Noha Gad

In today's rapidly expanding financial world, investing goes far beyond simply buying stocks or bonds; it is about gaining access to exclusive deals that can grow your wealth in unique and powerful ways. These high-potential opportunities often depend on clear standards that prove your financial know-how and ability to handle risk. Accredited investors take center stage by providing essential funding to homegrown innovators, such as AI startups and renewable energy ventures, which power job creation, business expansion, and broad economic progress for whole communities.

What is an accredited investor?

An accredited investor is an individual or entity permitted by financial authorities to engage in trading of unregistered securities. These investors, who include high-net-worth individuals, banks, insurance companies, brokers, and trusts, meet specific financial criteria. Typically, they demonstrate financial sophistication through their income, net worth, asset size, or professional experience, thereby not requiring the regulatory protections designed for less experienced investors. Understanding the role and criteria for accredited investors can aid in navigating high-risk and high-reward investment opportunities.

Accredited investors have privileged access to pre-IPO companies, venture capital companies, hedge funds, angel investments, and various deals involving complex and higher-risk investments and instruments. These opportunities often deliver superior returns compared to public markets, as early-stage startups or undervalued private assets can appreciate dramatically before going public.

These investors can also spread risk across alternative assets like Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) or crowdfunding platforms, balancing traditional stocks and bonds for a more resilient portfolio.

Risks of accredited investor investments

Accredited investor investments often fail at high rates, leading to potential total loss of principal, unlike diversified public stocks with historical safeguards. These assets thrive on innovation but hinge on unproven business models in volatile sectors like tech or biotech, where market shifts can wipe out value overnight.

Investors may also face illiquidity challenges as private deals typically impose lock-up periods of 5 to 10 years, preventing sales during personal financial needs or market downturns, unlike liquid public markets, where you can exit positions daily.

Operational dependencies represent another major challenge facing accredited investors. Outcomes depend on founders' execution in opaque environments, where poor leadership, key personnel departures, or misguided pivots can derail even strong ideas, unlike public companies with shareholder oversight and analyst scrutiny. 

Qualification criteria for accredited investments

-Income threshold.  Individuals qualify as accredited investors if they have a consistent earning power to handle investment risks. This criterion targets professionals like executives or doctors whose salaries signal financial stability without relying solely on assets.

-Net worth standard. A net worth over $1 million also qualifies individuals or spouses jointly, calculated through assets minus liabilities, such as loans or mortgages. This measures overall wealth accumulation, appealing to entrepreneurs or inheritors with substantial holdings beyond everyday homes.

-Entity qualifications. Organizations automatically qualify as accredited investors if they own at least $5 million in assets, including banks, insurance companies, trusts, or family offices structured for investments. Certain non-profit organizations, employee benefit plans, and investment entities with savvy managers bypass individual tests.

Finally, accredited investor status serves as a powerful gateway to transformative investment landscapes, balancing elite privileges, such as exclusive private market access and diversification, against critical risks, including illiquidity, high failure rates, and limited oversight. By meeting stringent qualification criteria, whether through income, net worth, entity assets, or professional credentials, accredited investors can fuel innovation in dynamic ecosystems.

Kholoud Hussein 

Saudi Arabia’s fashion sector is no longer emerging quietly on the sidelines of the Kingdom’s economic transformation. It is stepping into the foreground—structured, financed, and increasingly measurable. The unveiling of the new identity of the Fashion Investment Fund, the first specialized investment vehicle of its kind in the Kingdom, marks a decisive moment in that transition. It signals a shift from cultural encouragement to industrial strategy, from fragmented creative output to a coordinated economic sector.

For policymakers, the message is clear: fashion is no longer just about aesthetics or cultural expression. It is about value chains, job creation, export potential, and the broader ambition of building a diversified economy under Vision 2030.

The numbers alone justify the shift. Saudi Arabia’s fashion market is estimated to exceed SAR 70 billion, with projections placing it closer to SAR 90 billion within the next two years. This growth is not incidental. It is underpinned by a young population with rising purchasing power, a rapidly expanding e-commerce ecosystem, and a cultural reawakening that places local identity at the center of consumption patterns. Fashion, in this context, has become both an economic driver and a cultural statement.

Yet for years, the sector lacked the infrastructure to translate demand into sustainable growth. Designers operated in isolation. Manufacturing was largely outsourced. Financing was limited and often ill-suited to the unique cycles of fashion businesses. The result was a market rich in talent but constrained in scale.

The redefined Fashion Investment Fund is designed to change precisely that equation.

A senior official involved in the Fund’s restructuring described the shift in pragmatic terms: “We are moving from supporting designers to building an industry. That means financing production, strengthening supply chains, and ensuring Saudi brands can compete globally—not occasionally, but consistently.”

From Creative Fragmentation to Industrial Coordination

The Saudi fashion industry’s trajectory over the past decade can be traced through a series of deliberate milestones. The establishment of the Ministry of Culture in 2018 and the creation of the Fashion Commission shortly thereafter laid the institutional foundation. Subsequent years saw the introduction of training programs, international showcases, and incubators aimed at nurturing local designers.

By 2022, Saudi brands were appearing with increasing frequency on global stages, from Paris to Milan. These appearances were symbolically significant, but they also exposed a structural gap: global visibility without sufficient production capacity at home.

Designers could attract attention, but scaling remained a challenge. Production often relied on international factories, adding cost, complexity, and time. Smaller brands, in particular, struggled to meet minimum order quantities or maintain consistent supply.

The Fashion Investment Fund’s new identity addresses this bottleneck directly. By channeling capital into local manufacturing and mid-scale production facilities, it seeks to anchor the industry domestically. Analysts estimate that localizing even a fraction of current production could reduce costs by up to 30%, while retaining billions of riyals within the national economy.

Startups Redefining the Business of Fashion

Parallel to these institutional developments, a new generation of Saudi startups is reshaping how fashion operates. No longer confined to traditional design houses, the ecosystem now includes technology-driven companies addressing inefficiencies across the value chain.

Fashion-tech platforms are introducing data-driven inventory management, AI-powered demand forecasting, and digital retail solutions tailored to local consumer behavior. Resale and rental platforms are tapping into the growing global demand for circular fashion, while logistics startups are optimizing last-mile delivery for fashion e-commerce.

This evolution reflects a broader shift: fashion in Saudi Arabia is becoming as much about systems and scalability as it is about design.

A Riyadh-based entrepreneur operating in this space noted, “The conversation has changed. Investors are not just asking about collections—they are asking about margins, supply chains, and data. That’s a sign the industry is maturing.”

Estimates suggest that more than 1,000 SMEs now operate within the Saudi fashion ecosystem, many of them startups. Their growth potential is significant, particularly as they integrate technology into traditionally labor-intensive processes.

Closing the Gaps: Financing, Skills, and Global Access

The challenges facing the sector remain substantial, but they are now more clearly defined—and increasingly addressed.

Financing has historically been one of the most critical gaps. Fashion businesses often require working capital for inventory cycles, a need that traditional funding models have struggled to accommodate. The Fund introduces tailored financial instruments designed specifically for these dynamics, offering both equity investment and flexible capital solutions.

Skills development is another priority. While creative talent is abundant, specialized expertise in pattern-making, textile engineering, and fashion business management remains limited. Training programs supported by the Fund aim to build this capability at scale.

Perhaps most importantly, the Fund is working to bridge the gap between local brands and global markets. International expansion requires more than design excellence; it demands regulatory compliance, branding sophistication, and logistical infrastructure. By facilitating partnerships with global fashion institutions, the Fund seeks to position Saudi brands within international supply chains rather than at their periphery.

Economic Impact and Strategic Alignment

The broader economic implications are significant. The fashion sector is expected to generate up to 100,000 jobs by 2030, spanning design, manufacturing, marketing, and retail. Its contribution to non-oil GDP is set to increase as part of the Kingdom’s goal of raising the cultural sector’s share to 3% of GDP.

Equally important is the sector’s role in advancing social objectives. Women lead a majority of fashion startups in Saudi Arabia, making the industry a key driver of female economic participation. This aligns directly with Vision 2030’s emphasis on inclusivity and workforce diversification.

As one industry executive observed: “Fashion sits at the intersection of culture and commerce. It allows Saudi Arabia to tell its story while building a sustainable economic sector.”

Global Attention and the Next Phase of Growth

Saudi Arabia’s ambitions in fashion are beginning to attract international attention. Global brands, textile manufacturers, and investors are exploring opportunities in the Kingdom, drawn by its scale, policy support, and growing consumer base.

The emergence of creative districts in Riyadh and large-scale developments such as NEOM adds another dimension, positioning fashion within broader innovation ecosystems. These environments are expected to host design studios, manufacturing facilities, and technology startups, further integrating the sector into the national economy.

Looking ahead, the trajectory appears increasingly defined. The combination of institutional support, targeted investment, and entrepreneurial momentum is transforming fashion from a fragmented market into a coordinated industry.

A Sector Coming Into Its Own

The rebranding of the Fashion Investment Fund is, at its core, a statement of intent. It reflects a recognition that creative industries can no longer be treated as peripheral to economic strategy. In Saudi Arabia, fashion is being positioned as a sector capable of generating revenue, creating jobs, and projecting cultural influence on a global scale.

The transition is still underway, and challenges remain. But the direction is clear. What was once a collection of individual efforts is becoming a structured, investable industry—one stitched together by policy, capital, and ambition.

And in that transformation lies a broader truth about the Kingdom’s economic future: diversification is not only being built in factories and energy projects. It is also being designed, produced, and scaled—one collection at a time.

Ghada Ismail

For years, the global digital economy has been built on a simple promise: move everything to the cloud. Data from phones, sensors, machines, and platforms would travel to centralized servers, be processed, and return with insights. That model worked well when speed was not critical, and data volumes were manageable.

Today, data is being generated everywhere, in factories, vehicles, hospitals, retail stores, and entire cities. And much of it needs to be processed instantly, not after a round trip to a distant data center. This is where Edge Computing comes in.

Edge computing is the practice of processing data closer to where it is created rather than sending it to centralized cloud infrastructure. Instead of relying on faraway servers, computation happens at or near the source, whether that is a sensor, a machine, a mobile device, or a local data node.

