Noha Gad

In an era where technological disruption accelerates at remarkable speeds, businesses worldwide are at a crossroads: adapt or fail. Artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a transformative force reshaping the future of industries, economies, and daily operations.

AI-first business models redefine the way companies operate, compete, and scale by embedding AI at the core of their DNA rather than as a helping tool. These models treat AI as the foundational engine driving innovation, decision-making, and customer value in key sectors such as fintech and startups. Traditional businesses often integrate AI into outdated processes, yielding marginal gains, while AI-first pioneers redesign everything around intelligent systems for exponential advantages. This shift enables hyper-personalization, predictive analytics, and autonomous operations that thrive on data abundance.

How do AI-first business models work?

AI-first business models embed AI as the core engine for operations, decision-making, and growth, enabling radical automation, hyper-personalization, real-time insights, and scalable efficiency through autonomous agents and data-driven feedback loops, fundamentally redesigning organizational structures and workflows around intelligent systems rather than just adding AI as a feature. 

Unlike traditional AI-enhanced approaches, these models reimagine processes from the ground up, prioritizing data flows, automation, and machine learning as core infrastructure to ensure seamless scalability and adaptability in fast-evolving markets. 

Compared to AI-augmented models, AI-first models make intelligence proactive and pervasive, influencing every layer from product development to customer engagement. These approaches treat data as the primary asset for real-time analytics and predictive capabilities, fostering continuous learning loops without heavy human intervention.

Main features 

AI-first business models are defined by characteristics that prioritize intelligence as the central pillar, enabling unprecedented efficiency, adaptability, and value creation across operations. Key features include:

• Automation. AI handles end-to-end workflows autonomously, from transaction processing to compliance checks, reducing human involvement in major processes. For instance, in wealth management, AI-first platforms dynamically rebalance portfolios based on real-time market data and user life events.
• Data-based decisions. Real-time analytics from vast datasets power predictive insights, replacing intuition with probability-based forecasting for agile market responses.
• Hyper-personalization. AI-first models can help companies and startups provide tailored experiences by analyzing individual behaviors, preferences, and contexts to anticipate needs proactively. For example, banking applications deploy conversational AI agents to answer queries and execute actions, such as freezing cards or updating addresses via biometrics, enhancing user trust and retention.
• Scalable infrastructure: Cloud-native AI supports rapid growth and continuous model refinement.

How AI-first models could support startups’ businesses

Along with enhancing decision-making processes and providing hyper-personalized products, AI-first models help startups enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs by automating repetitive tasks, such as customer support via chatbots or inventory optimization. AI-first startups command investor attention due to their proven scalability, data moats, and rapid revenue trajectories. This advantage arises from AI's ability to demonstrate measurable revenue on investment (ROI) quickly, such as predictive models forecasting user acquisition costs.

For product innovation, accelerated prototyping via AI tools eliminates time-to-market from months to weeks and allows startups to test minimum viable products (MVPs) with real user data. AI-first models can also contribute to talent and team optimization since AI handles hiring screening, skill matching, and performance analytics.

AI-first startups can improve their risk mitigation strategies by utilizing AI to forecast market risks, regulatory hurdles, or supply disruptions early.

In summary, the rise of AI-first business models represents a fundamental architectural shift, not a mere technological upgrade. It transforms AI from a tool that supports business into the foundational engine that defines it. For startups and established companies alike, this approach unlocks exponential advantages through radical automation, hyper-personalization, and predictive, data-driven decision-making. 

Ghada Ismail

Saudi Arabia’s venture capital market is no longer finding its footing. It has found its pace. What began as an ecosystem driven by experimentation and policy-led pilots has evolved into a more mature, institutionalized market that now attracts regional and international attention. According to data compiled by MAGNiTT and the Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC), Saudi Arabia has ranked among the most active venture capital markets in the MENA region over the past three years, both in terms of capital deployed and the number of deals completed.

This momentum is often cited as proof that the Kingdom’s startup ecosystem is working. Funding volumes are rising. New funds are being launched. More founders are building locally. Yet as the market grows, a more serious discussion has started to surface. Scale alone is no longer enough. Increasingly, investors, founders, and policymakers are asking how capital is being distributed across sectors, and whether that distribution reflects the broader economic ambitions Saudi Arabia has set for itself.

At the center of this conversation sits fintech.

According to MAGNiTT’s Saudi Arabia Venture Capital Reports, fintech startups consistently attract one of the largest shares of venture investment activity in the Kingdom, particularly when measured by deal count rather than absolute capital raised. Payments platforms, digital lenders, BNPL providers, wallets, and financial infrastructure startups appear again and again in funding announcements, accelerator cohorts, and portfolio disclosures.

This raises a structural question rather than a critical one. Has Saudi venture capital become overly concentrated around fintech, and if so, what does that mean for the long-term health and resilience of the startup ecosystem.

