Five years of LEAP: from idea to world-changing platform

Five years is a significant stretch of time in the tech industry. It’s long enough for ideas to be tested, for teams to form and reform, and for trust to compound. 

As we head towards the fifth edition of LEAP, we’re taking a moment to recognise what it has taken to build a platform that now belongs to a global community.

Mike Champion and Annabelle Mander co-created LEAP in 2020, with partners at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones. 

It was an idea, a serious ambition – to create a global technology platform in Riyadh. But there was no tried-and-tested route to make that happen, and nobody knew exactly what the outcome would look like. 

So as a team, we immersed ourselves in the process of building in public. We learnt by doing – and learnt to pivot and refine at speed. We relied on partnerships, data, innovation, and quite a bit of courage. 

The people behind the platform

As Annabelle recently pointed out, there’s a simple way to measure scale in the event team – WhatsApp. “If you want to understand what it really takes to deliver LEAP, you look at the group chat,” she said. 

The first edition of LEAP was delivered by 26 people. And with the support of partners, suppliers, and collaborators, those 26 made it happen. As LEAP moves towards its fifth edition, there are now 125 people in the LEAPers WhatsApp group, all working towards the same goal. 

The original 26 are still part of that journey – now colleagues, collaborators, and, over time, friends. In an industry that often moves quickly on to the next thing, that continuity is important to us.

Early signs of global demand 

By the time we opened the doors of that first edition of LEAP in 2022, demand was already clear. The inaugural event attracted more than 100,000 registered attendees, alongside hundreds of exhibitors, thousands of start-ups, and a packed speaker programme. It was an early sign that there was a global appetite for a technology platform of this scale, rooted in Saudi Arabia.

LEAP 2025: scale, shared

Fast forward to LEAP 2025, and that has compounded. The fourth edition brought together around 200,000 industry professionals in Riyadh. We welcomed 825 first-time exhibitors and attracted more than 1,900 investors, nearly three quarters of whom travelled from overseas. 

Across the event, more than USD $15 billion in confirmed and committed on-site investments were announced, spanning areas including AI, data centres, and smart energy. The estimated economic impact for Riyadh and Saudi Arabia reached $820 million.

For us, these numbers are markers of how broad the LEAP community has become. Attendees, exhibitors, speakers, sponsors, investors, start-ups, scale-ups, and delivery teams all show up with different goals – and increasingly, they find that they can enable each other to reach those goals. Everyone in this community lifts someone else up. 

From event to infrastructure

You can also see LEAP’s evolution in its physical footprint. The event’s home at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Centre in Malham reflects the scale we’ve reached, and our multi-year tenancy and venue investment enables us to plan for the future. 

Since 2022, Tahaluf events (collectively) have delivered $10 billion in economic impact, with projections reaching $20 billion by 2027. That sense of permanence benefits everyone involved, from returning exhibitors to first-time attendees.

What LEAP at five represents

At five, LEAP represents belonging, momentum, and collective effort.

It has become a place people return to year after year; where conversations turn into collaborations, and where progress is shaped by many hands. 

So as we head into this fifth edition, our focus is on continuing to show up – for the community that has grown around LEAP, and for the next chapter still to be written. 

Whether you attend, exhibit, speak, sponsor, invest, or support behind the scenes, LEAP is changed by your presence.