From Riyadh to the World: LEAP Evolves into a Global Tech Movement as It Prepares for Its Fifth Edition Next Week
Riyadh, August 29, 2026, SPA -- Over the past four years, LEAP has evolved beyond the concept of a technology conference to become a global movement bringing together technology and AI leaders, investors, innovators, and entrepreneurs.
It has also emerged as a platform for major investments, partnerships, and high-impact projects, with the total value of launches and investments announced across its four editions in Riyadh exceeding $44.2 billion.
LEAP’s rapid growth reflects the support and empowerment extended to the communications, technology, and artificial intelligence sectors by His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister. This support has fostered a competitive digital environment that has helped attract investment and advanced technologies while strengthening the Kingdom’s position as a global hub for innovation and the digital
economy in the intelligent era.
In July 2026, LEAP expanded its reach to Asia with the launch of LEAP East in Hong Kong, marking the movement’s first international edition since its inception in Riyadh. The expansion underscored LEAP’s transformation from an annual event hosted by the Kingdom into a Saudi-born platform with a global presence, connecting technology and investment ecosystems across the Middle East and Asia.
As the fifth edition approaches in Riyadh, LEAP continues to build on its accumulated successes and growing economic impact, once again bringing the world together around the latest technologies, opportunities, and investments shaping the future.
LEAP’s journey began in 2022, when its inaugural edition welcomed more than 100,000 visitors, with the participation of over 500 speakers, 700 exhibitors, 403 startups, and more than 330 investors.
The first edition saw launches and investments valued at $6.4 billion, providing an early indication of the event’s ability to attract global capital and companies, connect innovators and entrepreneurs with investors, and transform promising technology ideas into scalable economic opportunities.
In 2023, LEAP continued its growth with its second edition, as attendance rose to more than 172,000 visitors, an increase of over 70% compared with the inaugural edition. More than 700 speakers, 900 exhibitors, 500 startups, and over 1,026 investors participated.
The value of announced launches and investments in the second edition rose to $9.5 billion, representing growth of nearly 48% year on year. This reflected the growing confidence of the global technology and investment community in the Kingdom, as well as LEAP’s expanding role in building partnerships, attracting investment, and supporting the growth of technology companies and startups.
LEAP 2024 marked another major leap in its journey, welcoming more than 215,000 visitors, an increase of 25% compared with the previous edition. It also brought together more than 1,100 speakers, 1,800 exhibitors, over 600 startups, and 1,600 investors.
The value of launches and investments during the third edition reached $13.4 billion, representing growth of nearly 41% compared with 2023 and more than double the value recorded during the inaugural edition. This brought the total value of launches and investments across the first three editions to $29.3 billion.
The results of that edition reflected LEAP’s evolution from a large-scale technology event into a global platform with significant economic and investment impact, bringing together major companies, investors, and innovators while showcasing the latest developments in artificial intelligence, cloud computing, smart cities, fintech, healthtech, edtech, space, and gaming.
The fourth edition in 2025 took LEAP’s journey to a new level, welcoming more than 200,000 visitors and bringing together more than 1,000 speakers, 1,800 exhibitors, and over 680 startups as part of a global program featuring industry leaders, experts, investors, and decision-makers.
The edition saw the announcement of investments and projects valued at $14.9 billion, focused on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data centers, and advanced technology infrastructure, with the participation of several leading global companies, including Lenovo, Google, Qualcomm, Salesforce, Tencent Cloud, Databricks, and SambaNova.
These investments contributed to the development of AI infrastructure, the advancement of national capabilities, the growth of technology startups, and the acceleration of innovation, further demonstrating the Kingdom’s attractiveness for high-value investments and reinforcing its position as the largest digital economy in the Middle East and North Africa.
With the results of the fourth edition included, the total value of announced launches and investments across LEAP’s four editions exceeded $44.2 billion. The annual value of announcements rose from $6.4 billion in 2022 to $14.9 billion in 2025, representing growth of approximately 133%.
LEAP’s figures demonstrate sustained growth in both its scale and impact. The number of exhibitors increased from more than 700 at the inaugural edition to over 1,800 at both the third and fourth editions, while the number of speakers doubled from more than 500 to over 1,000.
The number of startups rose from more than 403 in 2022 to over 680 in 2025, while investor participation grew from more than 330 at the inaugural edition to 1,600 at the third edition, reflecting LEAP’s expanding role in connecting startups with capital, markets, and global expertise.
Following four editions in Riyadh, LEAP entered a new phase of international expansion with the inaugural edition of LEAP East, held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from July 8 to 10, 2026, in partnership with the Innovation, Technology and Industry Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The edition attracted more than 25,000 visitors, 450 exhibitors, and over 600 investors, bringing together technology leaders, investors, and startup founders from Asia and the Middle East.
Saudi technology companies also participated, showcasing their solutions and innovations to global markets.
LEAP East embodied LEAP’s expansion from Riyadh onto the global stage and its role in building a technology and investment bridge between the Middle East and Asia, enabling startups to access new markets and strengthening collaboration in artificial intelligence, advanced technologies, and entrepreneurship.
The selection of Hong Kong as the exclusive home of LEAP’s Asian edition for the next three years further confirmed that LEAP is no longer an event tied to a single place or date, but a global technology movement born in the Kingdom whose impact has expanded to international innovation and investment ecosystems.
Riyadh is now preparing to host the fifth edition of LEAP from August 31 to September 3, 2026, at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham, under the theme “Into New Worlds.” The event is organized by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, and Tahaluf.
The fifth edition will bring together more than 1,000 global speakers and experts, over 1,800 technology companies, more than 600 startups, and over 1,900 investors and venture capital representatives.
The upcoming edition will explore the latest trends shaping the future of technology, led by artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure, data, cybersecurity, fintech, healthtech, smart cities, energy and climate, space, gaming, sports technology, and digital commerce.
The fifth edition will also feature a range of dedicated spaces and experiences, including LEAP Connect for building connections and partnerships, the Sports Tech Hub to explore the future of sports technology, the World Tech Zone to showcase global innovations, and LEAP Studios for live content creation, alongside programs for startups and investors and platforms for announcing investments, agreements, and technology initiatives.
LEAP’s journey stands as a model of a Saudi-born movement with global impact, extending far beyond hosting events to contribute to attracting investment and advanced technologies, empowering talent and entrepreneurs, supporting the expansion of startups, and strengthening the Kingdom’s presence in the global digital economy.
-- SPA