In Saudi Arabia, this shift is becoming especially important. As the Kingdom accelerates its digital transformation under Vision 2030, the demand for real-time intelligence across industries is rising fast. From smart cities to autonomous systems, edge computing is emerging as the invisible layer that makes this transformation possible.

The Shift from Cloud to Edge

Cloud computing is not disappearing. In fact, it remains the backbone of global digital infrastructure. But it has clear limitations when speed, scale, and immediacy are required.

One of the biggest challenges is latency. When data must travel to a centralized cloud region and back, even a few milliseconds of delay can matter. In applications like autonomous vehicles, industrial automation, or remote healthcare, that delay is not acceptable.

Bandwidth is another constraint. As billions of devices come online under the Internet of Things, continuously sending raw data to the cloud becomes inefficient and expensive. Not every piece of data needs to travel that far.

Edge computing solves these problems by complementing the cloud rather than replacing it. The cloud still handles heavy analytics, long-term storage, and training of large AI models. Edge systems handle immediate decision-making, filtering, and local processing.

This shift is tightly connected to three major technological trends shaping Saudi Arabia’s digital future.

First is artificial intelligence. AI systems increasingly require real-time inference at the point of action. Second is IoT growth, where sensors and connected devices generate constant streams of data. Third is real-time decision-making, which is becoming essential in sectors ranging from logistics to energy.

Together, these forces are pushing computing closer to the edge.

Why Saudi Arabia Is Positioned for Edge Computing

Saudi Arabia is not just adopting digital infrastructure; it is building it on a national scale.

Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom is investing heavily in becoming a global technology and innovation hub. This includes everything from smart infrastructure and digital government services to giga-projects designed around data-driven ecosystems.

Projects such as NEOM, the Red Sea development, and other smart city initiatives are designed from the ground up to rely on real-time data flows. These environments cannot function efficiently if every sensor, camera, or autonomous system must depend on distant cloud servers. They require distributed intelligence, which is exactly what edge computing provides.

Another key factor is data sovereignty. As digital systems become more critical to national infrastructure, there is a growing emphasis on keeping sensitive data within local borders. Edge computing enables localized processing, reducing reliance on external data centers while improving security and regulatory control.

In parallel, Saudi Arabia’s expanding cloud infrastructure, supported by global players and local providers, creates a strong foundation for edge-cloud hybrid systems. Rather than choosing between the cloud and the edge, the Kingdom is increasingly building an integrated ecosystem that uses both.

Key Use Cases Across Industries

The real impact of edge computing becomes clear when looking at how it is being applied across industries in Saudi Arabia. In the energy sector, particularly in large-scale oil and gas operations, vast volumes of operational data are generated across upstream and downstream systems. Edge computing architectures can enable faster monitoring of equipment, predictive maintenance, and real-time anomaly detection by processing data closer to the source rather than relying solely on centralized systems. This approach helps improve operational efficiency and reduce downtime across critical energy infrastructure.

In smart cities and giga-projects such as NEOM and the Red Sea developments, edge computing plays a foundational role. Autonomous transport systems, smart grids, surveillance networks, and environmental sensors all rely on instant data processing. Without edge infrastructure, the responsiveness required for these environments would not be achievable.

Healthcare is another area seeing rapid transformation. Real-time diagnostics, connected medical devices, and remote patient monitoring systems require instant data interpretation. Edge computing allows hospitals and healthcare providers to process patient data locally, reducing delays that could affect critical decisions.

In logistics and retail, edge computing supports automation in warehouses, real-time inventory tracking, and smarter supply chain management. Delivery fleets, for example, can benefit from instant route optimization based on live traffic and operational data.

The gaming and entertainment industry is also becoming a major beneficiary. Cloud gaming, augmented reality, and immersive digital experiences require ultra-low latency. Edge nodes placed closer to users significantly improve performance, enabling smoother gameplay and more responsive digital environments.

The Emerging Edge Ecosystem in Saudi Arabia

As demand grows, a new ecosystem of infrastructure and technology providers is beginning to take shape in Saudi Arabia and the wider region, supporting the shift toward distributed and edge-enabled computing.

Local players are laying much of the groundwork. Edarat Group is one example, offering data center engineering, cloud services, and edge AI capabilities, while also partnering with global firms to deploy modular infrastructure closer to where data is generated. This positions it as part of the emerging layer, enabling more distributed computing models.

Another company contributing to this foundation is Ezditek, which is investing in large-scale data center capacity and digital infrastructure, including projects linked to NEOM. While not exclusively focused on edge computing, such investments are essential in building the physical backbone that edge architectures depend on.

On the global side, specialized technology firms are also entering the Saudi market. EdgeCortix, for instance, is expanding into the Kingdom through the National Semiconductor Hub, bringing energy-efficient AI accelerator technologies designed specifically for edge environments. This reflects a broader industry shift toward embedding AI processing directly into devices and localized nodes, rather than relying solely on centralized cloud infrastructure.

Together, these companies represent an early-stage but rapidly evolving ecosystem that combines infrastructure providers, AI hardware innovators, and distributed computing platforms.

Challenges Slowing Adoption

Despite strong momentum, edge computing adoption in Saudi Arabia still faces several challenges.

One of the most significant is infrastructure cost. Deploying distributed edge nodes across a large geography requires substantial investment in hardware, connectivity, and maintenance. Unlike centralized cloud models, edge systems are physically dispersed, making them more complex to scale.

Another challenge is talent. Edge computing sits at the intersection of cloud engineering, networking, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. The demand for professionals with cross-disciplinary expertise is growing faster than supply, creating a skills gap that needs to be addressed through education and training.

Integration is also a technical hurdle. Most enterprises in Saudi Arabia are already operating on cloud platforms. Integrating edge systems with existing cloud architectures requires careful design to ensure consistency, security, and data synchronization.

Finally, the market is still in its early stages. While interest is high, large-scale deployments are still emerging, meaning that best practices, standards, and regulatory frameworks are still evolving.

The Future ahead

The next phase of edge computing in Saudi Arabia will likely be defined by convergence.

Edge and artificial intelligence are becoming deeply interconnected. Instead of sending data to the cloud for AI processing, models are increasingly being deployed directly at the edge. This allows systems to make decisions in real time, from autonomous machines to smart infrastructure.

At the same time, the Kingdom is expected to see a rise in localized data infrastructure. More edge data centers, micro data centers, and distributed computing nodes will emerge closer to population centers and industrial zones.

This evolution positions Saudi Arabia as a potential regional edge computing hub, not just a consumer of global technology but a producer and exporter of advanced digital infrastructure capabilities.

Investor interest is also expected to increase as the ecosystem matures. As edge use cases become more visible and commercially viable, startups and venture capital activity in this space will likely accelerate.

Conclusion: Edge as Invisible Infrastructure

Edge computing will not be something most people see or interact with directly. It will not be a visible platform or a consumer-facing application. Instead, it will function as invisible infrastructure, powering the systems that define modern life.

From smart cities that respond instantly to environmental changes, to autonomous systems that make split-second decisions, to digital services that operate without delay, edge computing will sit quietly beneath it all.

In Saudi Arabia, this shift is particularly significant. As the Kingdom builds one of the world’s most ambitious digital transformation agendas, edge computing is becoming one of its most essential enabling layers.

It is not replacing the cloud. It is completing it.

Shaimaa Ibrahim 

In a rapidly evolving hospitality landscape, extended-stay accommodation is emerging as one of the region’s most dynamic yet underserved segments. As workforce mobility rises and demand increases for flexible, long-term living solutions, traditional hospitality models are reaching their limits. Persistent pricing inefficiencies, fragmented supply, and the absence of enterprise-grade infrastructure continue to define a market that is still in the early stages of digital transformation.

In this exclusive interview, Osama Shawky, Founder and CEO of estaie, shares insights into how the company is redefining the extended-stay category through AI-driven pricing, platform-based infrastructure, and strategic supply aggregation. He discusses the key structural gaps in the market, the transformative role of AI in hospitality technology, and estaie’s ambition to position itself as a foundational infrastructure layer for extended stays across the region. Shawky also outlines the company’s growth strategy following its recent funding round, its expansion priorities in Saudi Arabia, and the regulatory and operational challenges shaping its path forward.

What key gaps exist in the Extended-Stay market, and how is estaie addressing them differently from traditional platforms?

The extended-stay market is fundamentally underserved. Monthly stays are treated as a secondary use case, pricing is static, and enterprise workflows are missing. estaie addresses these challenges by building a dedicated platform for stays ranging from 30 to 365 nights, combining AI-driven pricing, enterprise infrastructure, and aggregated supply. The most complex gap is pricing, which we are addressing through proprietary, patent-pending intelligence.

How is AI transforming hospitality tech, and which applications have the greatest impact on customer experience and operational efficiency?
AI is shifting hospitality from static distribution to real-time optimization. The biggest impact comes from dynamic pricing, demand forecasting, and the automation of booking and billing processes. In extended stays, AI is critical because it optimizes duration, pricing, and operations simultaneously.

How mature is the hospitality tech sector in the region, and where does estaie aim to position itself in this digital transformation?

The hospitality tech sector in the region is still in its early stages, especially in the extended-stay segment, where there is a heavy reliance on manual processes. This creates a clear opportunity. Our ambition is to position estaie as the infrastructure layer for extended stays across the region.

How are startups driving innovation in hospitality tech, and how can they redefine traditional business models?
Startups are shifting the model from asset-heavy to platform-driven. However, real innovation goes beyond user experience—it involves solving challenges around pricing, supply standardization, and enterprise integration. That’s where we are focused.

After your recent funding round, what are your top priorities for deploying capital, particularly in tech infrastructure and strategic partnerships?

We’re prioritizing defensibility. This includes investing in AI-driven pricing infrastructure, building enterprise integrations, and expanding supply through strategic partnerships. The objective is to create strong network effects early.

Why is the Saudi market a priority for expansion, and what opportunities are you targeting in Riyadh?
Saudi Arabia represents one of the largest pools of unmet demand globally for extended stays. Riyadh is becoming a hub for corporate relocation and project-based work, but the supply remains fragmented. We are targeting this demand-supply imbalance early.

