By Stephan Bandelow, BSc, MSc, Dphil, Associate Professor, Associate Director, Researcher, St. George’s University, Grenada, West Indies

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming modern healthcare, combining technologies that improve diagnosis, treatment, research, and healthcare operations. From detecting diseases in medical scans to streamlining hospital workflows, AI is increasingly helping clinicians make faster and more data-driven decisions. Once viewed as a futuristic concept, today many AI-powered tools are already becoming part of everyday medical practice. In the Middle East region, it is no different. 

Modern AI in medicine combines technologies such as machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, and generative AI to support both clinical care and healthcare operations. In the GCC region, research has shown that the AI market was valued at USD $503 million in 2024 and is expected to grow to $5.81 billion by 2035.

When it comes to digital health markets in the region, two sof its biggest countries are projected to have big impact. The UAE’s market was estimated at $619.3 million in 2023 but in the next four years, that figure could increase substantially to $2.65 billion in 2030. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is expected to reach $11.07 billion by 2033.

As healthcare systems become increasingly technology-enabled, future physicians will need to develop clinical expertise alongside the ability to work with data-driven healthcare tools and digital care ecosystems.

AI in medical imaging and diagnostics

One of the clearest examples of AI’s success in healthcare has emerged in medical imaging. AI-powered computer vision systems are increasingly being used to help clinicians detect abnormalities in radiology scans with greater speed and accuracy. Breast cancer screening has become one of the most studied use cases.

According to a Saudi Arabia-based study conducted across government hospitals in Jeddah, AI-powered breast cancer detection systems demonstrated 92.3 per cent diagnostic accuracy, with sensitivity and specificity rates exceeding 91 per cent, highlighting the technology's potential to support earlier and more reliable cancer detection. 

These tools have seen relatively smoother adoption because they are designed for narrow, measurable tasks. Their performance can be validated against standardized clinical benchmarks such as sensitivity, specificity, and detection rates. Importantly, these systems are intended to support physicians rather than replace them, functioning as a second layer of review that helps reduce workload while improving diagnostic confidence.

Personalized medicine and the role of AI

Another major area of interest has been personalized medicine, where treatments are tailored to an individual’s genetic profile. Since the Human Genome Project in the 1990s, researchers have hoped that advances in genomics and computational medicine would enable highly individualized therapies. While significant progress has been made, especially in oncology biomarker testing, many AI-driven applications in drug discovery and precision medicine still remain at the research or pre-clinical stage.

AI has nevertheless accelerated parts of the research process. Tools such as protein-structure prediction models and machine learning systems are helping researchers identify potential drug targets more efficiently than before. However, translating computational discoveries into approved clinical therapies still requires years of testing, validation, and regulatory review. As a result, personalized medicine continues to evolve gradually rather than transforming healthcare overnight.

Generative AI in healthcare

Generative AI has emerged as one of the most discussed technologies in medicine over the last few years. Much of its real-world adoption currently remains concentrated around administrative and operational workflows rather than direct clinical decision-making. AI tools are increasingly being used for functions such as claims coding, prior-authorization reviews, clinical documentation, and patient record summarization, helping healthcare systems improve efficiency and reduce administrative burden.

Although generative AI systems can process medical information and respond effectively to standardized medical questions, patient care still depends heavily on contextual understanding, ethical judgment, communication, and decision-making in uncertain situations. Concerns around transparency and explainability also continue to limit AI’s role in high-stakes clinical environments. As a result, AI is unlikely to replace physicians in critical diagnostic or therapeutic decisions in the near future. Instead, it is expected to remain a supportive tool that enhances efficiency while clinicians retain final responsibility for patient care.

The future of healthcare lies in human-AI collaboration

The future of healthcare is unlikely to involve AI replacing doctors entirely. Instead, AI is expected to increasingly manage repetitive, structured, and data-heavy tasks, while clinicians continue to lead areas requiring empathy, communication, contextual reasoning, and complex judgment.

Core clinical skills such as patient interaction, history-taking, physical examination, and ethical decision-making will remain central to medical practice. At the same time, healthcare professionals will increasingly need to understand the strengths and limitations of AI tools, critically evaluate AI-generated outputs, and identify potential errors or bias.

As healthcare continues to evolve, physicians who can effectively combine clinical expertise with technological understanding will likely be best positioned to lead the next generation of patient care.

Kholoud Hussein 

The story of Saudi Arabia's digital transformation is often told through the language of infrastructure, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and smart government services. Yet behind the platforms, applications, and digital ecosystems lies a deeper transformation that may ultimately prove to be one of Vision 2030's most significant achievements: the acceleration of women's participation in economic and social life.

In many countries, increasing female participation in the workforce has been a gradual process unfolding over several decades. In Saudi Arabia, however, the convergence of regulatory reforms, digital technologies, and economic diversification has compressed that timeline dramatically. The result is a generation of Saudi women entering leadership positions, launching startups, building technology companies, and contributing to the Kingdom's digital economy at a pace that few analysts anticipated a decade ago.

The digital transformation of Saudi Arabia did not merely create new tools. It fundamentally altered access to opportunity.

A Digital Economy Opens New Doors

When Vision 2030 was launched in 2016, one of its central objectives was to increase women's participation in the labor market. At the time, female workforce participation stood at approximately 17%. Today, that figure exceeds 36%, more than doubling within less than a decade and surpassing the Kingdom's original Vision 2030 target years ahead of schedule. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, female labor force participation reached 36.3% in the first quarter of 2025, while female unemployment fell to a historic low of 10.5%. 

These figures represent far more than a labor market success story. They reflect a structural transformation in how women engage with the economy.

Technology has been one of the most powerful enablers of this shift. Digital platforms have reduced geographical barriers, expanded access to employment opportunities, enabled remote work, facilitated entrepreneurship, and simplified access to financial services. In many cases, technology accomplished something traditional economic reforms alone could not: it made participation easier, faster, and more accessible.

The rise of digital banking, e-commerce, online education, cloud-based business tools, and government platforms has fundamentally changed the mechanics of entering and participating in the economy. Women no longer need to be physically present to establish businesses, access services, or reach customers. The smartphone has effectively become an economic gateway.

From Beneficiaries to Builders

Perhaps the most important shift in the Saudi digital story is that women are no longer merely beneficiaries of transformation; they are increasingly becoming its architects.

Across the Kingdom, women are taking leadership roles in sectors that were once dominated by men, particularly in technology, digital innovation, artificial intelligence, venture capital, and entrepreneurship.

One of the most visible examples is Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, whose leadership in both public policy and economic development has become symbolic of the broader evolution of women's roles in Saudi society. Equally influential is Dr. Esraa Albutairi, Vice Minister at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, who has been actively involved in advancing digital talent development and strengthening the Kingdom's innovation ecosystem.

At the institutional level, women are increasingly participating in the leadership of organizations driving the Kingdom's digital transformation agenda, from technology regulators and investment institutions to startup accelerators and innovation hubs.

This rise in leadership reflects a broader reality: digital transformation requires talent, and Saudi Arabia's growth ambitions cannot be achieved without fully integrating women into the innovation economy.

Building a Generation of Digital Entrepreneurs

While workforce participation statistics tell part of the story, entrepreneurship may be where the most profound transformation is occurring.

Saudi women are launching businesses at unprecedented rates. According to Mastercard's 2025 Women Entrepreneurship Research, 78% of Saudi women expressed interest in starting their own businesses, nearly equal to male respondents. The findings highlight a significant shift in entrepreneurial ambition as the Kingdom's startup ecosystem matures. 

Unlike previous generations, today's entrepreneurs operate within a digital-first environment.

Cloud services eliminate the need for expensive infrastructure. Social media provides direct access to customers. E-commerce platforms create national and global distribution channels. Digital payment systems simplify transactions. Artificial intelligence tools increasingly support marketing, operations, and customer service.

This environment has lowered traditional barriers to entry and enabled women entrepreneurs to build scalable businesses with relatively modest initial resources.

The result is the emergence of a new class of technology-enabled female founders whose companies are addressing challenges across fintech, retail technology, education, healthcare, logistics, and software services.

The Startups Leading the Change

Saudi Arabia's startup ecosystem increasingly features women at the helm of some of the Kingdom's most innovative ventures.

Among the most frequently cited examples is Razan Al Mubarak's broader regional influence on sustainability and innovation, alongside a growing generation of Saudi founders building technology-enabled companies across multiple sectors.

One notable example is The Chefz, which counted prominent Saudi women among its leadership and helped redefine food delivery experiences before its acquisition by Jahez. Another example is Marn, co-founded with strong female participation in leadership, which has become one of the Kingdom's leading cloud-based restaurant management platforms.

In the education sector, female entrepreneurs have played critical roles in developing digital learning platforms that gained traction during and after the pandemic. In healthtech, women founders have helped create solutions focused on wellness, preventive care, and patient engagement. In fintech, women are increasingly entering a sector that was once considered one of the most difficult industries for female entrepreneurs to penetrate.

More importantly, these founders are not building "women-focused" businesses alone. They are creating companies that address mainstream economic challenges and serve broad markets.

That distinction marks the transition from inclusion to influence.

How Government and the Private Sector Built the Foundation

The success of Saudi women in the digital economy did not emerge in isolation. It was supported by a deliberate strategy involving regulatory reforms, digital infrastructure investment, workforce development programs, and public-private partnerships.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development reports that more than 800 training programs have delivered over 280,000 certificates, supporting more than 120,000 Saudi women into employment. Additionally, the “Wusul” transportation support initiative has helped more than 307,000 women overcome mobility barriers and maintain employment stability.

Partnerships with more than 46,000 private-sector companies have further expanded opportunities for women, while leadership development initiatives have trained thousands of women for management and executive positions. 

At the same time, the private sector has increasingly recognized that female participation is not simply a social objective but an economic necessity. Companies competing in technology, finance, and innovation-intensive industries require access to the broadest possible talent pool.

As a result, organizations across the Kingdom have expanded leadership pathways, digital training initiatives, and entrepreneurship support programs targeting women.

