record, one point three billion dollars raised by September.
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Which is tremendous velocity.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: But it also reveals where the opportunity is for investors.
• 10:21
  Speaker 0: The opportunity is in the gap.
• 10:22
  Speaker 0: Despite that growth, there's still a one point four billion dollar funding gap compared to say, series B financing in the US.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: So strong at the seed stage.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: but a need for late-stage growth equity to scale those regional champions.
• 10:36
  Speaker 0: Exactly.
• 10:37
  Speaker 0: That Series B gap is a huge signal to global growth investors, and the potential is there.
• 10:42
  Speaker 0: Just look at the story of Move, the mobility fintech from Lagos.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: Ibrahim Sagna and Dina Kamal detailed how they've scaled globally across five continents.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: It shows the ambition is there.
• 10:54
  Speaker 0: We're also seeing VCs getting more specialized.
• 10:57
  Speaker 0: Jan Lozek noted that deep tech demands more expertise and much longer time horizons than a typical sauce model.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: You need patient tailored capital.
• 11:06
  Speaker 0: And private equity is changing too.
• 11:08
  Speaker 0: Right.
• 11:08
  Speaker 0: Sarah Ronas said the focus is shifting to applying tech where the region has a competitive edge fintech, prop tech climate solutions.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: Which is why James Varela summed it up so well.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: The PE narrative is no longer by fixed cell.
• 11:21
  Speaker 0: It's bi-transform embed.
• 11:23
  Speaker 0: It's a structural re-engineering of the business, not just a financial flip.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: So this whole deep dive really confirms one powerful insight.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: FI-IX showed the world has entered what Nedam Bolzon called the era of execution.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: Where
• 11:35
  Speaker 0: capital, technology, and purpose all have to converge to get results.
• 11:39
  Speaker 0: Eric Lausanne put it perfectly.
• 11:41
  Speaker 0: The kingdom isn't just attracting investment, it's architecting the future of it.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: And the biggest takeaway, the thing for professionals to really focus on comes from Amith Jade.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: He said the most successful leaders in the next decade will be the ones who can bridge that gap between purpose, plus innovation, plus capital, plus policy.
• 12:00
  Speaker 0: That integration is the new roadmap.
• 12:02
  Speaker 0: If you enjoyed this episode, new episodes drop every two weeks.
• 12:05
  Speaker 0: Also, check out our other editions on private equity, strategy and consulting, venture capital, and M&A.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning in to The Deep Dive.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: Be sure to follow and subscribe wherever you get your content.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: We'll see you next time.