What regulatory and operational challenges do you anticipate in Saudi Arabia, and how are you preparing to address them?

The main challenges revolve around classification, compliance, and billing structures. We are addressing them through local partnerships, regulatory alignment, and product localization. These complexities ultimately become barriers to entry.

What factors drive your strong monthly growth, and how did you quickly build a partner network of hundreds of hotels?

Our growth is driven by solving a high-value problem for both corporates and supply partners. We deliver better pricing, higher occupancy, and a seamless experience. This alignment, combined with fast execution and low onboarding friction, has enabled rapid network expansion.

What is your strategic forecast for the future of the extended-stay market in the region?

We see extended stays becoming a distinct, technology-driven category within the hospitality sector, driven by workforce mobility and flexible living. The core challenge—pricing and standardization at scale—remains unsolved, and that’s where we are building our advantage.

Ghada Ismail

When a business hits a rough patch, the words “insolvency” and “bankruptcy” often get tossed around like they mean the same thing, but they don’t. Think of insolvency as a warning light flashing on your financial dashboard, while bankruptcy is the emergency brake pulled when that warning goes unheeded.

For entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners, knowing the difference isn’t just academic—it can mean the difference between saving your company and losing it entirely. Spotting trouble early gives you a chance to act, restructure, and steer your business back to stability before it’s too late.

What Is Insolvency?

Insolvency isn’t a sudden disaster; it’s a financial red flag. It happens when a person or business can’t pay debts on time. You might still own valuable assets, like property or inventory, but if cash isn’t flowing in fast enough to cover obligations, trouble is brewing.

There are two main types of insolvency. Cash flow insolvency happens when a business can’t meet immediate payments, even if it owns assets that could eventually cover debts. Balance sheet insolvency is more severe; it occurs when total liabilities outweigh total assets, meaning selling everything wouldn’t be enough to repay creditors.

The key thing to remember: insolvency is a financial condition, not a legal process. Many businesses go through temporary insolvency without ever entering court. With quick action—like renegotiating debts, restructuring operations, or securing new funding—recovery is often possible.

What Is Bankruptcy?

Bankruptcy, in contrast, is a legal procedure that a person or company initiates when debts have become unmanageable. Here, the court steps in to oversee how debts are handled, assets are distributed, or obligations are restructured.

Bankruptcy can take different forms. Liquidation means selling all assets to repay creditors and closing the business. Reorganization allows the company to continue operating while paying off debts under court supervision.

Put simply, bankruptcy is a legal response to insolvency, not the same as insolvency itself. Think of insolvency as the storm warning and bankruptcy as the life raft—if you ignore the warning, you may end up in court.

Why the Difference Matters

For business owners, confusing insolvency with bankruptcy can be costly. Insolvency is the stage where you still have options. Acting fast can prevent a full-blown bankruptcy. This could mean cutting unnecessary costs, renegotiating loan terms, pivoting your business model, or bringing in new investment.

Once bankruptcy proceedings start, control slips away. Creditors and the court decide your company’s fate, leaving little room for entrepreneurial maneuvering. Knowing where your business stands financially lets you act proactively instead of reactively.

Warning Signs You Can’t Ignore

Insolvency rarely hits overnight. It usually creeps in with small, manageable problems that grow if ignored.

Watch for persistent cash flow shortages, like delayed supplier payments or reliance on short-term borrowing. Declining profit margins combined with rising debt are also red flags. For startups, these signals are amplified—long periods of unprofitability and reliance on investor funding make sudden cash shortages more dangerous.

The earlier you spot these issues, the more options you have. Acting too late can force a company into bankruptcy even if it might have been saved.

Insolvency Doesn’t Always Mean Failure

Despite the scary terminology, insolvency doesn’t automatically mean the end. Many successful companies have faced insolvency, restructured, and bounced back stronger. The key is timing and strategy. Acting early—cutting costs, restructuring debt, and finding new revenue streams—can turn financial trouble into a turnaround story.

Wrapping Things Up…

Insolvency and bankruptcy are connected but not the same. Insolvency is a financial warning: you can’t pay your debts on time or owe more than you own. Bankruptcy is a legal response to insolvency when the situation becomes unsustainable.

For entrepreneurs, recognizing the difference is crucial. Insolvency is your chance to course-correct. Bankruptcy signals that the situation has escalated to the legal stage, often leaving you less control over your company’s future.

By spotting the warning signs early and taking decisive action, businesses can often navigate through financial challenges, recover, and even thrive. In finance, timing isn’t just important—it can save your business.

Kholoud Hussein 

In the world of venture capital, few topics stir as much debate as the question of whether investors should back startups led by a single founder. While the mythology of entrepreneurship often celebrates the lone genius—the visionary building a company from scratch—modern venture investing operates by a different logic. Capital today flows toward teams, not individuals, and the majority of VC firms openly acknowledge a preference for multi-founder startups. The trend is consistent across global markets, from Silicon Valley to Riyadh. The question is: why?

The answer lies in how investors assess risk, execution capacity, and long-term resilience. A sole-owned startup, no matter how promising the idea or how capable the founder, carries structural vulnerabilities that most investors consider too significant to ignore.

At the heart of the hesitation is the issue of concentration risk. Venture investments are already high-risk by nature, and relying on a single person to carry an entire company magnifies that risk substantially. If the founder becomes overwhelmed, burnt out, or unavailable—even temporarily—the entire business stalls. For VCs managing large funds and operating under strict timeframes, this is more than a hypothetical concern. It is an operational threat.

Another reason is the lack of complementary skill sets. A typical startup requires a blend of technical, commercial, and operational expertise. Few individuals are equally strong in all three areas. Investors are wary of solo founders who excel in vision but lack technical depth, or who are brilliant engineers but unfamiliar with sales, hiring, or finance. A team of two or three founders naturally balances these roles, reducing friction and increasing the startup’s ability to adapt quickly.

VCs also view team dynamics as a predictor of how well a startup will function under pressure. A founding team offers built-in collaboration, internal debate, and shared decision-making—qualities investors associate with better judgment and stronger governance. Solo founders, by contrast, may operate without meaningful challenge to their decisions, a trait that can be risky in fast-moving markets.

There is also a practical concern: speed of execution. Early-stage startups must move quickly, often juggling product development, customer acquisition, fundraising, hiring, and compliance all at once. A single founder, regardless of talent or determination, is limited by time and capacity. As one venture capitalist explained in a recent industry report: “Startups don’t fail because founders are not smart. They fail because even the smartest founders run out of bandwidth.”

For investors, bandwidth matters as much as brilliance.

This preference for teams does not mean that VCs universally reject solo-owned startups. There are exceptions, especially when founders have a strong track record, deep technical expertise, or rapid early traction. Some solo founders successfully raise capital on the strength of their idea or reputation alone. But even in these cases, investors often condition funding on the founder’s commitment to building a solid leadership team quickly.

In emerging markets, including the GCC, the pattern is similar. As Saudi Arabia and the UAE accelerate startup development through national strategies and state-backed investment vehicles, the emphasis on scalable, high-growth companies makes team-based startups more attractive. Sector complexity—in fintech, AI, logistics, or climate tech—often demands expertise that no single founder can provide alone.

Yet while the structural preference for multi-founder teams remains strong, the rise of AI tools, low-code platforms, and automated workflows may ease some of these concerns in the future. Solo founders now have access to sophisticated tools that expand their operational capacity, from automated customer service to AI-assisted coding. Still, most VCs argue that technology cannot fully replace the strategic benefit of shared leadership.

Ultimately, venture capital is not just about funding good ideas—it is about backing teams that can build lasting companies. And for most investors, a single founder, however exceptional, represents a risk profile that is harder to underwrite. The message is not that solo founders cannot succeed, but that assembling a complementary founding team remains one of the most effective ways to strengthen a startup’s chances of securing investment and scaling for the long term.

Noha Gad

In recent years, the investing world has moved far beyond the classic trio of stocks, bonds, and cash. Individual and institutional investors are increasingly looking for new ways to grow wealth, hedge risk, and protect against inflation in a complex, fast‑changing global economy. Economic uncertainty, low interest rates, and crowded public markets have pushed many to explore assets that behave differently from traditional portfolios and offer the potential for higher returns or unique exposure.

This is where alternative investments started. Unlike the familiar world of listed equities and government bonds, alternative investments refer to a wide range of assets that fall outside conventional markets: private equity, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, commodities, infrastructure, collectibles, and even cryptocurrencies. These instruments often carry higher complexity, less liquidity, and more regulatory and operational risk, but they also open doors to diversification, distinctive opportunities, and sometimes outsized gains.

What is an alternative investment?

An alternative investment is a financial asset that does not fall into one of the conventional investment categories. It can include private equity or venture capital, hedge funds, managed futures, art and antiques, commodities, and derivatives contracts. In general, there are two main types of alternative investments. The first type is investing in assets other than stocks, bonds, and cash, such as infrastructure, real estate, and private equity. The second type involves investment strategies that go beyond traditional methods, such as short-selling and leverage.

Unlike traditional investments, alternatives are characterized by potential lower liquidity, assets in both private and public markets, and low correlation to markets. Their returns are primarily driven by alpha with higher dispersion among managers, and they often focus on inefficient markets.

Different types of alternatives

       * Hedge funds. These funds are pooled investment funds that trade relatively liquid assets and can be used as a diversification tool. It usually invests in companies involved in blockchain/crypto technology.

       * Private equity. PE is an ownership interest in a company or portion of a company that is not publicly owned, quoted, or traded on a stock exchange. They are designed to mimic hedge fund index returns using liquid securities.

       * Cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency, or digital currency, may not offer a strong hedge against other risk-on investments, but it may provide capital appreciation or passive income due to staking rewards.

       * Peer-to-peer lending. Investing in peer-to-peer lending means making loans to individuals or businesses through online platforms that connect borrowers with investors. It is similar to investing in bonds, though it occurs in more private markets and often involves riskier borrowers.

       * Commodities. Investors can invest in tangible goods with real-world uses and often perpetual demand, such as gold, silver, oil, or agricultural products.

       * Real estate. This includes investing in physical properties or property-based securities, real estate crowdfunding platforms, real estate investment trusts (REITs), and real estate mutual funds.