Women in the Technology Workforce

One of the clearest indicators of progress is the growing presence of women within Saudi Arabia's technology sector itself.

According to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, women now account for approximately 35% of the Kingdom's digital workforce, significantly exceeding both global and G20 averages. The sector employs more than 389,000 digital professionals, making Saudi Arabia home to the largest pool of digital talent in the Middle East.

Safa Al-Rashed, Acting Deputy Minister for Future Skills and Capabilities, recently emphasized that investment in national talent remains the foundation of the Kingdom's digital economy. She noted that Saudi Arabia's future competitiveness depends on empowering both young men and women with advanced digital skills capable of supporting innovation-led growth. 

This trend is particularly significant because technology increasingly serves as the infrastructure of every industry. Whether in healthcare, finance, retail, logistics, or education, digital capabilities are becoming essential career assets.

Women entering technology are therefore not only joining a sector; they are positioning themselves within the core engine of future economic growth.

The Next Frontier: AI Leadership and Deep Technology

While Saudi women's progress in entrepreneurship, digital services, and the technology workforce represents a major milestone, the next phase of the Kingdom's transformation will be defined by a far more ambitious challenge: positioning women not only as participants in the digital economy, but as leaders in the technologies that will shape the future global economy.

Artificial intelligence, advanced computing, robotics, cybersecurity, quantum technologies, and data science are rapidly becoming the strategic industries of the 21st century. Countries are increasingly competing not only for capital and infrastructure, but also for the talent capable of developing and managing these technologies. Saudi Arabia's leadership understands this reality well. The Kingdom's investments in AI infrastructure, cloud computing, data centers, and advanced digital capabilities are designed not merely to modernize public services, but to establish Saudi Arabia as a regional and global technology powerhouse.

For women, this transformation presents a historic opportunity.

Unlike many traditional industries where leadership structures were established decades ago, emerging technology sectors are still being built. Artificial intelligence, in particular, offers a relatively open playing field where expertise, innovation, and technical capability can matter more than legacy industry structures. As Saudi Arabia builds its AI ecosystem, women have an opportunity to enter these sectors at a formative stage and influence their development from the outset.

The Kingdom has already begun laying the foundations for this transition. Through initiatives led by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA), and multiple university partnerships, thousands of women are being trained in coding, machine learning, cybersecurity, and advanced digital skills. Programs such as the National Technology Development Program and digital upskilling initiatives are creating pathways into industries that barely existed in the Kingdom a decade ago.

The importance of this shift extends far beyond employment statistics. Artificial intelligence is expected to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars to the Saudi economy over the coming decades. According to PwC estimates, AI could contribute approximately $135 billion to Saudi Arabia's GDP by 2030, representing one of the largest AI-driven economic opportunities in the Middle East. The question is no longer whether women will participate in this growth, but whether they will occupy leadership positions within it.

The next generation of Saudi female founders is likely to look very different from the previous one. While many of today's successful women-led startups operate in e-commerce, consumer services, education, and health technology, tomorrow's entrepreneurs may be building AI platforms, climate-tech solutions, robotics companies, cybersecurity firms, and advanced software infrastructure businesses.

This evolution could ultimately transform Saudi women from adopters of technology into creators of globally competitive technologies. In doing so, they would help shape not only the future of the Kingdom's digital economy, but also its position within the global innovation landscape.

Beyond Employment: A Shift in Social Expectations

The impact of digital transformation on Saudi women cannot be measured solely through workforce participation rates, startup funding figures, or leadership appointments. Its most profound effect may be cultural.

Technology has altered the way opportunity is perceived.

For previous generations, professional pathways for women were often concentrated in a limited number of sectors. Today, a young Saudi woman can envision herself as a software engineer, startup founder, venture capitalist, artificial intelligence specialist, fintech executive, cybersecurity expert, or technology investor. These possibilities are no longer theoretical. They are increasingly visible in everyday life.

This visibility matters because economic transformation is often preceded by a transformation in expectations.

As Saudi women become more present in technology conferences, startup competitions, boardrooms, investment committees, and executive leadership teams, they are reshaping perceptions about who can lead innovation. Every successful female entrepreneur creates a reference point for the next generation. Every woman appointed to a senior technology position expands the boundaries of what young professionals believe is achievable.

Digital platforms have accelerated this process. Social media, professional networking platforms, online education, and digital communities have created new channels for mentorship, knowledge-sharing, and collaboration. Young women entering the workforce today have access to role models and professional networks that were previously difficult to reach.

The shift is particularly evident within entrepreneurship. A decade ago, female startup founders were often viewed as exceptions within the broader ecosystem. Today, they are increasingly becoming part of the mainstream narrative of Saudi innovation. Investors, accelerators, and venture capital firms are paying greater attention to female-led businesses, while government-backed initiatives continue to encourage women's participation in entrepreneurship and innovation.

There is also a deeper societal implication. The digital economy has changed the relationship between work and location. Remote work, digital businesses, online consulting, and cloud-based operations have expanded professional flexibility across multiple sectors. This has enabled many women to participate in economic activity in ways that were previously more difficult or less accessible.

Perhaps most importantly, digital transformation has helped shift the conversation from inclusion to contribution.

The debate is no longer centered solely on increasing women's participation. It is increasingly focused on the value women create as entrepreneurs, innovators, investors, engineers, and executives. Their role is no longer measured by presence alone, but by impact.

That distinction marks a critical stage in the maturation of Saudi Arabia's economic transformation. It signals that women are becoming integral contributors to the Kingdom's innovation economy rather than beneficiaries of reform initiatives.

Looking Ahead

As Saudi Arabia advances toward the next phase of Vision 2030, the role of women in shaping the Kingdom's digital future is expected to become even more significant.

The country's ambitions extend far beyond digital government services or technology adoption. Saudi Arabia is positioning itself as a global hub for artificial intelligence, cloud computing, advanced manufacturing, smart cities, fintech, and innovation-driven industries. Achieving these ambitions will require a continuous expansion of the national talent pool, making women's participation not simply desirable but economically essential.

The coming decade is likely to witness the rise of a new generation of Saudi female leaders operating at the intersection of technology, investment, and innovation. Some will build startups capable of expanding beyond regional markets. Others will lead venture capital funds, manage major technology projects, or oversee national digital initiatives. Many will help define the industries that emerge from Saudi Arabia's growing innovation ecosystem.

At the same time, challenges remain. Increasing representation in advanced technology fields, expanding access to growth-stage funding for female founders, strengthening mentorship networks, and ensuring greater participation in investment decision-making will all be important priorities. The next stage of progress will depend not only on access to opportunities but also on the ability to scale influence.

Encouragingly, the foundations already exist. Saudi Arabia now possesses one of the Middle East's largest digital economies, one of the region's most active startup ecosystems, and one of the world's most ambitious AI strategies. Women are entering these ecosystems at a moment when industries are being built rather than merely maintained.

This timing could prove decisive.

Just as the Kingdom's digital transformation reshaped the relationship between citizens and government, it is also reshaping the relationship between women and economic opportunity. The convergence of technology, policy reform, entrepreneurship, and investment is creating conditions that would have been difficult to imagine only a decade ago.

The story of Saudi women's digital leap is therefore not merely a story about employment or entrepreneurship. It is a story about agency, influence, and leadership in a rapidly evolving economy.

And as Saudi Arabia continues its transformation into a knowledge-based and innovation-driven nation, the success of its digital future may increasingly depend on the women helping to build it.

Noha Gad

Saudi Arabia has proven that technology and telecommunications are cornerstones of the modern Hajj experience. The record success of Hajj 2026 was powered by AI-driven crowd management, multilingual robots, the Nusuk platform, and a robust 5G network with over 5,230 towers delivering 99.9% availability. Yet the backbone of any mass gathering lies in the physical well-being and movement of millions. Healthcare and transport represent the most critical and most demanding pillars of the Hajj economy in Saudi Arabia.

The physical well-being of over 1.7 million pilgrims, many elderly or with pre-existing conditions, in a climate where temperatures can exceed 45 degrees Celsius, presents a medical challenge of epic proportions. Heatstroke, exhaustion, infectious diseases, and cardiac emergencies are constant threats that demand an instantaneous, highly coordinated medical response. Simultaneously, moving this massive population across the sacred sites requires transport networks of extraordinary capacity and precision. 

According to official figures by the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Saudi healthcare ecosystem delivered around 2.5 million medical services during Hajj 2026, while over one million calls were handled through the ministry's "937" health hotline. More than 52,000 health workers and 7,700 paramedics were deployed during the pilgrimage, supported by over 20,000 hospital beds, including 3,800 dedicated to the holy sites. Additionally, field epidemiology teams, rapid-response units, and advanced laboratory networks remained on standby throughout the pilgrimage, while multilingual public awareness campaigns focused on heat stress and disease prevention.

This success was also supported by the Kingdom’s efforts to increase hospital capacity significantly and provide new healthcare services. This included remote consultations through the Virtual Health Hospital, systems enabling the exchange of medical information with pilgrims’ home countries, and the deployment of a Mobile Stroke Unit to serve visitors in and around the Holy Mosque. According to the Vision 2030 Annual Report 2025, around 10,000 individuals benefited from the Virtual Health Hospital. This milestone reaffirms that virtual care has become a core component of the healthcare system in the Kingdom.

The integration of groundbreaking technologies to advance healthcare services

The Kingdom achieved a fundamental transformation in the healthcare systems during Hajj 2026 by integrating AI-powered surveillance, virtual clinics, and smart wearables. These innovations enabled authorities to manage crowds safely, provide real-time multilingual medical guidance, and protect millions of pilgrims from extreme heat and health risks.

• Intelligent healthcare systems

The National Platform for Health and Insurance Exchange Services (NPHIES platform) gave medical practitioners instant access to patient data, while telemedicine services provided remote consultations. The platform functioned as a centralized health information exchange (HIE) system that connected doctors, clinics, and emergency responders in the sacred sites to streamline several key healthcare processes. Additionally, the Raqeem enhanced medical records management and documentation efficiency, alongside the Raqeeb platform for monitoring and managing controlled medications, and the Ayenati system, which digitally connects laboratories and test results to accelerate access to health information.

