The Catalyst

sdaia.gov.sa · Compute · 1 record · JSON

The Catalyst Compute

caveatemailno cardDwrite-gated

sdaia.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Initiatives/Pages/Accelerator.as · cloud VM · compute/the-catalyst · JSON · compare

Free tier	A ten-week in-person incubation in Riyadh for 15 startups with 'No equity taken', 200 consulting hours, 20 or more mentors, 10 or more training modules, incubation space and a demo day, with applications closing 5 November 2026. The related GAIA track carries 'financial grants totaling 150,000 SAR provided by the National Technology Development Program', and the three-day hackathon that feeds the accelerator states 'the hackathon is open to individuals and teams with no commercial registration required'. unit none; metered on wall-clock; accelerator
Price	none stated
Per-object cap	not applicable
Retention	not applicable
Egress	not stated
Identity	email not published
Limits	write-gated The accelerator asks only for 'AI-native startups', 'A working business model with early traction or sales' and 'A founding team able to commit to the full ten weeks', but selection is competitive at 15 places and delivery is in person in Riyadh, so the constraint is presence and traction rather than a document. source The accelerator asks only for 'AI-native startups', 'A working business model with early traction or sales' and 'A founding team able to commit to the full ten weeks', but selection is competitive at 15 places and delivery is in person in Riyadh, so the constraint is presence and traction rather than a document.
Binding	write-gated The accelerator asks only for 'AI-native startups', 'A working business model with early traction or sales' and 'A founding team able to commit to the full ten weeks', but selection is competitive at 15 places and delivery is in person in Riyadh, so the constraint is presence and traction rather than a document.
Interface	unknown inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed
Tooling	not stated
Composes with	The hackathon is the only entry point that asks for neither a company nor a fee: it feeds a qualified path into the accelerator, and the accelerator feeds the SAR 150,000 GAIA grant, so the three form a ladder an individual can start on tonight. It breaks at the ten-week in-person residency, which needs a Riyadh presence for the full programme.
Reliability	no reliability event recorded
Notes	The SAR 150,000 attaches to GAIA, and GAIA is the part that is not open: a third-party programme tracker records it as dormant with 'no current intake or cohort dates' as of September 2026, which matches SDAIA's own accelerator page naming no GAIA cycle. So the reachable step is the accelerator with no published cash, and the funded step has no published window. Three readings were considered. (a) The accelerator includes a grant: refuted, its benefits list names incubation, mentors, consulting hours and space, with no cash line. (b) The hackathon is open to a non-resident individual: confirmed for registration, but the hackathon is 'In person' in Riyadh for three days, so travel is implicit. (c) The accelerator requires commercial registration at onboarding: unresolved, the eligibility list does not name it and the onboarding terms were not read. What would settle the funding question: a GAIA intake announcement, which no page read carries.
Evidence rung	documented
Checked	2026-10-22 (live); stale on 2026-11-21

Evidence (5)

date	source	what it proved
2026-10-22	sdaia.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Initiatives/Pages/Accelerator.as	'Ten weeks of intensive incubation ending in a demo day in front of investors'; 'No equity taken'; 'Applications close 5 November 2026'; '15 Startups', '200 Consulting hours', quoted
2026-10-22	sdaia.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Initiatives/Pages/Accelerator.as	'Who this track is for: AI-native startups, A working business model with early traction or sales, A founding team able to commit to the full ten weeks', quoted
2026-10-22	sdaia.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Initiatives/Pages/The-Catalyst.a	'Do I need a registered company? No. The hackathon is open to individuals and teams with no commercial registration required', quoted from the collapsed FAQ, read through the broker search snippet for that URL because the accordion does not render
2026-10-22	sdaia.gov.sa/en/MediaCenter/Initiatives/Pages/The-Catalyst.a	the hackathon runs '3 days' for '100 Expected participants' and '26+ Teams', and participants leave with 'A qualified path into The Catalyst AI Accelerator', quoted
2026-10-22	sdaia.gov.sa/en/Investment/Pages/BusinessAccelerators.aspx	'The accelerator offers financial grants totaling 150,000 SAR provided by the [National Technology Development Program]', quoted

More fields (1)

{
 "wave2": {
  "class": "government-accelerator",
  "free_tier_kind": "accelerator",
  "shape": {
   "vcpu": null,
   "ram_gib": null,
   "gpu_class": null,
   "gpu_count": null
  }
 }
}

Unknown or withheld values (10)

$.egress.metered egress-unknown
$.egress.terms not-stated
$.identity_cost.detail process
$.interface interface-unknown
$.per_object_cap.notes process
$.per_object_cap.stated not-applicable
$.reliability_note none-observed
$.retention.notes process
$.retention.stated not-applicable
$.tooling not-stated