Pros and Cons of Alternative Investments

Because of their unique nature and differences from traditional markets, alternative investments may have low correlations to traditional investments like stocks and bonds. Therefore, investors most often turn to alternatives to potentially help diversify an investment portfolio and reduce overall portfolio risk. Other benefits include:

       * Higher return potential than traditional investments.

       * Offering protection against inflation.

       * Offering investors more specialty investment options.

Disadvantages

       * Associated with higher fees and transaction costs.

       * Have higher risks than traditional investments.

       * Lacks transparency and may have reduced regulation.

       * May not be right for novice investors due to their complexity.

Finally, alternative investments are not a one-size-fits-all solution, and they should be approached with clear goals, a realistic risk tolerance, and thorough due diligence. When used thoughtfully, within a balanced, diversified portfolio and in line with an investor’s time horizon and sophistication, they can enhance resilience and open doors to opportunities that traditional markets alone may not provide. For most investors, the key is not to chase every trendy alternative, but to integrate a carefully selected mix of alternatives that align with their overall strategy and long‑term objectives.

Ghada Ismail

As artificial intelligence reshapes the cybersecurity landscape, organizations are facing a new generation of digital threats, many of which are powered by the same technologies designed to improve business operations. In response, cybersecurity providers are increasingly embedding AI into their defense systems while also developing tools to secure AI itself.

TrendAI is positioning itself at the center of this shift. Headquartered in Tokyo and operating globally, the company leverages artificial intelligence and decades of cybersecurity expertise to help enterprises, governments, and organizations secure their digital environments across cloud, networks, endpoints, and emerging AI systems.

In this interview, Mahmoud Safwat, Country Manager for Egypt at TrendAI, discusses how AI is transforming cybersecurity operations, why securing AI systems is becoming just as critical as using them, and how organizations can balance innovation with responsible and regulated AI deployment. He also shares his perspective on whether AI is a passing trend or a long-term technological shift that will redefine how businesses operate.

How is AI transforming your core business operations, products, or services?
As you can see, our company is called Trend AI now. Trend AI has been working in cybersecurity—we are a cybersecurity leader globally. We have been in the market for over 35 years now as a Japanese company.

As AI is transforming everything in our industry, it is essential for our business. In our solutions, we focus on the evolution of technologies driven by AI. Basically, we have two main things: AI for security and security for AI.

AI for security means we integrate AI into our cybersecurity solutions to enhance our ability to detect cyber threats, attacks, and the many new types of threats emerging today. Especially because attackers are using AI too—they are innovative in how they execute malicious attacks—so we must be prepared. We need intelligence and adaptability, and AI helps us integrate these capabilities across all layers: endpoints, user machines, networks, data centers, and the cloud. Every layer of the customer’s environment is secured, and AI is at the core of it.

On the other side, we ensure our solutions fit customer needs when they want to integrate AI in their business. When clients deploy AI to enhance operations, we secure it so they can use AI safely and smoothly. They don’t have to worry about the consequences of reckless AI usage. We adapt our solutions to protect their AI infrastructure and enable businesses to leverage AI confidently.

How does your company approach responsible and ethical AI deployment?
Cybersecurity is our bread and butter. That’s our first priority. We integrate AI in our security solutions and secure AI itself to ensure its ethical usage. For example, if a user in a company is using an AI tool, we make sure no confidential data leaks. We prevent malicious use and regulate AI so that all data remains safe.

All AI tools within a company are regulated. Users operate within safe limits, protecting both the business and its data. This ensures AI is used ethically and responsibly, aligning with company policies.

What problem are you solving today by using AI technologies in your company? What client pain points are you addressing?
Our main focus is securing customer data. The biggest pain point for clients today is the evolution of attacks, especially as attackers also use AI to innovate. We help clients feel secure and cope with this evolving threat landscape.

Our AI-integrated products detect, respond, remediate, and even protect against attacks. They include proactive security features—we don’t wait for an attack. We predict potential threats, assess asset vulnerabilities, identify attack paths, and act before attacks happen.

We aim to stay ahead of threats, regularly assess the current security posture, and provide recommendations to close any gaps. If an attack occurs, we are ready to handle it fully, using AI at the core of our solutions.

Is regulation slowing AI innovation or making it stronger?
I totally believe regulation makes it stronger. Using AI without guidance leads to consequences. Regulation sets boundaries, defines what’s right, and allows us to build solid foundations.

I like to compare it to driving a car: brakes may slow you down, but they make you safe. You can go faster when you’re confident in your brakes. Similarly, regulation helps us use AI safely and ultimately advance faster, avoiding potential obstacles and setbacks.

Do you think AI is just a hype that will cool down over time?
I don’t think so. AI is still in its early stages. Yes, it’s booming and growing fast, but we’ve seen similar trends with the internet and other transformative technologies—they became essential and remain so.

Do you believe AI is a replacement for human talent or an enhancement tool for productivity?

AI will continue enhancing businesses, operations, and daily life—personally and professionally. Will it replace humans? No. Humans must supervise AI. Talents are critical. People need to maintain knowledge and learn how to leverage AI to work smarter, not replace their jobs. AI will make work easier, smoother, and more efficient, but humans remain central. AI is here to enhance, not replace, human work. It’s a tool that makes life better, helps businesses thrive, and ensures we can respond to a fast-changing cybersecurity landscape safely.

Kholoud Hussein 

Saudi Arabia’s automation revolution is no longer a distant future scenario—it is happening now, quietly and rapidly, across warehouses, factories, hospitals, and retail floors. Robotics and automation startups are emerging as some of the most strategically important actors in the Kingdom’s transition to a highly productive, digitally enabled economy. Their ascent aligns directly with the ambitions of Vision 2030, which places productivity, economic diversification, and advanced manufacturing at the center of national development.

Over the past five years, Saudi Arabia has witnessed a surge in investments, pilot programs, and digital infrastructure that has opened space for entrepreneurs to build automation solutions tailored to the Kingdom’s industrial needs. As global supply chains transform and AI-driven robots become more affordable and adaptive, Saudi startups are stepping into a market previously dominated by global tech players—and increasingly, they are building systems from the ground up for local conditions.

The robotics and automation sector in Saudi Arabia is on a trajectory toward exponential growth. Analysts estimate that the Kingdom’s automation market will surpass $2.5 billion by 2030, driven by government-backed industrial investments, gigaproject construction timelines, and rising labor productivity targets. Yet the real story lies in the startups leading this transformation—young companies using software, hardware, and AI to solve operational bottlenecks and build new economic capabilities inside the Kingdom.

A Market at the Crossroads of Demand, Technology, and National Strategy

Saudi Arabia’s economic structure makes it uniquely positioned for robotics adoption. The country has one of the largest construction pipelines in the world, including NEOM, The Line, Diriyah Gate, and dozens of industrial cities under the Ministry of Industry and Mineral Resources. These projects demand large-scale automation in logistics, maintenance, manufacturing, and infrastructure operations.

The Kingdom also faces a demographic transformation. With a young population entering the workforce and national goals to increase productivity across sectors, robotics is becoming a strategic tool—not to replace jobs, but to build more efficient, higher-skilled employment structures. Officials from the Ministry of Economy have repeatedly emphasized that automation is essential for building globally competitive industries. As one senior government advisor put it recently: “Saudi Arabia will not meet its productivity ambitions without embedding robotics deeply into the industrial and services sectors. Automation is not just an option—it is an economic necessity.”

This national recognition is reflected in major policy programs such as the National Industrial Strategy, which calls for expanding automation to increase non-oil manufacturing output, and the Saudi Data and AI Authority’s (SDAIA) AI roadmap, which encourages AI-based automation across government and private enterprises.

Startups at the Center of the Kingdom’s Automation Momentum

Although global providers such as ABB and Siemens maintain a presence in the country, the most transformative developments are emerging from local startups designing automation solutions tailored to Saudi Arabia’s operational environments. Their models reflect the specific bottlenecks faced in Saudi logistics networks, retail, food services, manufacturing plants, and healthcare facilities.

One of the standout players is Exa Robotics, a Saudi startup specializing in autonomous logistics robots now being deployed in warehouses and retail backrooms. The company’s units are designed to operate in high-temperature environments and navigate complex layouts, a challenge global robots rarely optimize for. Exa Robotics has grown rapidly, supported by local investors who view logistics automation as essential to supporting the Kingdom’s booming e-commerce economy.

Another rising startup is Red Sea Robotics, which focuses on industrial and inspection robots designed for oil, gas, and petrochemical plants. The startup builds autonomous systems that inspect pipelines, monitor heat levels, and navigate hazardous areas—reducing operational downtime and lowering safety risks in one of the Kingdom’s most critical industries. Global energy operators have shown interest in the product line, and the company has secured pilot programs with major industrial operators in the Eastern Province.

In the consumer and service sector, companies such as Smartr, which produces AI-driven service robots for retail and hospitality, are capitalizing on the Kingdom’s growing experience economy. Their robots greet customers, provide product information, deliver orders, and analyze foot traffic. During the 2023 Riyadh Season, Smartr’s robots were deployed across entertainment zones, demonstrating the potential for automation in customer-facing environments.

Saudi Arabia’s food and beverage sector is also witnessing robotics adoption led by startups like Botit, Nana Automation, and several emerging players working on robotic baristas, automated food preparation systems, and self-service culinary units. As the restaurant and café industry grows—especially in regions like Riyadh, Khobar, and Jeddah—operators are seeking to reduce operational costs while maintaining consistent service quality.

All these examples reflect a broader trend: automation is no longer limited to heavy industry. It is becoming a cross-sector force accelerating productivity across the Saudi economy.

The Investment Momentum Behind Saudi Robotics

Although robotics remains a capital-intensive sector, investment appetite in Saudi Arabia is growing steadily. Venture capital firms, corporate investors, and government-backed funds increasingly view automation as a core pillar of the Kingdom’s next industrial wave.

According to regional investment reports, robotics and automation startups in Saudi Arabia raised over SAR 400 million ($106 million) in disclosed funding over the past three years. Actual numbers are likely higher when undisclosed rounds and government grants are included. Investors are attracted to the sector because it aligns directly with national priorities. Funds such as STV, Raed Ventures, Impact46, and SVC have signaled strong interest in deep tech, supply chain technologies, and AI-powered industrial solutions.