To further enhance healthcare services during Hajj 2026, the Kingdom launched the Symptom Checker, an AI-powered tool that analyzes symptoms and medical history to provide preliminary assessments and instant health guidance. This solution contributed to reducing waiting times, improving medical triage efficiency, and providing around-the-clock medical support.

• Medical robotics

Medical robotics played a pivotal role in facilitating and streamlining healthcare services for pilgrims. These robots helped medical workers provide effective and accurate treatments and enhance patient outcomes. Hospital logistics, medicine distribution, and patient care services were also supported by robotic technologies. This innovation decreased response time and aided healthcare teams in coping with a surge in demand as a result of millions of visitors.

• Drones

Saudi authorities introduced drone deliveries for medicine and medical supplies during Hajj 2026, operating across the holy sites of Makkah. This innovation contributed to speeding up the delivery of medical logistics and improving response times during the Day of Arafat.

• Electronic E-Bracelets and Smart Cards

Pilgrims were equipped with digital e-bracelets or cards that store vital personal and medical information, allowing first responders and medical tents to access medical history instantly.

Moving millions: Transport network behind Hajj 2026

Transport played a central role in managing the movement of millions of pilgrims across cities and holy sites within a limited timeframe. In recent years, a more connected network has made it easier to move between arrival points, Makkah, Madinah, and the sacred sites. This network brings together air, rail, and ground transport. For instance, pilgrims who arrive through Jeddah or Madinah can travel via the Haramain High-Speed Railway between major cities and rely on other transportation, such as the Mashaer Train and Makkah buses, to move within and around the holy sites. 

The Haramain High-Speed Railway is one of the fastest trains in the world, which links Makkah and Madinah through a 453-kilometer route passing through Jeddah, King Abdulaziz International Airport, and King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), with an operating speed of up to 300 kilometers per hour. Its network operates through a fleet of 35 trains, each with a capacity of up to 417 seats. In Hajj 2026, the Haramain High-Speed Railway recorded outstanding performance, achieving an on-time performance rate exceeding 98%. It transported more than 1.16 million passengers through 5,569 trips linking Makkah and Madinah. 

With a fleet of 17 trains and an operational capacity of 72,000 passengers per hour, the Mashaer Train extends for 18 kilometers and connects the holy sites of Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat, helping reduce travel time, ease traffic congestion, and improve crowd-management efficiency during peak periods. Official figures showed that the Mashaer Train transported more than 961,000 pilgrims in Hajj 2026. Around 290,000 pilgrims were transported from Arafat to Muzdalifah during one operational phase, while another 357,000 pilgrims were later moved from Muzdalifah back to Mina.

Beyond passenger capacity, the Mashaer Train delivered significant environmental benefits as its operation helped replace approximately 50,000 bus trips during the season, easing traffic congestion and enhancing environmental sustainability through reliance on electric energy with zero carbon emissions.

The Kingdom’s plans to facilitate transport during Hajj 2026 included the deployment of 33,000 buses and 5,000 taxis to boost safe, efficient transport and smooth pilgrim movement across the holy sites. More than 2,500 buses were operating round the clock to transport pilgrims, while 24 parking areas with space for 20,000 buses had been prepared to reduce congestion and improve movement efficiency. Additionally, the Royal Commission for Makkah City and Holy Sites deployed 24,000 buses through a central automated control system, including 2,500 for arrivals and 400 buses operating within Makkah on 14 routes.

The numbers from Hajj 2026 paint a remarkable picture of logistical and humanitarian achievement. It underscored Saudi Arabia’s successful efforts to transform the Hajj from a spiritual journey burdened by logistical chaos into a masterclass in human-centered coordination. The integration of AI-powered diagnostic tools, telemedicine platforms, robotic logistics, and drone deliveries redefined what is possible in mass gathering healthcare.

The true success of Hajj 2026 is a testament to the Kingdom’s commitment to better serving pilgrims and Umrah performers under the ambitious Vision 2030. From the digital ecosystems, including AI crowd management, 5G connectivity, and the Nusuk platform, to the healthcare and transport pillars, the Kingdom has demonstrated that technology and human compassion are not opposing forces but complementary tools.

Ghada Ismail

In Part One of this series, we explored two of the most common forms of business funding: initial capital, which helps entrepreneurs launch their ventures, and debt capital, which allows businesses to borrow money for growth and operations. But once a business moves beyond the startup stage, its financial needs become more complex.

Companies need funding to purchase inventory, cover operational expenses, enter new markets, and support expansion plans. This is where commercial capital and equity capital come into play.

Although both provide businesses with access to financial resources, they work in very different ways. Understanding the distinction can help founders choose the funding model that best supports their growth ambitions.

What Is Commercial Capital?

Commercial capital refers to funds used to support a company's commercial activities and day-to-day operations. It is commonly utilized by startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to finance ongoing business needs and maintain operational momentum.

Commercial capital is often used for:

• Purchasing inventory or raw materials
• Covering operating expenses
• Managing fixed costs
• Supporting trading and commercial activities
• Improving cash flow flexibility

Unlike initial capital, which is typically used to get a business off the ground, commercial capital is usually deployed once a company is already operating and looking to sustain or expand its activities.

Because this form of capital is closely tied to business performance and market activity, it is generally considered higher risk. However, that risk can also create opportunities for stronger returns, making commercial capital an important tool for businesses seeking growth.

What Is Equity Capital?

Equity capital takes a different approach. Instead of funding business activities directly, it involves raising money by selling a portion of the company to investors.

Sources of equity capital may include:

• Angel investors
• Venture capital firms
• Private equity funds
• Strategic corporate investors
• Friends and family

In exchange for their investment, shareholders receive an ownership stake in the business and benefit if the company's value increases over time.

Unlike debt financing, equity capital does not need to be repaid. However, founders must be willing to share ownership, future profits, and often some influence over major business decisions.

For startups pursuing aggressive growth, equity capital can provide access to larger amounts of funding than traditional financing options.

The Key Difference: Ownership

The most significant difference between commercial capital and equity capital is ownership.

Commercial capital is designed to support business operations. While providers of capital expect returns from the activities they finance, founders generally retain full ownership and control of the company.

Equity capital, on the other hand, requires entrepreneurs to exchange a portion of their business for funding. Investors become stakeholders whose success is tied directly to the company's future performance.

For founders, the trade-off is straightforward: commercial capital helps finance business activities, while equity capital helps finance growth by bringing new owners into the company.

Which Option Is Right for Your Business?

The answer depends largely on the company's stage of development and funding needs.

Commercial capital may be a better fit if a business:

• Needs funding for inventory or operational expenses
• Wants to maintain ownership and control
• Has established revenue streams
• Requires short- to medium-term growth support

Equity capital may make more sense if a business:

• Is in its startup or early-growth stage
• Needs substantial funding to scale quickly
• Wants access to investor expertise and networks
• Is willing to share ownership in exchange for growth capital

Many successful companies use both forms of capital at different stages of their journey. A startup may initially raise equity capital to build its product and enter the market, then use commercial capital later to support expansion and day-to-day operations.

To Wrap Things Up…

As we've seen throughout this series, different types of capital serve different business objectives. Initial capital helps launch a company, debt capital provides borrowed funds, commercial capital supports ongoing operations, and equity capital brings investors into the ownership structure.

Neither commercial capital nor equity capital is inherently better. The right choice depends on a company's goals, financial position, and growth strategy.

For entrepreneurs, understanding the strengths and trade-offs of each type of capital is essential to building a sustainable business and making smarter funding decisions as the company evolves.

Noha Gad

In the evolving world of finance, access to investment opportunities has traditionally favored those with substantial capital, as high minimum investment requirements often create barriers for retail investors, limiting their ability to diversify portfolios and participate in fixed-income markets. Yet, financial innovation continues to reshape this landscape, introducing instruments designed to democratize access and empower everyday investors.

One of these instruments is baby bonds, fixed-income securities specifically structured to lower the entry threshold for individual investors. Unlike conventional bonds, which typically require a minimum investment of $1,000 or more, baby bonds are issued with par values under $1,000, often ranging between $25 and $500. This accessibility makes them particularly appealing to retail investors seeking to build stable, income-generating portfolios without committing large sums of capital upfront.

How do baby bonds work?

These instruments function like other fixed-income securities as they have a specific maturity date and follow a schedule of interest payments. At maturity, the issuer repays the principal amount to the bondholder. However, many baby bonds are issued as zero-coupon bonds, meaning they are sold at a deep discount to their face value and do not pay periodic interest. The maturity periods for baby bonds are various. Some issuers offer short-term bonds with 5 to 15-year maturities, while others extend to decades, sometimes up to 50 years, particularly when issued for long-term infrastructure projects.

Baby bonds offer several compelling benefits for retail investors, notably:

• Accessibility: Low investment minimum makes fixed income accessible to investors with limited capital.
• Portfolio diversification: baby bonds enable small investors to add fixed-income exposure to otherwise equity-heavy portfolios.
• Fixed income stability: These bonds provide predictable returns with defined maturity dates.

Additionally, baby bonds represent a practical way for investors in emerging markets or those building their first investment portfolio to enter the bond market without committing substantial capital. They are especially useful for gradual portfolio building, allowing investors to purchase multiple bonds over time.

Some risks to consider before investing in baby bonds

Despite their advantages, baby bonds carry important risks that investors must understand:

• Risks stay the same.  A lower investment minimum does not mean lower risk. Baby bonds carry the same credit risk, interest rate risk, and inflation risk as traditional bonds.
• Zero-coupon limitations: Many baby bonds are zero-coupon, meaning no interim income is paid. Investors must wait until maturity to realize gains, which may not suit those seeking regular income.
• Liquidity concerns: Some baby bonds may have limited secondary market activity, making them harder to sell before maturity compared to widely traded bonds or bond ETFs.
• Opportunity cost: For investors with capital available, the low returns on baby bonds may offer lower returns compared to equities or other investment vehicles over the same period.

