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RIYADH: ������Ƶ’s startup ecosystem continues to gain momentum, with a surge of early- and growth-stage investments across technology-driven sectors including AI, food tech, logistics, and sports. 

Kamco Invest has announced it acquired a stake in Foodics, a fast-growing restaurant technology and payments platform based in ������Ƶ.  

The transaction, completed in the fourth quarter of 2024 but only now made public, aligns with Kamco Invest’s strategy to back high-growth, tech-enabled businesses in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly those with initial public offering potential. 

Founded in 2014, Foodics serves over 33,000 restaurants with an annual gross merchandise value of over $10 billion in 2024. 

The cloud-based platform offers an integrated solution for restaurant operators to manage orders, operations, finances, and access to capital through a single interface.  

Kamco Invest Director of Private Equity Dalal Al-Shaya said: “We are proud to back a regional tech champion like Foodics. Its scale, innovation, and strong investor base signal an exciting growth trajectory.”  

The company is targeting a public listing on Tadawul within the next two to three years.  

Foodics’ most recent $170 million funding round was led by Prosus and Sanabil Investments, a fund owned by the Public Investment Fund, with participation from Sequoia Capital India, STV, Raed Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst. 

Calo raises $39m in series B extension to fuel global growth 

Saudi food tech startup Calo has secured a $39 million series B extension led by AlJazira Capital, bringing its total series B funding to $64 million.  

The latest round follows a $25 million tranche closed in December 2024 and was oversubscribed beyond the originally targeted $50 million due to strong investor interest.  

Proceeds from the round will support Calo’s international expansion, continued product development, and integration of recently acquired UK-based meal subscription companies. 

Calo, which delivered more than 10 million meals in 2024, reports high-growth, nine-figure annualized revenue and claims to be the world’s fastest-growing meal subscription service.  

CEO Ahmed Al-Rawi said: “We’re living in an interesting time where AI is transforming our lives, and we’re excited to be investing in cutting-edge innovation to explore how Calo can use AI to influence the future of how we discover and eat healthy food.”  

The company acquired Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen to enter the European market and has since integrated both into its operations and technology stack. 

Calo says it operates more than 10 physical locations across the GCC, including hospital-based outlets, and has launched operations in the UK and Oman.  

Its customer base spans ������Ƶ, the UAE, and Bahrain, as well as Qatar, and Kuwait, with over 5,000 customers already on the waiting list in Oman, the company claimed. 

In the first half of 2025, Calo said it achieved over 50 percent year-on-year growth, bolstered by a localization strategy that included the appointment of General Managers in each regional market.  

Calo recently partnered with Armah Sports Co. to explore co-located retail outlets and wellness collaborations.  

Armah’s founder, Fahad Al-Hagbani, has joined Calo’s board as an independent member. Calo remains headquartered in Riyadh and is planning for an IPO in ������Ƶ. 

Flex League closes seed round to build unified racquet sports platform 

Flex League, a Saudi sports-tech company focused on padel and tennis, has raised a six-digit dollar seed round led by the Professional Tennis Academy and PAD-L Group.  

The new capital will be used to develop a court booking system, support expansion into new Saudi cities and across the MENA region, and grow its team across engineering, product, and operations. 

The platform currently serves nearly 10,000 players and allows users to join competitive leagues, book courts, and track match results. 

It also offers court operators tools to manage tournaments and engage local sports communities.  

CEO Ibrahim Akeel said: “With this investment, we’re creating a unified platform where players can compete, connect, and now book courts – all in one app.”  

The company aims to drive deeper engagement in the region’s growing racquet sports ecosystem by blending digital matchmaking with physical play. 

Sawt secures $1m to advance Arabic voice AI customer support 

Sawt, a Saudi startup focused on Arabic-native voice AI systems, has closed a $1 million pre-seed round led by T2 and STV.  

The funding will be used to enhance its proprietary models, scale its technical infrastructure, and grow its team as it prepares to serve millions of voice interactions. 

The platform enables businesses to conduct customer support, bookings, and sales through AI voice agents that operate 24/7 with natural and intelligent responses.  

In just two months since its launch, Sawt claims it served dozens of businesses and processed hundreds of thousands of calls.  

Co-founder and CEO Abdulmalik Al-Saeed said: “We’re proud to contribute to this movement by building Arabic voice technology from the ground up, right here in the Kingdom.” 

STV General Partner Ahmad Al-Naimi added: “Sawt exemplifies a new wave of Saudi AI-native ventures. With a strong tech edge and commercial momentum, they’re poised to lead the $800 million to $1.2 billion GCC AI call center automation market.”  

Abdulkarim Al-Jarba, CEO of T2, noted that the investment supports T2’s strategy to deliver advanced technology solutions across its network. 

OmniOps unveils platform to deliver sovereign AI inference services 

OmniOps has launched Bunyan, the Kingdom’s first sovereign Inference-as-a-Service platform.  

The announcement follows a strategic meeting with the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Abdullah Al-Swaha. 

The platform supports AI applications in text, vision, and speech, with a focus on data sovereignty and enterprise-grade compliance.  

CEO Mohammed Al-Tassan said: “Bunyan delivers unprecedented performance improvements that revolutionize how organizations deploy and scale AI applications.”  

He added that the platform has demonstrated efficiency gains, including a doubling of inference speed, over 50 percent reduction in energy use, and at least 40 percent lower latency. 