One investor familiar with the space noted: “We’re seeing robotics move from pilot stages into full commercial deployment in Saudi Arabia faster than in many global markets. Vision 2030 has created clear demand, and startups that can demonstrate reliability have enormous growth potential.”

Foreign investors are also entering the market. Asian robotics manufacturers are exploring joint ventures in the Kingdom, encouraged by government incentives that support local manufacturing. European startups in industrial robotics are seeking partnerships with Saudi distributors, especially for warehouse automation and construction robotics. In 2024, two U.S.-based automation startups announced plans to establish Saudi subsidiaries after securing contracts with megaprojects.

With Saudi Arabia committing more than SAR 350 billion ($93 billion) to industrial expansion under the National Industry Strategy, robotics startups are well positioned to capture a share of this capital over the coming decade.

The Gaps Saudi Robotics Startups Are Filling

Saudi automation startups are emerging precisely where the market faces operational inefficiencies. Several gaps define the landscape:

The first is localization. Many global robotics systems are not optimized for Saudi climates, industrial conditions, or operational rhythms. Startups are addressing this mismatch by building robots capable of functioning in heat-intensive environments, wide warehouse layouts, and unpredictable retail foot traffic.

Another gap is integration. Many Saudi companies operate with fragmented digital and physical systems. Startups are offering plug-and-play automation platforms that integrate with ERP systems, inventory software, and AI analytics, enabling companies to automate without rebuilding entire infrastructures.

There is also a significant gap in mid-market automation. Large enterprises can afford global robotics solutions. SMEs cannot. Saudi startups are building affordable, modular robots designed for smaller retailers, mid-size warehouses, logistics hubs, and clinics.

Finally, startups are filling the workforce capability gap by creating easy-to-deploy robots requiring minimal technical training. As one manufacturing executive in Riyadh observed: “The most impressive thing about Saudi robotics startups is not the hardware—it’s the accessibility. They design systems that our teams can learn in days, not months.”

The Gaps That Still Need to Be Filled

Despite notable progress, several structural gaps remain in the Saudi robotics ecosystem.

One is localized hardware manufacturing. While software and AI development are growing rapidly, physical robot production still depends heavily on imports. Building local hardware capacity would reduce costs, shorten supply chains, and accelerate deployment.

Another gap is specialized robotics talent. Although universities are expanding AI programs, the Kingdom needs more engineers trained specifically in robotics hardware, embedded systems, and advanced mechatronics. Startups often rely on international recruitment, slowing down development cycles.

There is also room for sector-specific robotics, particularly in agriculture, construction, and healthcare—three areas where automation potential is high but still underdeveloped.

Finally, testing and regulatory pathways need to evolve. Robotics companies often face long approval processes for deploying autonomous units in public spaces or industrial zones. A streamlined regulatory framework, similar to those in South Korea or Singapore, could accelerate innovation dramatically.

How Robotics Startups Support Vision 2030

Robotics sits at the intersection of nearly every Vision 2030 pillar: productivity, technology, manufacturing, and human capital development. Automation plays a direct role in:

• increasing non-oil GDP through advanced manufacturing
• improving operational efficiency across logistics, energy, and construction
• enabling megaprojects that require high-speed, high-precision execution
• creating new high-skilled jobs for Saudi youth
• positioning the Kingdom as a regional hub for deep tech

As a senior SDAIA official recently stated: “Robotics will be one of the most important contributors to Saudi Arabia’s future economic competitiveness. Every major sector will rely on intelligent automation.”

Robotics also strengthens the Kingdom’s ability to attract global investors and manufacturers. As more industries adopt automation, the operational environment becomes more predictable, efficient, and globally competitive—qualities international firms seek when choosing manufacturing locations.

Foreign Investments and International Partnerships

Saudi Arabia has become a magnet for foreign robotics companies seeking regional expansion. Asian robotics providers are exploring local assembly facilities, encouraged by Saudi incentives tied to local content. European automation companies, particularly in warehouse and industrial robotics, are forming partnerships with Saudi retailers and manufacturing groups.

Several U.S. and Canadian AI-robotics startups have established Riyadh offices in 2024 after securing contracts with giga-projects, which require high-precision automation in energy, mobility, and urban infrastructure.

These patterns suggest that Saudi Arabia is positioning itself not only as a consumer of robotics technology, but as a regional production and development hub.

Finally, robotics and automation startups in Saudi Arabia are not simply following global trends. They are building solutions tailored to the Kingdom’s industrial realities, workforce needs, and economic ambitions. In doing so, they are playing a crucial role in transforming Saudi Arabia into a high-productivity, advanced-technology economy.

Over the next decade, the Kingdom’s robotics sector will expand far beyond warehouses and manufacturing floors. Autonomous systems will become embedded in healthcare, hospitality, retail, agriculture, and national giga-projects. With strong government backing, rising investor interest, and a growing base of homegrown innovators, Saudi Arabia is on track to become one of the Middle East’s most dynamic automation markets.

The coming years will determine the pace of this transformation. But the direction is clear: robots and automation startups will shape the next chapter of Saudi Arabia’s economic story—and they will do so at a scale the region has never seen before.

Kholoud Hussein 

As climate pressures intensify and global emissions targets tighten, a new generation of software companies is emerging—not just cleaner, not just carbon-neutral, but carbon-negative. These firms, built around intelligent automation and cloud-native models, are reshaping what it means to operate sustainably in the digital economy. They go beyond offsetting their own emissions and actively remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they emit. This new wave is known as Carbon-Negative SaaS.

The shift matters because the software industry, despite its reputation for light infrastructure, contributes significantly to global emissions. Data centers consume massive amounts of energy, AI training runs are increasingly carbon-intensive, and digital services rely on global supply chains that carry environmental costs. Against this backdrop, carbon-negative SaaS companies are introducing a fundamentally different approach—one that aligns profitability with climate responsibility.

What Does “Carbon-Negative SaaS” Mean?

At its core, carbon-negative SaaS refers to software companies whose overall climate impact is net-positive for the planet. They remove more carbon from the atmosphere than they produce across their full operational footprint. Unlike traditional tech firms that simply purchase carbon offsets to balance emissions, carbon-negative SaaS startups build sustainability into the architecture of their business. For example, they track and reduce emissions across every digital process, operate on renewable or low-emission cloud infrastructure, invest directly in carbon capture, removal technologies, or nature-based solutions, and embed carbon intelligence into their product lines.

This model is quickly gaining ground in markets where regulators, investors, and consumers increasingly expect digital businesses to demonstrate measurable climate action.

How Carbon-Negative SaaS Companies Operate in the Market

Carbon-negative SaaS companies function like any modern software provider, offering cloud-based platforms for analytics, workflow management, automation, or enterprise operations. The difference lies in how climate responsibility is integrated into their economics.

Cloud operations are shifted to data centers powered by renewable energy or backed by carbon-free computing commitments. Energy-intensive AI workloads are optimized through model compression, edge computing, or specialized chips that reduce electricity use. Emissions from operations, business travel, hardware, and cloud usage are measured in real time using automated carbon accounting.

But the true distinguishing factor is that these companies don’t stop at neutralizing emissions. They invest directly in carbon removal—whether through engineered carbon capture, direct air capture, reforestation programs, biochar production, or renewable-energy expansion. Many companies build these mechanisms into their cost structure, treating carbon removal as a core operational expense rather than an optional CSR initiative.

This operational design sends a strong message to clients: sustainability is not an add-on; it is foundational.

Is the Model Profitable?

Surprisingly, yes—and increasingly so. The rise of carbon-negative SaaS is closely tied to three macro forces:

Regulators around the world are tightening emissions reporting requirements, pushing companies toward verifiable climate solutions.
Enterprise buyers are under pressure to decarbonize supply chains, making sustainable vendors more attractive.
Carbon markets are maturing, offering clearer financial pathways to monetize carbon removal investments.

As a result, businesses are actively prioritizing vendors with measurable climate integrity. Recent surveys show that more than half of global enterprises prefer working with SaaS providers that can reduce the carbon intensity of their own operations. This demand gives carbon-negative SaaS companies a competitive edge.

Margins can remain healthy because core emission reductions come from cloud efficiencies and algorithmic improvements—areas that also reduce operational costs. Meanwhile, carbon removal expenses are increasingly offset through partnerships or market incentives.

Far from being a burden, carbon negativity becomes part of the value proposition.

How Customers Are Adopting the Concept

Adoption is accelerating, driven by the convergence of digital transformation and sustainability mandates. Enterprises want software that does more than improve efficiency—they want tools that help them meet net-zero or net-negative targets. Many global brands now require suppliers to declare their carbon footprint, making sustainability a prerequisite for contracts.

Carbon-negative SaaS platforms offer this credibility. They provide both functional value and climate impact, giving clients the confidence that their digital operations are not adding to emissions. In markets such as Europe and the GCC, where regulators intensify climate reporting requirements, this dual benefit makes the model especially attractive.

This shift mirrors earlier waves: companies that adopted cloud-native solutions gained cost and agility advantages. Now, firms that adopt carbon-negative SaaS gain both environmental and reputational advantages.

The Future of Carbon-Negative SaaS

The model is still emerging, but the trajectory points toward mainstream adoption. Several trends will define its future:

Cloud providers are racing toward zero-carbon infrastructure, making it easier for SaaS companies to operate sustainably.
AI workloads will demand cleaner energy sources as models grow larger and more complex.
Investors increasingly evaluate startups based on climate metrics alongside financial ones.
Enterprises will expect software providers to meet the same carbon standards they have set for themselves.

By 2030, analysts predict that a significant portion of enterprise software contracts will include climate-impact clauses. Carbon-negative SaaS companies will have a structural advantage.

Carbon-Negative SaaS in the MENA Region

The model is gaining momentum in markets like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where national climate strategies explicitly support carbon-removal innovation and green digital infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 pushes major investments into clean energy, green hydrogen, and carbon-removal technologies. Local startups are beginning to explore carbon intelligence platforms, energy-tracking systems, green cloud computing, and digital sustainability tools. As the Kingdom expands solar capacity and green-tech investment, it will become fertile ground for carbon-negative software businesses.