To sum up, baby bonds represent a meaningful step toward democratizing access to fixed-income investing. By lowering the entry threshold, they remove a longstanding barrier that has historically excluded retail investors from the bond market. For investors in emerging markets, those building their first portfolio, or anyone seeking to diversify with limited capital, baby bonds offer a practical pathway to participate in stable, income-generating assets. However, investors must recognize that baby bonds carry the same credit, interest rate, and inflation risks as traditional bonds, and factors such as zero-coupon structures and limited liquidity require careful consideration. This is why baby bonds are best suited for investors who prioritize gradual portfolio building, fixed-income stability, and diversification over aggressive returns. 

Noha Gad

Each year, millions of Muslims from around the world converge on Saudi Arabia for the Hajj, supported by a meticulously orchestrated logistics, housing, and transportation operation. This annual event has evolved far beyond its spiritual roots into one of the world’s most remarkable seasonal economic phenomena. For the Kingdom, Hajj is more than a religious obligation; it is a national priority, tightly tied to Vision 2030, the country’s long-term roadmap for economic transformation. Yet managing this massive influx within a confined geography and time window presents relentless challenges: infrastructure strain, crowd management, pricing regulation, and environmental sustainability. As Saudi Arabia opens its doors to increasing numbers of visitors, the Hajj economy stands as both a model of large-scale event logistics and a high-stakes test of the Kingdom’s economic transformation.

In Hajj 2026, the Kingdom welcomed over 1.7 million pilgrims from 165 nationalities, including 1.5 million external pilgrims and 160,646 internal pilgrims, marking the second-largest number following the 1.86 million pilgrims in 2019. According to recent statistics released by the General Statistics Authority (GASTAT), male pilgrims reached 893,396, representing 52.3% of the total number, while female pilgrims reached 813,905, accounting for 47.7% of the total number. These figures underscore Saudi Arabia’s continued efforts to serve pilgrims and visitors of the Holy Mosque in Makkah, the sacred sites, and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, with a focus on care, organization, and hospitality. 

From vision to app: Digitizing the pilgrim journey

The Pilgrim Experience Program (PEP) is one of the programs designed to achieve Saudi Vision 2030. Launched in 2019 to enable the largest number of Muslims possible to perform Hajj and Umrah in the best manner, the program aims to facilitate hosting a larger number of Hajj and Umrah performers and streamlining access to the Haramain (the Two Holy Mosques in Makkah and Al-Madinah); providing high-quality services to pilgrims for a comprehensive and smooth experience; and enriching the religious and cultural experience of pilgrims by allowing them to visit Islamic historical and cultural sites.

The program is a model of agility, strategic excellence, and infrastructure, acting quickly to ensure a successful pilgrimage by safeguarding against threats and maintaining highly skilled personnel on hand. 

To further facilitate the pilgrims’ experience, the Kingdom launched the Nusuk platform and the Makkah Route initiative, reflecting a broader change: services are being adopted at scale, supporting a growing number of pilgrims with greater consistency and ease

With over 54 million users and more than 4 billion user interactions, Nusuk offers over 130 services and serves as a unified gateway for Muslims worldwide to plan their journeys in advance, access services, and manage their experience end-to-end. According to the Vision 20230 Annual Report 2025, the Makkah Route initiative enabled over 1.2 million pilgrims in 2025 to complete key procedures before departure, reducing waiting times and simplifying entry into the Kingdom, compared to 1,600 pilgrims in 2017.

Harnessing technology to enhance the Hajj experience

The success of the Hajj 2026 season underscored Saudi Arabia’s heavy investment in utilizing technology, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and smart services to improve crowd management and enhance operational efficiency. Through Saudi Vision 2030, the Kingdom installed high-end digitalization, medical technologies, and even AI-driven crowd control technologies to make the pilgrimage safer and smoother. The Saudi AI and Data Authority (SDAIA) led these efforts by operating several integrated AI-powered platforms and digital services throughout the pilgrimage journey.

AI-powered crowd management

One of the main areas of focus in the Hajj 2026 season is crowd management around the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the holy sites of Mina, Arafat, and Muzdalifah. According to SDAIA, platforms such as Baseer and Sawaher, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Interior, use computer vision, thermal imaging, and AI-driven analytics to monitor crowd density and movement patterns in real time and regulate pedestrian and vehicle flows in high-density areas around holy sites. These systems analyze live video feeds and surveillance data to identify congestion points, predict crowd surges, and support faster decision-making by authorities. Along with crowd management, Saudi authorities leveraged AI for enhanced transportation coordination, better resource allocation, and more effective emergency response.

Multilingual robots

The Kingdom deployed multi-service AI-powered robots designed to provide religious guidance and real-time translation in several languages as part of a wider digital ecosystem aimed at enriching visitors’ spiritual and intellectual experience. The robot offers interactive religious and educational content through an easy-to-use interface, including information on locations and services inside the two holy mosques, answers to religious inquiries, and instant translation services to help visitors from different nationalities and cultures communicate more easily.

Smart support services

In addition to surveillance systems, Saudi Arabia offered several smart support services to help pilgrims during their trip. For instance, drones were deployed to quickly inspect and assess the situation with crowds, providing authorities with useful real-time data regarding areas that would have been hard to capture otherwise. Additionally, digital advisory systems, multilingual communication support, and mobile applications assisted pilgrims with their routes, access to services, and valuable updates.

Saudi authorities also provided a range of digital solutions to help pilgrims find transportation, accommodation, healthcare, and religious support data, using mobile apps to send real-time alerts and assistance in various languages.

Connectivity that serves faith: how telecoms power the Hajj

The telecommunications sector was instrumental in the success of Hajj 2026, with the Kingdom’s advanced digital infrastructure playing a pivotal role. The core of this success was a massive physical infrastructure deployment that included over 5,230 communication towers across Makkah, Madinah, and the holy sites, complemented by more than 31,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cables to ensure comprehensive 4G and 5G coverage.

Operators like stc Group employed AI-powered systems for real-time crowd analysis and predictive traffic steering, with AI systems managing more than 99.9% of automated analytics and network decisions during peak hours, while service quality-related tickets fell 13%.

The group also has over 450 network expansion operations to include more than 3,000 new coverage points and 1,100 outdoor sites. These expansions increased the total data traffic by 42% during the Day of Arafah, with 5G accounting for more than 51% of total usage and 5G adoption growing 16% year-on-year. Average download speeds increased 13% while latency was reduced by 50%. The network achieved a call completion success rate of 99.83%, with VoLTE success up 11% and overall operational availability reaching 99.9% throughout the day. 

Additionally, stc Group provided integrated digital services at the Makkah Route’s lounges across 17 entry points in 10 countries to facilitate Hajj pilgrims’ procedures.

Zain KSA also developed an integrated ecosystem to enhance connectivity quality and digital services for pilgrims. It achieved a 99.9% network availability in Makkah and the sacred sites, and witnessed a 99% rise in call quality compared to the previous year and an 18% rise in high-quality data traffic.

The operator launched the Smart Hajj Platform, an AI-powered platform for end-to-end network management across the Hajj zone, to enhance performance efficiency and improve connectivity during the Hajj season. The platform enabled real-time detection and analysis of challenges and autonomous fixes requiring zero human intervention, allowing network challenges to be addressed faster than traditional manual monitoring methods.

These figures reaffirm that Saudi Arabia is no longer simply hosting pilgrims; it is engineering an end-to-end digital pilgrimage ecosystem where technology anticipates needs, bridges languages, and safeguards lives. The Hajj 2026 season demonstrated that the Kingdom has successfully transformed religious observance into a seamlessly orchestrated, data-driven operation without diminishing its spiritual essence.

As Vision 2030 approaches its final stretch, the Hajj economy offers a replicable blueprint for other mega-events worldwide. However, the true measure of success remains deeply human: shorter waiting times, clearer guidance, safer crowds, and the quiet dignity of worshipers who can focus entirely on their devotion. The next article will focus on two equally vital pillars of the Hajj economy: healthcare resilience in mass gatherings and the transportation logistics that move millions across sacred sites with precision and safety.

Ghada Ismail

For years, compliance sat quietly in the background of business operations. It was something companies had to deal with to satisfy regulators, avoid fines, and keep the paperwork in order. Few founders saw it as a competitive advantage, and even fewer viewed it as a startup opportunity.

Today, that is changing.

As Saudi Arabia's digital economy expands, compliance is emerging as a business category in its own right. A growing number of startups are building software designed to help businesses meet regulatory requirements more efficiently, turning what was once a back-office function into a scalable technology product.

The timing is no coincidence. As fintech, insurtech, digital assets, e-commerce, and AI-powered businesses continue to grow across the Kingdom, regulators are paying closer attention to issues such as anti-money laundering (AML), customer verification, fraud prevention, and data protection.

For businesses, these obligations can quickly become expensive and complex. For a new generation of startups, they represent a market opportunity.

Their solution is straightforward: automate compliance through software. Instead of relying heavily on manual reviews, spreadsheets, and large compliance teams, companies can use technology to verify customers, monitor transactions, screen for risks, and generate reports in real time.

In the process, compliance is evolving from a regulatory requirement into a product category of its own.

Why Compliance Is Becoming Big Business

Saudi Arabia's startup ecosystem has grown rapidly over the past decade, supported by digital transformation initiatives, rising investment activity, and an increasingly tech-savvy population. But growth brings responsibility, and regulators are keeping pace with the speed of innovation.

Companies operating in financial services, insurance, payments, e-commerce, and other digital sectors now face stricter expectations around customer onboarding, risk management, transaction monitoring, and data governance.

For many startups, compliance becomes significantly more challenging as they scale. A company serving a few hundred users can often manage verification processes manually. A business onboarding hundreds of thousands of customers cannot.

The larger the customer base, the greater the compliance burden. Manual checks become slower, more expensive, and harder to maintain. At the same time, businesses face growing pressure to strengthen AML controls, Know Your Customer (KYC) procedures, sanctions screening, fraud detection, and data protection practices.