Bunyan provides an end-to-end infrastructure stack with model deployment tools, support for NVIDIA and Groq hardware, and access to both public and private models.  

It enables organizations to build AI-driven applications such as natural language chatbots, document summarization tools, and systems for rapid insight extraction from unstructured data. 

Olivery secures seed funding from Ibtikar Fund and Flat6Labs Mashreq 

Olivery, a B2B Software-as-a-Service company focused on digitising logistics operations, has raised seed funding from Ibtikar Fund and Flat6Labs Mashreq Seed Fund. 

The platform allows logistics providers and merchants to manage order creation, routing, delivery, and customer engagement through a no-code/low-code interface. 

Since its founding in 2020, Olivery has scaled to serve over 200 active clients across nine countries.  

The company plans to use the new funding to expand regionally and roll out AI-driven features including predictive routing, automated data entry, and proactive customer support.  

CEO Ram Merei said: “Together with Ibtikar and Flat6Labs, we’re delivering technology that allows national couriers and independent merchants alike to operate with the speed, transparency, and reliability that modern commerce demands.” 

Ibtikar’s Managing Partner Habib Hazzan stated: “Their platform is not only scalable and robust  — it’s thoughtfully designed for the realities of local markets.”  

Rasha Manna, general manager of Flat6Labs Mashreq Seed Fund, noted that the firm has backed Olivery from its earliest stages and remains committed to supporting its expansion. 

Mataa closes seed round to expand Libya’s e-commerce infrastructure 

Mataa, a Libya-based e-commerce platform, has completed its first seed investment round with backing from Libyan business angels.  

The funding will be used to strengthen Mataa’s logistics network, expand its warehouse capacity, and onboard new suppliers and product categories. 

Founder and CEO Ibrahim Shuwehdi stated that the round reflects growing investor confidence in Libya’s entrepreneurial potential and geographic advantage.  

The company supports merchants in reaching over 6 million internet users and offers Facebook integration for easier product listing and reduced advertising costs.  

“This round is not just a financial boost but a signal to the wider ecosystem to encourage more venture investment in Libyan startups and SMEs,” Shuwehdi said.  

Mataa is also looking to recruit experienced regional talent to support its long-term strategy.

DHAHRAN: Food manufacturer PepsiCo will offer more leadership roles to Saudis, its regional CEO pledged at the inauguration of the SR300 million ($79.97 million) expansion of its Dammam facility.

Speaking to Arab News, Ahmed El-Sheikh explained how the company supports the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic diversification plan through three main areas — using local resources, Saudization, and increasing exports.

The announcement came during a visit to the site by Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef, who praised the facility’s contribution to job creation, export growth, and the overall development of the food manufacturing sector in ������Ƶ.

The site serves as a key hub in the region, which supplies local markets and exports products to 20 countries across the Middle East.

The PepsiCo MENAP CEO said: “We’re proud to say that 85 percent of our workforce at the Dammam plant are Saudi nationals, one of the highest rates across any of our facilities in the region. With 280 employees currently, this is just the beginning. We plan to grow even further.”

He added: "As we move toward greater digitization and automation, we’re also opening up more opportunities for Saudis to step into technical and leadership roles.” 

Recent regulatory changes, which have been made possible through collaboration with the Kingdom’s Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, now permit PepsiCo to utilize locally grown potatoes for export.

This development has been described by Alkhorayef as a “significant milestone” for both local farming and policy reform.

“It demonstrates how we’ve been able to work with PepsiCo over the last few years to ensure the entire supply chain, from farming to production and export, is well managed,” the minister told Arab News.

“As a result of our success working as a team, we were able to amend the policy so that PepsiCo can now use Saudi grown potatoes for export,” he added.

Sustainability and resource efficiency were focal points during the visit, and Alkhorayef noted that the Kingdom now holds “a record in terms of water efficiency in potato cultivation,” a development he called inspiring, not only locally, but globally.

The Dammam plant sources 100 percent of its potatoes from Saudi farms, and uses local materials for secondary packaging, with 70 percent of primary packaging now locally sourced, a percentage PepsiCo aims to push to full localization.

PepsiCo operates in the Kingdom across 86 locations and employs nearly 9,000 people through direct and partner operations.

The company has opened a new regional headquarters in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District, which will oversee operations across the Middle East, North Africa, and Pakistan, aligning with ������Ƶ’s Regional Headquarters Program.

Further investment is also planned, and El-Sheikh said: “In addition to the SR300 million we’ve just invested in the Dammam plant, we’re preparing to open a state-of-the-art R&D facility in Riyadh in just two months’ time.” 

The center will cost SR30 million and serve as a hub for product and packaging innovations in the Gulf Cooperation Council region, according to a statement from PepsiCo released in April. 

When it comes to employment, Alkhorayef stressed that Saudization is driven by data and standards.

“This plant is a great example. It has around 85 percent Saudization, and female participation is about 22–23 percent, with more than 25 percent women in the plant workforce itself. That’s a significant achievement.”

He added that the government takes a comprehensive approach to measuring local content, and went on to say: “But measurement is not the goal, it’s a baseline. The real goal is to use it as a foundation to increase both local sourcing and hiring.”

The Dammam plant is one of PepsiCo’s most advanced in the region, and features energy efficient heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, solar panels generating 510 megawatt-hour yearly, and uses recycled water in its processing systems.

These investments align with the sustainability goals in the Kingdom’s National Industrial Strategy.