The UAE, home to COP28, is also accelerating digital climate solutions. Cloud providers like Microsoft, AWS, and Google are expanding regional presence with commitments to renewable-powered data centers, enabling carbon-negative SaaS startups to operate regionally without relying on carbon-heavy infrastructure.

The MENA market is in the early stages, but the foundations are set for rapid adoption—especially as enterprises in retail, logistics, fintech, and government seek to align operations with national net-zero goals.

Finally, carbon-negative SaaS represents the next chapter of digital innovation—a model where technology companies don’t merely reduce their environmental footprint but actively contribute to reversing climate change. These startups prove that economic value and environmental value can coexist, and that software can be both a business engine and a climate solution.

As global and regional markets move toward stricter climate expectations, carbon-negative SaaS will not be a niche category. It will be a standard. And the companies that embrace this model early—especially in fast-growing regions like the Middle East—will define the next generation of sustainable tech leadership.

Ghada Ismail

For decades, Saudi Arabia’s global energy identity has been closely tied to oil production. Yet in recent years, the Kingdom has begun positioning itself as a future leader in renewable energy, particularly solar power. With vast deserts, high sunlight exposure, and strong government backing, Saudi Arabia is rapidly building a solar ecosystem that combines large infrastructure projects with innovative startups developing technologies tailored for desert environments.

This shift is not simply environmental. It is deeply economic. As part of Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia aims to diversify its economy and reduce domestic reliance on hydrocarbons for electricity generation. Renewable energy now sits at the center of that transformation.

The Kingdom has set an ambitious target: generating 50% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030, requiring around 130 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, most of which will come from solar power. 

To put that in perspective, Saudi Arabia’s renewable energy capacity was almost nonexistent a decade ago. Today, large-scale projects are already producing electricity while dozens more are under development. Solar technology is not only becoming a key energy source—it is emerging as a new sector for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Why Saudi Arabia Is Ideal for Solar Technology

Saudi Arabia possesses some of the strongest solar resources on Earth. Studies by the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy show that solar radiation across much of the Kingdom averages around 5.5 to 6.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day, placing it among the most sun-rich regions globally. Research on solar resource mapping conducted by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology indicates that annual solar irradiation levels typically range between 2,100 and 2,400 kWh per square meter, giving the Kingdom a natural advantage: solar panels installed in Saudi Arabia can generate significantly more electricity than similar systems in many other countries.

These environmental conditions make solar energy economically attractive. Renewable energy tenders organized under the Kingdom’s procurement program, managed by the Saudi Power Procurement Company, have produced some of the lowest solar electricity prices ever recorded globally, with winning bids falling below $0.02 per kilowatt-hour in several competitive auction rounds, according to analyses by the World Bank and international solar market reports.

Yet the Saudi environment also presents unique technical challenges. Research from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology highlights how dust accumulation, extreme temperatures, and large-scale desert installations can significantly reduce photovoltaic efficiency. As a result, simply importing conventional solar technology is often not enough, creating demand for desert-adapted solar solutions and new technological innovation.

This is where Saudi energy tech startups and research institutions are stepping in, developing innovations designed specifically for desert climates.

Startups Tackling Solar’s Desert Challenges

One of the most prominent Saudi solar technology startups is NOMADD Desert Solar Solutions, a company originating from research conducted at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The acronym NOMADD stands for NO‑water Mechanical Automated Dusting Device — a solution developed in response to the specific challenges of cleaning solar panels in desert environments.

Dust accumulation is a major obstacle for solar farms in desert regions. Sand and fine particles settle on panels and block sunlight, reducing electricity output. According to NOMADD’s founder, daily dust soiling can cut production by around 0.5–1% per day, and after severe sandstorms, efficiency losses can reach as much as 60% if panels are not regularly cleaned.

Traditional cleaning systems often rely on large amounts of water, an impractical solution in water-scarce arid regions. NOMADD addressed this by developing autonomous robotic cleaning systems that remove dust from solar panels without water. These robots traverse solar arrays, gently brushing surfaces to maintain performance while minimizing maintenance costs and water use. 

This technology is particularly relevant as Saudi Arabia deploys massive solar farms across desert landscapes, including those planned for megaprojects such as NEOM, where maintaining high output amid harsh conditions is essential for renewable energy targets. 

Mirai Solar and the Rise of Agrivoltaics

Another emerging Saudi startup pushing solar innovation forward is Mirai Solar, which is developing flexible and transparent solar technologies designed for agriculture and greenhouse applications.

Unlike traditional solar panels that completely block sunlight, Mirai Solar’s photovoltaic modules allow some light to pass through while converting part of it into electricity. This technology enables solar panels to function as shading systems for greenhouses.

In hot climates like Saudi Arabia’s, excessive sunlight can stress crops and increase cooling costs in agricultural environments. By integrating solar shading structures with energy generation, Mirai Solar’s systems simultaneously produce electricity while creating a more controlled environment for agriculture.

This approach belongs to a growing field known as ‘agrivoltaics’, which combines agriculture and solar power generation on the same land. In regions where water and arable land are limited, such hybrid systems could help improve both energy and food sustainability.

Solar Windows and Energy-Producing Buildings

Another innovative Saudi climate tech company working on solar energy solutions is Iyris, a startup developing transparent photovoltaic materials designed for building integration.

The company’s technology focuses on glass coatings that capture infrared light while allowing visible light to pass through. This means windows can generate electricity while still functioning as normal building glass.

Beyond electricity production, this technology can significantly reduce heat entering buildings. In Saudi Arabia, where air-conditioning accounts for a large share of electricity consumption, reducing solar heat gain could dramatically lower energy demand.

If deployed at scale, energy-generating glass could transform urban architecture, allowing buildings to function as distributed power generators rather than passive energy consumers.

Research Institutions Driving Solar Innovation

Many Saudi solar startups originate from academic research institutions rather than traditional venture capital ecosystems.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology has emerged as one of the region’s most important hubs for renewable energy research. The university hosts dedicated laboratories focused on photovoltaics, energy materials, and solar system engineering.

Through commercialization programs and accelerators such as TAQADAM, research projects can evolve into venture-backed startups capable of scaling globally.

Companies like NOMADD and Iyris demonstrate how academic research can transition into real-world energy technologies that address regional environmental challenges.

The Solar Infrastructure Boom

Alongside startup innovation, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in utility‑scale solar infrastructure as part of its renewable energy transition under Vision 2030. One of the Kingdom’s flagship projects is the Sudair Solar PV Project, a 1.5‑gigawatt solar installation in Sudair Industrial City,  one of the largest single‑site solar plants in the country and among the largest globally at this scale.

Another massive development is the Al Shuaibah solar project, planned to reach around 2.6 gigawatts of installed capacity, making it one of the region’s largest solar power projects and a major component of the National Renewable Energy Program.

The Kingdom’s solar market is also expanding rapidly in economic terms. According to industry research by IMARC Group, the Saudi solar energy market was valued at about $8.3 billion in 2025 and is forecast to grow to around $145 billion by 2034, driven by continued deployments and growth in solar technologies and infrastructure.

These large‑scale projects provide the infrastructure backbone for the renewable energy transition, while startups and technology companies help build the innovation layer that makes solar systems more efficient, durable, and scalable.

A New Energy Technology Ecosystem

Traditionally, energy industries have been dominated by massive corporations and government-backed utilities. Solar technology is changing that dynamic.

Because solar power involves numerous technological components—from materials science and robotics to software and energy storage—it creates opportunities for smaller companies to develop specialized solutions.

Saudi startups are increasingly focusing on technologies such as solar panel maintenance automation, advanced photovoltaic materials, smart energy monitoring systems, and building-integrated solar technology.

Rather than competing with utility-scale energy companies, these startups operate within the broader energy ecosystem, developing the tools and infrastructure that allow solar energy systems to operate more efficiently.

Challenges for Solar Startups

Despite strong government support, building energy technology companies remains challenging.

Solar hardware development often requires long research cycles and expensive testing environments. Scaling technologies from laboratory prototypes to industrial-scale deployment can take years.

Regulatory requirements for energy infrastructure can also slow commercialization. Solar technologies must comply with grid standards, safety regulations, and large-scale engineering requirements.

Yet Saudi Arabia’s growing investment in renewable energy may gradually reduce these barriers. As solar deployment accelerates, demand for supporting technologies will likely increase.

The Future of Solar Tech in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s solar ambitions extend far beyond generating electricity. In the coming decades, solar technologies could power smart cities, enable energy-positive buildings, support sustainable agriculture, and drive green hydrogen production.

The Kingdom’s natural solar resources, combined with strong government backing and emerging startup innovation, create the conditions for a new energy technology sector to emerge.

For a country historically defined by oil, the next chapter of its energy story may be written under the desert sun.

Noha Gad

In today’s fast-paced financial landscape, where markets shift quickly and corporate performance is continually under the microscope, shareholders expect more than just passive monitoring. This is where activist investors emerge as strategic agents who intervene to drive transformation and unlock greater value.

An activist investor is a shareholder who acquires a significant minority stake in a publicly traded company to influence its management and operations. Their goals often span influencing key decisions, replacing underperforming directors, streamlining operations to boost value, or even pushing for a full company sale. While many prioritize maximizing shareholder returns through efficiency gains, others blend in social responsibilities like ESG improvements.

These investors are typically hedge funds, wealthy individuals, or institutions like pension funds that expertly spot undervalued companies ripe for turnaround. Hedge funds pool capital for high-conviction bets, while wealthy individuals deploy personal fortunes for nimble, opportunistic plays. Institutions like pension funds bring institutional heft, leveraging long-term horizons to advocate for sustainable value unlocks in blue-chip firms overlooked by markets.

These investors rally support from fellow shareholders via public letters, media campaigns, and private dialogues. If persuasion falls short, they escalate to proxy fights, nominating rival board candidates to seize control of strategic direction. 

Passive investors vs. activist investors

Passive investors prioritize broad market exposure over individual stock picking. They buy and hold diversified portfolios and rarely intervene, content with market-driven returns over time. On the other hand, Activist investors are hands-on disruptors who concentrate capital on select undervalued targets. They demand immediate fixes: slashing overhead, spinning off divisions, hiking dividends, or ousting CEOs, often backed by forensic financial analysis and peer comparisons.