Failing to meet these requirements can lead to financial penalties, reputational damage, and restrictions on business activities.

As a result, many companies are looking for technology rather than manpower to solve the problem.

Instead of building large compliance departments from scratch or relying entirely on consultants, businesses increasingly want software that can automate verification, monitoring, screening, and reporting. That demand is creating space for a new generation of startups focused on simplifying compliance.

In many ways, regulation itself is helping create an entirely new sector within Saudi Arabia's technology ecosystem.

Turning Compliance Into a Product

The idea behind Compliance-as-a-Product is simple: make compliance accessible through software.

Traditionally, businesses relied on legal advisors, consultants, and internal compliance teams to manage regulatory obligations. While these functions remain important, they often require significant resources and manual effort.

RegTech companies are approaching the challenge differently.

Rather than simply advising companies on how to comply, they build technology that performs much of the work automatically. Businesses can subscribe to a platform, integrate it into their systems, and immediately gain access to compliance tools that would otherwise require extensive internal investment.

A fintech company, for example, can connect a compliance platform directly to its onboarding process. Instead of employees manually reviewing identity documents, checking sanctions lists, and assessing risk profiles, the software can perform these tasks in seconds.

The same approach can be applied to transaction monitoring, fraud detection, politically exposed person (PEP) screening, adverse media checks, and suspicious activity reporting.

For startups and mid-sized businesses, the appeal is obvious. They gain access to sophisticated compliance capabilities without having to build large teams dedicated solely to regulatory oversight.

Compliance, in effect, becomes something businesses can plug into their operations and scale alongside their growth.

Meet Saudi Arabia's Emerging RegTech Players

Among the most prominent is Mozn, one of the Kingdom's leading enterprise AI companies. Through its FOCAL platform, the company provides financial institutions with tools for AML compliance, fraud prevention, customer verification, transaction monitoring, and risk intelligence. The platform has been adopted by banks and fintech firms across the region, reflecting growing demand for locally developed compliance solutions that address the needs of highly regulated industries.

Another emerging player is Tathabbat, which focuses on identity verification, KYC, and AML solutions tailored to Saudi regulatory requirements. By concentrating on local market needs, the company aims to help businesses streamline compliance while reducing friction during customer onboarding.

Dal is also gaining attention through its Ayn platform, which offers AML screening, sanctions monitoring, and politically exposed person screening services. As financial institutions seek to balance strong risk controls with smooth customer experiences, these capabilities are becoming increasingly important.

Meanwhile, Esnad Tech's Sanad360 platform represents one of the Kingdom's earlier moves into the RegTech space. The platform provides tools for KYC verification, due diligence, AML compliance, and broader compliance workflow management. Its goal is to help organizations centralize processes that have traditionally been scattered across multiple departments.

Together, these companies highlight a broader shift taking place within Saudi Arabia's startup ecosystem. Rather than focusing solely on consumer apps or traditional software categories, entrepreneurs are tackling highly specialized challenges that sit at the intersection of technology and regulation.

Why Investors and Enterprises Are Paying Attention

Compliance technology offers several characteristics that make it particularly attractive as a business.

One of its biggest strengths is customer retention. Unlike many software products that can be swapped out relatively easily, compliance platforms often become deeply embedded within a company's operations. Once integrated into onboarding systems, transaction monitoring frameworks, and risk management processes, switching providers can be costly and disruptive.

That creates long-term customer relationships and recurring revenue opportunities.

Demand is also expanding well beyond traditional banking.

While banks remain major buyers of compliance solutions, fintech startups, insurers, investment firms, payment providers, and large enterprises are increasingly investing in compliance technology. As more services move online, businesses need automated tools that can verify customers, detect risks, and satisfy regulators without slowing growth.

The opportunity extends beyond Saudi Arabia as well.

Many GCC countries are introducing similar rules around AML, digital identity, open finance, and data protection. Because the regulatory direction is broadly aligned across the region, Saudi startups can often adapt their products for neighboring markets without rebuilding them from the ground up.

That creates a clear path for regional expansion.

Could Compliance Become the Next Infrastructure Layer?

Looking ahead, compliance technology may become one of the foundational layers of Saudi Arabia's digital economy.

Artificial intelligence is expected to play an increasingly important role in this evolution. Future compliance platforms are likely to move beyond rule-based screening and become far more predictive. AI can help identify unusual behavior, uncover fraud patterns, assess risk levels, and even assist with investigations before problems escalate.

At the same time, new regulations are creating new opportunities.

Emerging frameworks around AI governance, digital identity, open finance, cybersecurity, and data protection will introduce additional compliance obligations for businesses. Every new rule creates demand for tools that can simplify implementation and reduce operational complexity.

Saudi Arabia's digital transformation agenda, combined with the continued growth of its financial services sector, provides fertile ground for this type of innovation.

Just as fintech infrastructure companies emerged to simplify payments, banking integrations, and financial services, compliance infrastructure providers could become equally important to businesses operating in regulated industries.

In many ways, these startups are selling something more valuable than software.

They are selling trust.

Their platforms help businesses prove who their customers are, identify risks before they become problems, detect suspicious activity, and demonstrate compliance with evolving regulations. In a digital-first economy, those capabilities are becoming increasingly valuable.

Wrapping Things Up…

Compliance is no longer just a regulatory obligation hidden in the back office.

In Saudi Arabia, it is becoming a technology category with its own business models, growth opportunities, and startup success stories.

Driven by digital transformation, tighter regulations, and growing demand for automation, a new generation of companies is turning compliance into scalable software products. Players such as Mozn, Tathabbat, Dal, and EsnadTech are showing how technology can simplify complex regulatory processes while creating sustainable businesses in the process.

As the Kingdom's digital economy continues to mature, Compliance-as-a-Product could emerge as one of the most important segments of the broader technology landscape.

Kholoud Hussein 

Before long, fitness was viewed primarily as a lifestyle choice across much of the Middle East. Today, it has become a fast-growing economic sector attracting investment, driving entrepreneurship, and reshaping consumer spending habits. Across the GCC, rising health awareness, supportive government policies, and the expansion of modern fitness facilities have transformed wellness from a niche market into a mainstream industry. In Saudi Arabia particularly, Vision 2030 has accelerated this shift, helping create one of the region's fastest-growing fitness markets while encouraging greater participation across all demographics, especially women.

As the sector matures, attention is increasingly turning toward the technology infrastructure that powers gyms, personal trainers, and fitness operators. Beyond opening new fitness centers, the industry is entering a phase where operational efficiency, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and scalable digital platforms are becoming key drivers of growth and profitability. This evolution is creating significant opportunities for companies capable of bridging the gap between fitness services and technology.

Among the companies leading this transformation is Enhance, a Middle East-born fitness platform that has evolved from a regional service provider into a global technology player. Operating across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United States, the company now supports more than 15,000 personal trainers and facilitates over half a million training sessions every month. Through its Enterprise SaaS and AI-powered platform, Enhance Tech, the company is helping gym operators improve trainer performance, increase profitability, and better manage one of the industry's most valuable yet historically underutilized revenue streams: personal training.

As Enhance expands its footprint beyond the GCC and deepens its presence in the United States, the company is positioning itself at the intersection of fitness, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software. Its journey reflects broader trends reshaping the global wellness economy, where technology is increasingly becoming the foundation for scalable growth and long-term value creation.

In this exclusive interview with Sharikat Mubasher, Tarek Mounir, Founder and CEO of Enhance, discusses the company's evolution from a Dubai-based startup into a global fitness technology platform, the growing demand for personal training across Saudi Arabia and the GCC, the role of AI in transforming gym operations, the company's expansion strategy in the US and beyond, and how Enhance aims to become the global operating standard for personal training in the years ahead.

Enhance has scaled rapidly across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, while also expanding into the United States. How would you describe the company's current operating model, and what has been the key driver behind this cross-market growth?

Enhance is the operating system for personal training (PT). We help large gym chains turn PT from an afterthought into a predictable, profitable revenue stream — which in the high-volume, low-price (HVLP) segment is something almost nobody has cracked.

 We started in Dubai in 2018 as a service business. Eight years later, we cover 700+ contracted gym locations globally — UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, and now the US — supporting 15,000 trainers and over 500,000 booked sessions a month. Revenue has compounded at 65% CAGR since 2019.

 The more important shift is the shape of the business. We went from a regional service layer into a SaaS platform that any multi-site gym operator can deploy. That super-sized our addressable market; from Gulf gym chains up into a $1.8 billion global PT management software category; with the US and UK alone worth $800 million. The GCC gave us the operational history and the proven unit economics. The US is where we're deploying them at scale.

With more than 15,000 personal trainers on the platform and over half a million monthly sessions booked, what does this level of activity reveal about demand trends in the fitness economy across the GCC?

The numbers reflect a structural shift in how GCC consumers approach health. A PT client in Dubai, in 2018, typically came in asking for weight loss before a wedding or a summer holiday. The same client today asks about strength, recovery, energy, and long-term healthspan. That vocabulary shift happened in under a decade.

 Saudi Arabia is the most significant data point. Vision 2030 opened the fitness category, and the pace of adoption — particularly among women — has been dramatic. We're seeing more first-time formal fitness participants in KSA right now than in any other market we operate in. Consumer demand there is outpacing the supply of qualified trainers, which tells you the ceiling is still far above where the market is today.

 Session volumes reflect PT’s transition from a premium add-on to a mainstream service. Over 500,000 booked sessions a month is not a niche conversation — it's a category.

Your Enterprise SaaS and AI-powered product, Enhance Tech, is gaining traction in the US market. What gap in the global gym industry are you addressing, and why do you believe this solution has not been built at scale before?

PT is a $42 billion global market, and most gym operators still lose money on it. The industry runs on whiteboards, spreadsheets and gut feel. Trainer churn sits around 70% a year. Fewer than 15% of free trial sessions convert into paying clients. Operators have almost no visibility into what is actually happening on the gym floor.

No one has solved this at scale because it requires two things that are genuinely hard to combine: deep operational experience running PT inside gyms, and the engineering capability to abstract that into software. Most software companies don't understand the gym floor. Most gym operators don't build software. We have spent eight years doing both, simultaneously.

The AI layer works because the dataset works first. We process over 500,000 PT sessions a month across 700+ gyms. Every session is a data point on what makes trainers successful, why members stay or leave, and where revenue leaks out. A new entrant would need almost a decade of operational history to rebuild that. That's not something you shortcut with capital.

The performance metrics you've shared — 20% more sessions per trainer, a 17% increase in operating margins, and over 40% improvement in trainer retention — are significant. From an investor's perspective, how do these metrics translate into long-term value creation for gym operators?

Each metric hits a different line on the P&L, so they compound in a meaningful way for operators and investors.

 The 20% increase in sessions per trainer is a revenue multiplier — the same headcount produces materially more output. The 17-percentage-point improvement in operating margin at mature sites makes PT much more of a profit engine for gyms. The retention number is the one investors tend to underweight the impact of: when trainer churn drops from the 70% industry norm to under 30%, operators are spared having to absorb constant rehiring and retraining costs, and clients stop churning with their trainer.

Put together, the model creates a gym that earns more from PT, spends less running it, and retains the people who deliver it. At mature sites we see PT revenue around $85,000 per club per month. That's the long-term value case — and it's why operators stay on the platform once they're on it.

Can you walk us through Enhance's funding journey to date? What type of investors have backed the company, and how are you positioning the business for future funding rounds or strategic partnerships?

We bootstrapped the early years deliberately. Taking outside capital before the unit economics were proven would have meant scaling the wrong thing faster. Once the model worked, we raised.

We've taken around $21 million to date. Our cap table includes Global Ventures — MENA's leading venture firm — alongside other institutional backers who understand the regional market and the global ambition. 

We are in conversations with investors who recognize now as particularly ideal timing, as we accelerate our US rollout, deepen the product, and move from a proven regional operator into the default PT infrastructure for large gym chains globally. 

The thesis is straightforward — PT is a $42 billion market with no system of record or operating standard. We're building it. The strategic partnerships we're pursuing in the US reflect the same logic: enterprise gym groups looking for an operator they can trust to run PT end-to-end, not just provide software.

Saudi Arabia is undergoing rapid transformation in its fitness and wellness sector under Vision 2030. How central is the Kingdom to your growth strategy, and what specific expansion plans do you have in this market?

Saudi Arabia is our highest-growth market and one of the most important in the world for this category. Vision 2030 did not just open a new segment — it catalysed a generational shift in how Saudi consumers relate to health and fitness. Current participation rates, particularly among women, would have been unimaginable a decade ago.

For Enhance, the KSA opportunity is both a consumer-side and enterprise-side story. For consumers, demand for qualified personal training is expanding faster than supply — the market constraint is the talent gap, not regulation or the willingness to pay. That creates a strong case for a platform that helps gym operators find, train, and retain good trainers at scale.

On the enterprise side, the large gym groups expanding aggressively across the Kingdom need infrastructure to run PT profitably — and the franchise model driving much of that expansion is exactly where our platform performs best. We're working with operators who are building for a ten-year horizon, and so are we.

Beyond the GCC and the US, which markets are you prioritising next, and what factors determine your market-entry strategy — regulation, consumer behaviour, or enterprise demand?

Enterprise demand drives the sequence, and then we assess the other factors. We follow large gym chains — if a group we already work with is expanding into a new market, that's a faster path to traction than building from scratch against an unfamiliar operator landscape.

As for what's next: the UK is a natural priority. It's the largest gym market in Europe, has strong HVLP penetration, and there is a significant shared-language advantage in how we build and sell the product. Beyond that, Southeast Asia and markets like Australia are interesting over a 24–36 month horizon — high gym penetration, growing PT adoption, and early-stage software infrastructure in the gym sector.

Regulation matters less than it might initially appear. Personal training is not a heavily regulated category in most markets. Consumer behaviour matters more — specifically, whether PT has reached the inflection point from premium to mainstream in a given market. Our GCC experience tells us that once that shift starts, it moves quickly.

As you continue to scale both your consumer platform and enterprise SaaS offering, how do you see Enhance evolving over the next three to five years — particularly in terms of AI integration, product development, and global market positioning?

The three-to-five year vision is to be the system of record and operating standard for personal training globally — the platform gym operators default to, the way hotel groups default to property management software or restaurants default to reservation systems. That category doesn't exist yet. We're building it.

On AI specifically: the tools already live include at-risk client detection that flags members before they churn, and a trainer coaching layer benchmarking every trainer, so managers know exactly who to develop. An AI sales agent and a daily AI management brief follow later this year — with ranked morning instructions for each gym manager, rather than a dashboard requiring interpretation.

The advantage is not the models themselves. Every platform will have access to good models. The advantage is the eight years of operational history behind ours — over 500,000 sessions a month across 700+ gyms, compounding daily. That data set gets harder to replicate every quarter.

On global positioning: the US establishes us as a credible global operator, not just a GCC success story. That matters for enterprise deals, for the fundraising narrative, and for the category we're defining. The ambition, simply stated, is to be the company that built the global infrastructure for PT — and to have done it from the UAE.

Ghada Ismail

Not long ago, the relationship between large corporations and startups was relatively straightforward. Established companies invested in promising startups, partnered with them, or acquired them once they had proven their market value. Innovation largely happened outside the walls of major businesses.

Today, that dynamic is changing. Across Saudi Arabia, a growing number of conglomerates and family-owned business groups are taking a more active role in creating innovation by building startups themselves. Rather than waiting for entrepreneurs to identify opportunities, these companies are establishing dedicated teams tasked with spotting market gaps, developing new products, and launching entirely new ventures from within.

The shift reflects broader changes taking place across the Kingdom. As Vision 2030 drives economic diversification and digital transformation reshapes industries, Saudi companies are increasingly looking beyond their traditional business models. For many, the objective is no longer simply to adapt to change but to create the businesses that will drive future growth.

These internal startup units—often operating as venture studios, innovation hubs, or venture-building teams—are becoming an increasingly important part of how some of Saudi Arabia’s largest organizations approach innovation.

Why Conglomerates Are Looking Inward

For decades, diversification often meant expanding into new sectors through acquisitions, partnerships, or geographic growth. While these strategies remain important, they can be expensive, time-consuming, and dependent on opportunities that may not always exist.

At the same time, technological disruption is forcing companies to respond faster to changing markets. New business models can emerge rapidly, and startups have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to challenge established players with innovative products and services.

Many Saudi conglomerates have realized that waiting for the next disruptive company to appear may no longer be enough. Building ventures internally allows them to stay closer to emerging trends while creating businesses that align directly with long-term strategic priorities.

The Kingdom’s rapidly maturing startup ecosystem has also influenced this trend. Over the past decade, Saudi entrepreneurs have built successful companies across fintech, e-commerce, logistics, healthtech, and software. Their success has shown that innovative businesses can be created and scaled locally, encouraging larger corporations to adopt entrepreneurial thinking themselves.

What Is an Internal Startup Unit?

An internal startup unit goes beyond the role of a traditional innovation department.

While innovation teams often focus on improving existing products, services, or processes, startup units are typically tasked with creating entirely new businesses. Their role is to identify opportunities, validate market demand, develop products, and launch ventures that could eventually become standalone companies.

These teams often combine entrepreneurs, product managers, developers, strategists, and industry specialists. Many operate separately from core business units, giving them greater flexibility to experiment and move quickly without becoming trapped in corporate bureaucracy.

The goal is not innovation for its own sake, but the creation of sustainable businesses capable of generating new revenue streams and opening new markets for the parent organization.

The Venture-Building Influence

The rise of internal startup units is closely linked to the growing popularity of venture-building models globally.

Unlike venture capital firms that invest in startups founded by others, venture builders actively participate in creating companies from the ground up. They identify opportunities, assemble teams, develop products, and provide operational support throughout the startup journey.

The model has gained traction in Saudi Arabia through venture studios and startup factories that treat entrepreneurship as a structured, repeatable process rather than a matter of chance.

For conglomerates, the appeal is clear. Instead of investing in multiple external startups and hoping a few succeed, they can build businesses aligned with their own strategic priorities while leveraging assets they already possess.

Different Models Are Emerging

Saudi companies are experimenting with several approaches to venture building.

Some have established dedicated venture studios that operate almost independently, identifying opportunities and creating startups from scratch. Others have launched innovation labs focused on emerging technologies and experimentation, with successful projects sometimes evolving into standalone businesses.

A third approach involves commercializing internal capabilities. Technology solutions originally developed for internal use can become products serving external customers. Some companies are also pursuing joint ventures with entrepreneurs, international technology firms, or specialized operators to combine corporate resources with startup expertise.

Despite these differences, all of these models share the same objective: creating new growth engines beyond traditional business lines.

Saudi Companies Putting the Model into Practice

While Saudi Arabia's corporate venture-building ecosystem is still developing, several organizations have established structures that reflect different approaches to creating and scaling new ventures. Importantly, not all of these initiatives follow the same model. Some focus on building businesses internally, while others support external startups or expand through internal innovation.

One of the strongest examples of venture building in the Kingdom is Saudi Aramco. Through the Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center, known as Wa'ed, the company has spent more than a decade supporting entrepreneurship and business creation. Complementing this effort are Wa'ed Ventures, Aramco's venture capital arm, and LAB7, its venture-building and product development platform. Together, these initiatives form part of a broader ecosystem designed to identify opportunities, develop technologies, support entrepreneurs, and help transform ideas into scalable businesses. While not a traditional startup studio in the Silicon Valley sense, Aramco has built one of the Kingdom's most structured pathways for venture creation and commercialization.

Beyond Aramco, other organizations are helping shape an emerging venture-building ecosystem. Dussur, established by Saudi Aramco, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and SABIC, was created to develop strategic industrial businesses that advance Saudi Arabia's localization and industrialization ambitions. Unlike traditional investment vehicles, Dussur often works alongside partners to establish and grow new industrial ventures, making it one of the Kingdom's most prominent examples of institution-backed company building.