The role of activist investors

Activist investors play pivotal roles as catalysts for corporate change, wielding influence through ownership stakes to drive strategic and operational shifts. They act as change agents, acquiring minority stakes to pressure management on key issues like cost efficiencies, capital allocation, or leadership refresh. 

They initiate public campaigns, then escalate to proxy contests for board seats, almost winning the battles to install aligned directors. Their toolkit includes forensic analysis of financials to spotlight underperformance, coalition-building with institutional holders, and media amplification to sway sentiment.

Pros and cons

While activist investors catalyze corporate evolution, their influence divides opinions on balancing immediate returns with enduring growth. It offers several advantages, including:

• Rapid value unlocking: activist investors identify underperforming assets, pushing for buybacks, spin-offs, or cost cuts.
• Governance renewal: By winning board seats in most proxy fights, investors replace entrenched directors, enforcing accountability and merit-based leadership that ripples to peer firms.
• Strategic agility: Activists force pivots like divestitures or M&A, realigning operations with competitive edges and injecting fresh ideas into stagnant giants.

Disadvantages 

• Operational disruption: Proxy wars spark internal chaos, talent flight, legal fees, and diverted focus, costing firms millions during heated battles.
• Heightened volatility: Short 1–3-year horizons amplify market swings, especially in turbulent periods, eroding stability for all stakeholders. 
• Narrow vision: tactics overlook holistic strategies like ESG or patient growth, potentially devaluing sustainable models in favor of financial engineering.

Mohamed Ramzy

The information technology sector in Egypt and the broader region is experiencing an accelerating digital transformation, making cloud computing, managed services, and cybersecurity key pillars to support digital transformation in the government and private sectors. This momentum helped create significant growth opportunities for companies specializing in digital infrastructure, particularly those with deep expertise in Egypt and the broader region.

Link Datacenter (LDC) stands out as a leading provider of cloud computing, managed services, and cybersecurity solutions in the region. Therefore, Sharikat Mubasher conducted an interview with Gamal Selim, CEO of Link Datacenter, to discuss the company’s vision, its role in supporting digital transformation, and its future growth plans.

First, we would like to know more about Link Datacenter and the key milestones in its development since its establishment.

Link Datacenter was founded in 1996 as the data center arm of LINKdotNET, at a time when internet services in Egypt were still in their infancy. This enabled the company to be an integral part of the early digital infrastructure in the market. 

With the expansion of internet usage in the early 2000s, the company has witnessed significant growth driven by rising demand for hosting services and digital infrastructure, establishing itself as a technology partner to several major platforms in Egypt and the region.

The company also went through key milestones, most notably the wave of M&A in the sector, especially after Mobinil (later acquired by Orange) acquired LINKdotNET. This acquisition enabled the company to access more advanced technologies and reach a broader customer base.

In 2009, the data center and cloud computing activities were consolidated into an independent entity, marking a turning point in offering a comprehensive suite of managed services, including cloud computing, cybersecurity, and digital infrastructure, while helping customers adopt artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

Today, the company delivers its services through its data centers, via strategic partnerships with global entities such as Microsoft, or directly within the customer’s environment, based on the needs of each sector.

What is the volume of your current customer base? And how does the company classify them according to services?

The company has a diverse customer base that spans various sectors. It serves thousands of clients, delivering ‘business essentials’ which include domain registration and email hosting.

We also provide services to around 500 large enterprises and SMEs that rely on cutting-edge services, including cloud computing, cybersecurity, and advanced hosting.

Customers are classified according to their needs: startups rely on basic services, while larger enterprises rely on integrated solutions and more sophisticated infrastructure to ensure operational efficiency and security.

What is Link Datacenter’s growth strategy over the coming years? And does the company target expanding customers base?

Link Datacenter’s strategy is centered on growing business volume overall, not just increasing the number of customers, as the genuine value lies in maximizing the benefit for existing customers from the services provided.

The company targets an annual growth rate of 30% to 40% in both revenues and operations, by expanding existing customers’ adoption of its services, developing new solutions that meet their evolving needs, and attracting new customers in promising sectors.

However, priority remains on value and operational quality for each customer, as the targeted growth can be achieved by deepening existing partnerships without relying solely on increasing customer numbers.

What are the company’s investment and expansion plans amid accelerating digital transformation and AI adoption in Egypt?

We are constantly working to enhance our portfolio to meet market needs, particularly in digital transformation and AI fields. We help our customers host and run Large Language Models (LLMs), ensuring they have maximum value based on the nature of each business.

We also have a fully specialized cybersecurity department, including the Security Operations Center as a Service (SOC as a Service), which targets mission-critical business applications. These services are supported by qualified teams and advanced technologies that keep pace with the growing demands of digital businesses. 

How do you see the Saudi market amid the accelerating digital transformation under Vision 2030? And do you plan to expand there?

The Saudi market is one of the fastest-growing markets in digital infrastructure and cloud computing, driven by Vision 2030’s objectives, which place digital transformation at the forefront of its priorities.

We see significant opportunities in the Kingdom, notably in cloud computing, managed services, and cybersecurity fields. We continuously explore expansion and partnership opportunities in the Saudi market, whether through delivering our services directly or through local partnerships, in line with the market needs and regulatory requirements.

With over 25 years of experience in the Egyptian and regional market, what sets Link Datacenter apart from other competitors?

Link Datacenter has deep experience in providing hosting and managed services across the Middle East and Africa (MEA), supported by strong strategic partnerships with global companies, such as Microsoft and others.

This, combined with our extensive customer base, which includes government organizations, large enterprises, and SMEs, and our highly experienced team, positions us among the leading professional service providers.

We always strive to deliver customized solutions that precisely meet each customer’s needs, with a strong focus on security and continuous innovation.

Translation: Noha Gad

Kholoud Hussein

A new category of startups has started dominating global tech conversations: AI-native startups. Unlike traditional companies that add artificial intelligence as a feature, these startups are built entirely around AI from day one—their core product, business model, and operations all depend on machine intelligence. They don’t use AI as an enhancement; they use it as their foundation.

As the world moves deeper into the era of automation and generative models, AI-native startups are becoming one of the fastest-growing segments in the innovation economy. Their rise mirrors the early days of cloud-native companies, which emerged a decade ago and quickly redefined software development. But AI-native startups represent an even more disruptive shift—one that touches every sector, from finance and logistics to healthcare and digital media.

This new model raises important questions: How exactly do AI-native companies operate? Are they profitable? How quickly are users adopting them? And what does their presence look like in the MENA region?

What Makes a Startup “AI-Native”?

An AI-native startup integrates artificial intelligence into the very fabric of its value proposition. AI is not a tool—it is the product’s engine.

Instead of building software that performs a set of fixed tasks, these companies build systems that learn, adapt, and improve with every interaction. Their technology stacks are centered around large language models (LLMs), predictive algorithms, or autonomous decision-making engines.

An AI-native product might write code, diagnose a disease, optimize supply chains, generate marketing campaigns, detect fraud, or run an entire business workflow without human intervention. The more data it processes, the smarter and more efficient it becomes.

This architecture allows AI-native startups to scale quickly. They don’t need large teams or massive infrastructure. Their main assets are data, algorithms, and computational power.

How These Companies Operate in the Market

AI-native startups break the traditional build-test-iterate cycle. Instead of hard-coding features, they train and refine models. Their speed of execution is measured not by product releases but by how fast the system learns.

Internally, these startups operate with leaner teams. A product that once required 50 engineers might now be developed by 6 people supported by an AI-powered development pipeline. Sales teams use AI agents. Customer service is automated. Even marketing strategies are generated and tested through intelligent systems.

Their business models tend to follow patterns such as:

• Usage-based pricing – charging customers per output, like generations or transactions
• Subscription to an intelligent assistant – offering AI copilots for specialized industries
• API-first platforms – enabling other companies to plug into their intelligence layer
• Workflow automation – charging for processes the AI takes over

As a result, AI-native startups often have higher margins, lower operational costs, and faster product cycles than traditional software companies.

User Adoption Is Growing at Unprecedented Speed

Consumers and enterprises are adopting AI-native products faster than any technology wave since smartphones. The shift is driven by three main forces:

1. AI solves real, costly problems

From logistics failures to expensive medical diagnostics, AI systems remove inefficiencies that humans alone struggle to fix.

2. AI feels intuitive to use

Natural-language interfaces have lowered the barrier. You don’t need technical skills to interact with an AI assistant—you just talk to it.

3. Productivity gains are immediate

Companies experience measurable improvements within weeks. Costs fall, processing becomes faster, and output quality improves.

According to global surveys, over 70% of enterprises worldwide plan to increase their AI spending in 2026, with a significant share specifically targeting AI-native solutions rather than traditional AI tools.

Are AI-Native Startups Profitable?

AI-native companies benefit from a cost structure that grows more efficiently as they scale. Unlike conventional SaaS platforms that face rising customer support and development costs, AI models actually perform better with volume.

However, profitability depends on two factors:

• How efficiently the startup manages compute costs

Running large models can be expensive, especially at early stages. Well-built AI-native startups avoid unnecessary model training, compress their models, or specialize in niche use cases to reduce GPU dependency.

• How strong their data advantage becomes

Data is the defensible moat. AI-native startups that secure unique, domain-specific data sets become exponentially more valuable and harder to replicate.

When these two conditions align, AI-native startups often reach profitability far earlier than traditional tech companies. Several global AI-native players hit break-even within 12–18 months—something unheard of in the SaaS world.

The Future of AI-Native Companies

The next wave of AI-native startups will not simply automate tasks—they will automate entire business functions. Finance departments, HR operations, customer support centers, and logistics planning may eventually be run by autonomous, AI-orchestrated systems with minimal human intervention.

Industry analysts expect that by 2030, over 30% of new global startups will be AI-native by default, a trend driven by the falling cost of computing and the rise of developer-friendly AI infrastructure.

These companies will not replace humans; they will redefine roles. Employees will shift from operational tasks to oversight, strategy, and creative problem-solving.