Another notable example is Sanabil Studio, a venture-building platform launched by Sanabil Investments. The studio works with entrepreneurs to identify market opportunities, validate ideas, assemble teams, and launch startups. Its model reflects the growing popularity of venture building in Saudi Arabia, where startup creation is increasingly being approached through structured processes rather than relying solely on individual founders.

Not all corporate innovation initiatives, however, focus on creating ventures internally. Some organizations have chosen to engage with the startup ecosystem through external support platforms. stc's InspireU program is a leading example. Since its launch, InspireU has provided startups with mentorship, funding, training, and access to industry networks, helping strengthen the Kingdom's entrepreneurial ecosystem while giving stc exposure to emerging technologies and business models.

Other companies demonstrate how internal innovation can create entirely new commercial opportunities without necessarily operating formal venture studios. Elm is one such example. Originally focused on digital government solutions, the company has steadily expanded its portfolio through the development of digital products and platforms serving both public- and private-sector customers. Its evolution illustrates how large organizations can leverage internal expertise, technology capabilities, and market knowledge to create new business lines and revenue streams.

The distinction is important. Building startups internally, supporting external entrepreneurs, and expanding through internal innovation are different approaches, but all reflect a broader shift in how Saudi organizations think about growth and innovation. While the Kingdom still has relatively few publicly documented corporate venture studios compared with more mature markets, an increasing number of organizations are experimenting with new ways to create businesses rather than simply invest in them. As competition intensifies and economic diversification accelerates, these models are likely to play an increasingly important role in shaping the next generation of Saudi companies.

Why the Model Makes Sense

One reason internal startup units are attracting attention is that they address several challenges commonly faced by traditional startups.

Access to funding is perhaps the most obvious advantage. Corporate-backed ventures typically begin with financial resources already in place, allowing teams to focus on product development and market validation rather than fundraising.

These ventures also benefit from established customer networks, supplier relationships, distribution channels, and industry connections that can accelerate growth significantly. Brand recognition provides another advantage. While independent startups often spend years building trust, ventures launched under respected corporate brands may gain credibility much faster.

Perhaps most importantly, they can draw upon decades of industry expertise. Large corporations possess deep knowledge of customer behavior, operational challenges, and market dynamics that can help new ventures avoid costly mistakes and identify opportunities more effectively.

Yet There Are Real Challenges

Despite these advantages, corporate venture building is far from a guaranteed success.

The biggest obstacle is often culture. Startups thrive on experimentation, rapid iteration, and calculated risk-taking, while large corporations are typically structured around governance, efficiency, and risk management. These priorities can sometimes clash.

A startup team may want to launch a product quickly, while corporate procedures require multiple layers of approval. Without the right balance, the speed and agility that make startups effective can easily be lost.

Talent acquisition presents another challenge. Experienced entrepreneurs and startup operators often prefer environments that offer autonomy and flexibility. Attracting and retaining such talent within a corporate structure requires thoughtful leadership, clear incentives, and sufficient independence.

Measuring success can also be difficult. New ventures rarely become profitable immediately, requiring organizations to evaluate progress based on learning, customer adoption, and market validation rather than short-term financial performance alone.

The Future Ahead

As Saudi Arabia continues its economic transformation, internal startup units are likely to play an increasingly prominent role within the private sector.

Sectors such as artificial intelligence, fintech, logistics, healthtech, climate technology, enterprise software, and industrial technology offer significant opportunities for corporate venture building. Future startup units may also collaborate more closely with universities, research institutions, entrepreneurs, and government-backed innovation programs, strengthening links between established corporations and the wider startup ecosystem.

What is clear is that the relationship between corporations and entrepreneurship is changing. Saudi conglomerates are no longer content with supporting innovation from the sidelines. Increasingly, they are becoming builders themselves, creating startups, launching new ventures, and shaping the next generation of businesses that could define the Kingdom’s economic future.

In many ways, this marks a new chapter for Saudi corporate innovation, one in which some of the country’s largest organizations are beginning to think and act more like startups themselves.

Noha Gad

When investors start investing, they often analyze the economy by studying interest rates, inflation, and political events. After forming a view on the broader market, they decide whether to buy stocks or to stay in cash. This way of investing is called top-down investing because it starts from the top, meaning the whole economy, and then moves down to individual companies.

Bottom-up investing inverts this hierarchy, treating the macroeconomic climate as a secondary, almost incidental variable. Instead of looking at the economy first, the bottom-up investor looks at a single company, reviews its annual report, and examines how much it makes and how much it spends. They examine its debts and its cash reserves, then ask simple questions: Does the company have a product that people truly need? Is the management team honest and capable? Does the company have a lasting advantage over its rivals, such as a well-known brand or lower production costs? After answering these questions, the bottom-up investor considers the broader economy, treating it as a secondary factor.

The bottom-up approach dismisses the notion that a great business is merely a beneficiary of favorable cycles. Instead, it posits that superior operational and financial fundamentals can generate alpha irrespective of the prevailing macro wind. It is the intellectual framework of concentrated portfolios, outsized long-term returns, and the kind of analytical patience that ignores headlines to focus on durable competitive advantage.

Understanding Bottom-Up Investing startegy

Bottom-up investing focuses on analyzing individual companies rather than broader economic trends. Investors who use this method look closely at fundamentals, such as revenue and earnings, to find strong companies. Unlike top-down investing, which focuses on the economy or sector trends, bottom-up investing prioritizes the company itself. 

Most of the time, bottom-up investing does not stop at the individual firm level, although that is where analysis begins and the most weight is given. The industry group, economic sector, market, and macroeconomic factors are eventually brought into the overall analysis. However, the investment research process begins at the bottom and works its way up in scale.

Bottom-up investors usually employ long-term, buy-and-hold strategies that rely strongly on fundamental analysis. This approach offers an in-depth look at a company and its stock, revealing its long-term growth potential. Top-down investors may be more opportunistic, entering and exiting positions quickly to profit from short-term market changes.

Key Features

1. Company-first focus: Decisions originate from micro-level insights about specific companies, not from macroeconomic themes.
2. Fundamental analysis: This approach focuses on revenue quality, margins, cash flows, balance-sheet strength, and sustainable profitability.
3. Management and governance: Close evaluation of leadership competence, capital allocation history, incentive alignment, and minority shareholder protections.
4. Active monitoring: Ongoing company-level monitoring for execution, guidance changes, insider activity, and competitive shifts.

These features make the bottom-up investing strategy a perfect choice for active equity managers and stock pickers seeking alpha from idiosyncratic company performance. It also suits value investors who focus on fundamentals and margins of safety, as well as Long-term investors and concentrated-portfolio managers who can tolerate company-specific volatility.

Significant risks

Bottom‑up investing is powerful, but it can easily become undisciplined if investors fall into classic behavioral or analytical traps. Major risks include: 

• Ignoring macro and sector risks: Bottom‑up investors sometimes focus tightly on company fundamentals that they downplay macro headwinds, such as currency depreciation, interest‑rate hikes, or sector‑wide regulation, that can hurt even strong businesses.
• Chasing past performance. Bottom‑up investors can slip into momentum‑style behavior by chasing recently overperforming names that already reflect high expectations, leaving little margin of safety.
• Over‑concentration or poor diversification. As bottom‑up investing emphasizes deep conviction in individual companies, investors sometimes hold too few positions, exposing themselves to single‑stock or single‑sector risk.
• Using incomplete data. Bottom‑up research that relies only on outdated financial reports or limited public disclosures can miss turning points such as margin compression, rising payables, or competitive losses.

Finally, bottom‑up investing offers a disciplined, company‑centered framework that cuts through macro noise and focuses on what ultimately drives returns: strong fundamentals, capable management, and sustainable competitive advantages. By starting with individual companies and only later layering in industry, market, and macro considerations, this strategy enables investors to uncover high‑quality businesses that may be overlooked or mispriced by the broader market.

For active managers, value‑oriented investors, and long‑term stock pickers, bottom‑up investing remains one of the most effective paths to meaningful, risk‑aware alpha, as long as its core principles are applied.

Ghada Ismail

A few years ago, launching a startup in Saudi Arabia usually followed a familiar path. Founders would enter an accelerator, pitch investors, secure early funding, and then try to figure everything else out along the way. Today, a different model is beginning to take shape across the Kingdom, one that is less about simply financing ideas and more about building companies from the ground up.

Welcome to the era of venture studios.

Across Saudi Arabia, a growing number of venture builders are quietly changing how startups are created. Instead of waiting for entrepreneurs to arrive with fully formed businesses, these studios help shape the idea itself, validate the market, recruit talent, build products, and guide operations from day one. In many cases, they act less like investors and more like co-founders.

The rise of players such as VMS, Sanabil Studio, and Lean Node Venture Studios reflects a broader shift happening inside Saudi Arabia’s startup ecosystem. The conversation is no longer just about funding entrepreneurs. It is increasingly about building startups systematically, repeatedly, and at scale.

Moving Beyond the Accelerator Boom

For years, Saudi Arabia has focused heavily on laying the groundwork for entrepreneurship. Government initiatives, accelerator programs, startup competitions, and venture capital funds helped create momentum in the ecosystem. As investment activity accelerated, the Kingdom quickly became one of the Middle East’s largest startup funding markets.

But money alone could not solve every challenge.

Many startups still struggle with execution. Some founders had strong technical skills but limited experience building scalable businesses. Others found it difficult to navigate regulations, recruit the right talent, localize products, or acquire customers efficiently.

That gap created space for venture studios to emerge.

Unlike traditional venture capital firms that invest after a startup already exists, venture studios often start much earlier. They identify opportunities internally, test market demand, help shape business models, and sometimes build entire companies alongside entrepreneurs from the earliest stages.

Globally, the model has already produced major companies within various sectors. Saudi Arabia is now adapting the concept to fit its own market dynamics and economic ambitions.

Why the Model Makes Sense in Saudi Arabia

The venture studio approach fits naturally with where Saudi Arabia’s ecosystem stands today.

Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom is trying to diversify its economy, accelerate innovation, create private-sector jobs, attract global talent, and localize emerging industries, all at the same time.

Venture studios actually offer a structure that supports many of those goals simultaneously.

Unlike short-term accelerator programs, studios stay involved throughout the startup journey. They provide operational support, legal guidance, hiring assistance, technical development, fundraising strategy, and business connections under one roof.

For first-time founders, that reduces risk considerably.

For investors, it creates a more controlled environment where ideas are validated before large amounts of capital are deployed.

And for Saudi Arabia, venture studios provide a way to systematically produce startups in strategic sectors such as fintech, AI, logistics, tourism, enterprise software, and digital commerce.

That is why many Saudi venture studios no longer describe themselves simply as investment firms. They position themselves as company builders.

VMS and Saudi Arabia’s Soft-Landing Opportunity

Among the more visible players in this space is Value Makers Studio (VMS), which positions itself as both a venture studio and a platform helping regional and international startups enter the Saudi market.

Based in Riyadh, VMS provides support that goes beyond capital, including technology development, legal assistance, marketing support, financial guidance, and access to Saudi business networks. The company also operates initiatives such as the ‘VMS Bridge Program,’ which focuses on connecting startups from emerging markets with Saudi Arabia’s innovation ecosystem.

That ‘soft-landing’ approach is becoming increasingly relevant as more foreign founders and international startups look toward Saudi Arabia as a regional expansion market.

VMS also reflects a broader trend emerging across the Kingdom’s startup ecosystem, where venture studios are evolving into ecosystem connectors alongside their company-building role. In practice, this often means helping startups navigate relationships with investors, corporations, regulators, and local business networks, presenting an advantage that can significantly influence how quickly companies scale in Saudi Arabia.

Sanabil Studio and Institutional Startup Creation

A stronger example of institutional venture building can be seen in Sanabil Studio, which was established by Sanabil Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund. 

The studio focuses on building startups from the earliest stages, working closely with founders across ideation, prototyping, MVP development, product design, engineering, hiring, finance, and growth support. According to the studio’s website, it combines capital, market insight, and hands-on operational support to help founders launch and scale ventures in Saudi Arabia. 

What makes Sanabil Studio particularly notable is its combination of sovereign-backed capital with hands-on company creation. Unlike traditional venture capital firms that typically invest after startups are already established, venture studios such as Sanabil Studio participate much earlier in the company-building process, often helping shape ventures from ideation through early execution. 

Lean Node and the “Startup Factory” Approach

Another important player is Lean Node, which focuses on building ventures internally while supporting entrepreneurs through structured startup-building programs.

According to the company, it has helped launch more than 18 startups since 2017 using a repeatable venture-building framework designed to reduce common startup risks.

Lean Node highlights one of the biggest advantages of the venture studio model: operational centralization.

Instead of every startup building separate HR systems, legal structures, financial operations, and development teams from scratch, studios create shared infrastructure that multiple ventures can use simultaneously.

This lowers costs, speeds up execution, and allows studios to test ideas more rapidly across different sectors.

In many ways, the model resembles a startup factory more than a conventional investment firm.

Lean Node and the “Startup Factory” Approach

Another important player in Saudi Arabia’s venture studio ecosystem is Lean Node, which focuses on building ventures internally while supporting entrepreneurs through structured startup-building programs.

According to the company’s website, Lean Node has helped build more than 18 startups since 2017 through a venture-building model focused on developing scalable businesses across the MENA region. The studio describes itself as “an engine that builds disruptive products” using a “tested and streamlined process” designed to maximize success while lowering risk. 

The company’s structure reflects one of the core characteristics of the venture studio model: centralized operational support. Rather than every startup independently building teams and systems from scratch, venture studios typically provide shared access to areas such as product development, operational guidance, technical expertise, and business support. This approach can reduce early-stage costs and accelerate execution across multiple ventures simultaneously. 

Lean Node has also expanded into specialized venture-building initiatives, including fintech-focused startup creation through partnerships such as Lean Fintech, launched with Mjalis Investment during LEAP 2023. 

In practice, the model operates more like a startup production platform than a conventional investment firm, with venture studios playing an active role in company creation rather than acting solely as financial backers. 

Closing the Founder Experience Gap

One reason venture studios are gaining traction in Saudi Arabia is that they directly address one of the ecosystem’s biggest challenges: experience.

The Kingdom has no shortage of ambitious entrepreneurs or available capital. What remains relatively limited, however, is the number of experienced startup operators who have repeatedly built and scaled companies.

Founders across the ecosystem frequently talk about the difficulties of navigating fundraising, finding product-market fit, hiring effectively, and scaling operations.

Venture studios attempt to shorten that learning curve.

Instead of forcing founders to figure everything out alone, studios embed experienced operators, engineers, marketers, product designers, and venture builders directly into the process from the beginning.

The Challenges Behind the Hype

Still, venture studios are not a perfect solution.

Some entrepreneurs argue that studio models can dilute founder ownership too aggressively. Others question whether startups created inside structured environments develop the same resilience as companies built independently.

There are also operational risks.

Running multiple startups simultaneously requires significant capital, talent, and management discipline. Internationally, several venture studios have struggled to maintain strong long-term performance across large portfolios.

Another open question is whether venture studios can consistently produce truly disruptive innovation rather than safer, optimized versions of existing business models.

Saudi Arabia’s ecosystem is still young enough that many of these questions remain unanswered.

Even so, supporters of the model believe the Kingdom’s current market conditions make venture studios especially relevant. In an ecosystem that is still building institutional startup knowledge, structured company creation may offer advantages that traditional founder-led approaches cannot always provide on their own.

The Future Ahead

The next phase of Saudi Arabia’s venture studio ecosystem will likely become far more specialized.

Future studios may focus entirely on sectors such as AI, cybersecurity, climate tech, gaming, logistics, biotech, fintech, or deep tech. Some early signs of that trend are already emerging through initiatives tied to advanced technologies and national innovation priorities.

AI-native venture studios could also become increasingly common as generative AI dramatically reduces development timelines and startup operating costs.

At the same time, international venture builders are expected to form more partnerships inside the Kingdom as Saudi Arabia continues positioning itself as one of the region’s largest startup markets.

What is already becoming clear, however, is that Saudi Arabia’s ecosystem is entering a new stage of maturity. The early era of startup hype is gradually giving way to something more structured, operational, and institutionalized. And venture studios may end up playing a central role in that transition, not simply by funding the next generation of Saudi startups, but by helping build them from scratch.

Kholoud Hussein 

In the world of venture capital, mergers, and rapid-growth startups, few terms carry as much weight—or anxiety—as due diligence. It is the checkpoint between a startup’s ambition and an investor’s capital, the rigorous validation process that determines whether a business is truly worth the risk. Although often spoken about as a routine step, due diligence has evolved into a sophisticated, multilayered investigation that shapes the fate of fundraising rounds, acquisitions, and even long-term survival.

At its core, due diligence refers to the comprehensive assessment conducted by investors, acquirers, or financial institutions to evaluate a startup’s viability—financially, legally, operationally, and strategically. It is the process through which claims are tested, risks are measured, and assumptions are either validated or exposed. For early-stage founders, this is the moment when the narrative must finally match the numbers.

In practical terms, due diligence begins when an investor shows serious interest in a startup. The glossy pitch deck no longer suffices; instead, founders must provide access to detailed financial reports, customer metrics, intellectual property documentation, legal filings, product performance data, and more. Everything from revenue consistency to founder equity structure is scrutinized. The goal is simple: to ensure that what the startup says it is building aligns with what it actually operates.

This process typically spans several categories—financial, legal, technical, and commercial. Financial due diligence reveals whether revenues are stable or inflated, whether burn rate is manageable, and whether the business’s cost structure is built for scale. Legal due diligence uncovers potential landmines: unregistered trademarks, unsettled disputes, improper employment contracts, or shareholder conflicts that could hinder growth. Technical due diligence has become increasingly essential in a world dominated by AI, cloud software, and cybersecurity threats, as investors assess whether the product is robust, defensible, or even feasible at scale. Commercial due diligence, meanwhile, evaluates market potential—customer retention, competitive positioning, and sector dynamics.

For startups, due diligence functions as a double-edged sword. While it is often stressful and time-consuming, it also acts as a validation milestone. A company that passes rigorous due diligence signals maturity and credibility in the market. Investors tend to view such startups not just as promising, but as stable and trustworthy. In regions such as the GCC, where the venture capital landscape is accelerating rapidly, due diligence has become essential in separating hype from genuine scalability.

Startups are increasingly preparing for due diligence earlier than ever—sometimes before even seeking investment. Many adopt internal “data room” structures, organize compliance documentation, and maintain accurate financial records to avoid last-minute surprises. This preparation reflects a broader maturity in the ecosystem: as competition increases, investors demand cleaner, more transparent operations.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, the surge in venture capital activity under Vision 2030 has brought heightened attention to governance and operational resilience. With record-breaking investments across sectors like fintech, logistics, cloud services, and AI, startups are expected to demonstrate not only innovation but also sustainable growth paths supported by data. Due diligence is the mechanism ensuring that capital is deployed responsibly in this new economy.

Global investors entering the MENA region also rely heavily on robust due diligence to navigate fragmented regulations, young markets, and rapidly growing sectors. For many foreign funds, the depth and transparency of due diligence outcomes often determine whether they will green-light an investment in the region. Consequently, startups that maintain high-quality operational discipline gain a competitive edge—not just locally, but globally.

In essence, due diligence is not a barrier; it is a blueprint. For founders, preparing for it forces clarity of vision, discipline around metrics, and alignment across teams. For investors, it is the safeguard that ensures capital goes to companies with real potential. And for the broader startup ecosystem, it serves as a mechanism of integrity—one that helps shape sustainable growth.

As venture capital deepens its roots in emerging markets and competition for capital intensifies, due diligence will remain the defining test of a startup’s readiness. In the end, the companies that embrace transparency, maintain operational rigor, and deliver measurable results will be the ones that survive the scrutiny—and secure the funding needed to thrive.