AI-Native Startups in the MENA Region

The MENA region—especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia—is emerging as one of the most promising markets for AI-native companies. Major national strategies are fueling investment, including:

• Saudi Arabia’s National Strategy for Data and AI (NSDAI)
• The UAE’s National Artificial Intelligence Strategy 2031
• Expanding sovereign wealth fund participation in AI ventures

Dozens of emerging players are already gaining traction in fintech, logistics, retail, cybersecurity, and enterprise AI.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, is positioning itself to become a global AI hub by 2030. The Kingdom’s young and tech-savvy population, paired with massive public and private investment, makes it an ideal ground for AI-native models to scale quickly. Demand for intelligent enterprise solutions in sectors such as government services, healthcare, and e-commerce is rising sharply.

Regional adoption of AI-native platforms is growing fast, especially among SMEs seeking to automate operations without hiring large teams.

Finally, AI-native startups represent a fundamental shift in how companies are built, how products evolve, and how markets operate. Their agility, efficiency, and rapid learning cycles make them uniquely positioned to reshape industries at a speed traditional companies cannot match.

In the MENA region, the coming years will likely see an explosion of AI-native innovation as governments, investors, and enterprises push toward a more automated and data-driven economy.

These companies are not simply part of the future—they are the future.

Noha Gad

Every fast‑growing company goes through a capital journey that usually starts with seed and pre‑seed funding, where founders test an idea, build a product, and find early customers. Then come Series A and B rounds, which focus on proving the business model, refining unit economics, and scaling the core operations. By the time a startup reaches Series C and D, priorities shift from survival to growth at scale, market expansion, and operational maturity.

Series E funding round marks the late‑stage phase of a startup’s capital journey. By this stage, the company is no longer trying to prove its product or business model; instead, it’s focused on scaling quickly, consolidating market leadership, or preparing for an IPO or a major exit. 

Unlike earlier rounds that prioritize survival and product‑market fit, Series E is usually about big moves: international expansion, heavy hiring, large acquisitions, or building a balance sheet robust enough to weather public‑market scrutiny. It tends to attract institutional investors, private‑equity players, and other late‑stage funds that expect a clear path to liquidity.

The Series E round is a signal of maturity and proof that the company has products and a business model with real customers, and has reached a significant revenue or valuation level where the next moves require serious capital.

How do Series E rounds differ from other rounds?

Early-stage rounds usually focus on products, validation, and product-market fit. At this stage, investors support the founding team and a promising concept, not a proven business. The checks are relatively small, the metrics are qualitative, and the goal is to iterate fast, find early users, and head toward product‑market fit. 

Mid-stage rounds (i.e., Series C and D) focus on scaling operations, expanding markets, and improving unit economics. At these stages, the company is no longer a project but a real business with meaningful revenue, clear unit economics, and often a presence across multiple customer segments or regions. Investors here are growth‑stage VCs and sometimes corporate or hedge‑fund‑style players, and the capital is used to expand into new markets, build more infrastructure, or even acquire smaller competitors. 

Late-stage and pre-exit rounds are often much larger and target aggressive expansion, major hiring, cross‑border scaling, or laying the financial groundwork for an IPO or strategic sale. Investors at this stage are mainly late‑stage VCs, private equity firms, and large funds that expect a clear path to liquidity, stronger governance, and more sophisticated financial reporting. 

When and why do companies need to raise a Series E round?

Series E is a strategic move for companies that have already proven their model and are ready to make a big leap. Founders typically consider Series E when their ambition and opportunity outpace the capital they currently have. At this stage, founders shift their focus to how fast they can scale and how far they can dominate the market. The round is usually about accelerating growth and strengthening the balance sheet. Another main reason to raise Series E is to prepare for an IPO or public listing. Many companies use this round to build a cash buffer, professionalize governance, and clean up their financials to handle the scrutiny and volatility of public markets. It also gives them time to refine their narrative for public investors while operating with the flexibility of a private company. 

Series E can also be used to consolidate market leadership. It can be the fuel needed to outspend rivals on customer acquisition, product development, and hiring. Additionally, companies that want to stay private longer may use this round to fund a multi‑year runway without going public immediately.

Finally, the decision to raise Series E should be driven by clear, capital‑intensive goals, whether that is scaling aggressively, consolidating dominance, or preparing for an IPO or major exit, rather than a reflexive desire for more money. Used wisely, Series E can turn a strong scale‑up into a market‑defining business; used poorly, it can lock a company into a high‑pressure, high‑expectation path without the fundamentals to back it up. Founders and investors, understanding when and why to raise Series E is the key to making it a powerful accelerator, not an unnecessary gamble.

Ghada Ismail

As artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes business operations across industries, companies are increasingly exploring how AI agents, enterprise solutions, and localized language models can transform decision-making and efficiency.

In this interview, Anas Elkhatib, Co-Founder and CTO of THAKAA AI Decision Support System, discusses how AI is redefining enterprise operations, the rise of agentic AI, and why Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a key hub for artificial intelligence innovation.

How is AI transforming your core business operations, products, or services?

AI is truly the revolution of this era. One of the clearest ways we see its impact is in how it improves efficiency and return on investment across business operations.

For example, processes such as generating reports used to take weeks. Companies would need to gather data from multiple sources, organize it, and analyze it before producing meaningful insights. With AI solutions like the ones we provide at THAKAA AI Decision Support System, this entire process can now be completed in seconds.

Instead of manually compiling information, a user can interact directly with an AI agent. You can even have a phone call or a video call with the AI. During the interaction, the AI can present dashboards, answer questions in real time, and provide insights or recommendations.

It can also extract market data and compare a company’s performance with broader industry benchmarks within seconds. In practical terms, AI allows organizations to transform decision-making cycles from weeks into seconds while saving significant time and effort.

What recent AI innovations are you most excited about?

The speed of innovation in AI is remarkable—every day, there seems to be something new. Chatbots were the earliest and simplest stage of AI interaction, but today, the most exciting development is the concept of Agentic AI.

Agentic AI involves multiple AI agents with specialized knowledge communicating with one another. It works almost like a virtual team.

For instance, in our demonstrations we present what we call a virtual CXO team. Under each executive role—such as a virtual CFO—you can have supporting functions like financial planning and analysis or cost control. These AI agents communicate with each other. If one agent receives a question it cannot answer, it can consult another agent, such as a CHRO or CFO agent, to provide the necessary information.

In this way, AI agents collaborate internally to deliver more comprehensive responses and insights.

Does that mean AI will eventually replace human workers?

AI may replace certain roles, but it is important to emphasize the concept of human-in-the-loop.

Every recommendation produced by AI should be supervised by humans. In our systems, we do not allow AI to act independently. Instead, we control issues such as hallucination through enterprise-level solutions that ensure the AI only responds using trusted data.

Rather than relying on public information, the generative AI model is trained on the organization’s own internal data. This makes the system more reliable and secure.

At the same time, it is realistic to say that some jobs may change as AI becomes more widespread. However, new opportunities will also emerge. AI can increase productivity and create new economic activity, which ultimately leads to new roles and industries.

The key for individuals is to continue developing their skills and adapting to new technologies.

Are there any collaborations or partnerships your company is building in Saudi Arabia?

Yes, and we actually consider all of our customers in Saudi Arabia to be partners.

At THAKAA AI Decision Support System, we work with several public-sector entities, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Finance, and the Saudi Data and AI Authority. On the commercial side, we collaborate with organizations such as Jabal Omar in Makkah and other private-sector clients.

Our approach is based on knowledge exchange. When we implement our solutions, we share our technical expertise and lessons learned from previous projects. In return, our customers share their knowledge about their own industries and operational needs.

Because of this exchange of expertise, every client becomes a strategic partner that contributes to improving the overall solution.

Which sectors in Saudi Arabia are most ready for AI transformation?

Saudi Arabia is generally a very dynamic and rapidly developing market for AI adoption. However, if we look at industries that are particularly ready for large-scale implementation, I would highlight oil and gas and banking.

Enterprise AI solutions can require significant investment. Industries with strong financial resources are therefore often the earliest adopters. Oil and gas companies and financial institutions have the capacity to absorb these costs and implement AI at scale.

As technology becomes more accessible, we expect adoption to expand across many other sectors as well.

How does THAKAA approach responsible and ethical AI deployment?

Responsible AI is a key priority for us. From the beginning, our solutions have been designed with strong privacy and security frameworks.

Our platform is built as an enterprise solution rather than a consumer AI tool. This means that protecting company data is central to the system architecture.

For example, we apply several techniques to control AI hallucination, including advanced prompting and retrieval-augmented generation methods. We also implement strict security protocols when dealing with personally identifiable information (PII).

Sensitive information—such as employee names or contact details—is encrypted and masked to ensure it cannot be leaked or misused.

Additionally, we comply with regulatory frameworks issued by authorities such as the Saudi Data and AI Authority (SDAIA) and the National Cybersecurity Authority. In some cases, the system is deployed on-premises to ensure that all sensitive data remains fully secure within the organization.

Do your AI solutions support Arabic, including Saudi dialects?

Yes, and that is one of the key differentiators of our platform.

THAKAA was developed with Arabic language capabilities from the beginning. The system can communicate naturally in Arabic, including the Saudi dialect.

For example, we use the technology in call center environments. In many cases, people speaking with the AI cannot easily distinguish whether they are interacting with a human agent or an AI system.

The interaction feels very natural, which demonstrates how far conversational AI technology has evolved.

How do you see AI shaping the broader business landscape in Saudi Arabia?

AI is already becoming a central part of Saudi Arabia’s long-term economic vision.

The Kingdom is forming strategic partnerships with global technology companies to build advanced data centers and GPU infrastructure. These investments will support the development and deployment of large language models.

If LLMs are hosted locally in Saudi Arabia, government institutions, banks, and other organizations will be able to adopt AI technologies more easily and securely.

From my perspective, the AI ecosystem can be divided into three categories. The first includes companies that focus on hardware infrastructure. The second includes companies developing large language models. The third includes companies building practical AI applications and solutions—like what we do at THAKAA.

Saudi Arabia is supporting all three layers of this ecosystem. The country is investing in infrastructure, supporting LLM development, and encouraging the growth of AI startups.

Startups are particularly important because they form the backbone of any AI economy. When governments create supportive regulations and provide resources for startups, the long-term economic impact can be significant.