Fintech by the Numbers: A Clear Leader in Deal Activity

Look across multiple datasets, and the pattern is hard to miss. Fintech dominates venture deal flow in Saudi Arabia.

According to MAGNiTT’s 2024 Saudi Arabia Venture Capital Report, fintech ranked among the top sectors by number of transactions completed during the year. In several quarters, it led outright. While total capital raised shifted depending on the presence of large late-stage rounds in other sectors, fintech maintained steady activity across seed, Series A, and growth stages.

SVC’s FY2024 venture capital analysis reinforces this conclusion. The report showed that fintech accounted for a significant portion of all VC deals closed in the Kingdom, even during periods when sectors such as e-commerce surpassed fintech in total disclosed funding value due to one or two large transactions.

This distinction matters.

• Fintech frequently leads in deal volume, reflecting repeated investor willingness to back early- and mid-stage startups
• Capital rankings can be distorted by isolated mega-rounds in other sectors
• Fintech activity remains consistent across market cycles

According to Fintech Saudi’s 2024 Annual Report, more than 260 fintech companies were operating in the Kingdom by the end of the reporting period. The report also noted that cumulative investment into Saudi fintechs had reached several billion riyals, surpassing earlier ecosystem targets set under the national fintech strategy.

Together, these figures position fintech not just as a successful sector, but as a defining pillar of Saudi Arabia’s venture story.

Why Fintech Attracts Venture Capital So Readily

Investor appetite for fintech is not driven by hype. It is driven by structure.

According to Fintech Saudi and regional banking studies, Saudi Arabia has one of the highest digital payments adoption rates in the Middle East. Consumers are comfortable transacting digitally. Merchants are rapidly onboarding payment solutions. Banks are increasingly open to collaboration rather than competition. Regulators have moved early to create sandboxes, licensing pathways, and open banking frameworks.

This combination has created fertile ground for fintech startups to test, launch, and scale.

MAGNiTT’s sector analyses consistently highlight fintech as a category that offers:

• Clear monetization models
• Faster visibility into revenue generation
• Defined regulatory pathways
• More predictable exit scenarios

From a venture capital perspective, this reduces uncertainty. Payment platforms can scale merchant adoption quickly. Consumer finance products grow through mobile-first distribution. Enterprise fintech solutions integrate directly with banks and large corporates, embedding themselves into core systems.

Fintech also aligns closely with national policy priorities. According to official government strategies and Fintech Saudi publications, financial inclusion, SME financing, and payment digitization remain key economic objectives. Venture capital flowing into fintech, therefore, delivers both commercial returns and measurable policy outcomes.

That dual alignment helps explain why fintech consistently outperforms other sectors when it comes to deal activity.

The Cost of Concentration

Concentration, however, is not without consequences.

According to ecosystem observers and VC market analyses, when one sector absorbs a disproportionate share of capital, talent tends to follow. Engineers, compliance specialists, data scientists, and senior product leaders are naturally drawn to startups with clearer funding pipelines and higher valuation benchmarks. In Saudi Arabia, that often means fintech.

This dynamic creates several knock-on effects.

First, talent clustering. Founders building outside fintech face a tougher challenge when assembling experienced teams, particularly in technically demanding sectors such as healthtech, climate technology, or industrial software.

Second, idea shaping. Market analysts note that founders increasingly design startups around perceived investor appetite. When fintech appears more fundable, entrepreneurs may reshape ideas toward financial use cases, even when the underlying problem sits more naturally in healthcare, sustainability, or logistics.

Third, portfolio exposure. When most venture capital goes to just a few sectors, the whole ecosystem becomes more vulnerable to changes in rules or the economy. For example, if consumer credit, payment margins, or financial regulations take a hit, it wouldn’t just affect one company; it could impact many startups at once. These are risks for the system as a whole, not failures of individual businesses.

Sector Concentration and Portfolio Exposure

Saudi Arabia’s VC ecosystem demonstrates capital clustering, which carries both advantages and risks. In 2024, e-commerce and retail startups led total disclosed funding, largely due to a few mega rounds, while logistics, mobility, and enterprise software received steady but smaller investments. Meanwhile, healthtech, climate and sustainability solutions, advanced manufacturing, and deep technology (including applied AI) captured only a minor share of VC funding, despite their strategic importance. 

Fintech fits into this concentration pattern differently. While not always the top sector in total capital, it leads in deal count, with repeated investor backing in early- and mid-stage startups. Its dominance demonstrates the ecosystem’s strength but also its vulnerability: heavy focus on one or a few sectors means that regulatory shifts, macroeconomic downturns, or changes in financial policy could ripple across the startup ecosystem, affecting many companies simultaneously. These are systemic risks, not failures of individual startups.

A Market in Transition

Early-stage concentration is not unique to Saudi Arabia. According to global venture capital studies, emerging ecosystems often gather around one or two scalable sectors before diversifying more broadly.

Saudi Arabia appears to be following a similar trajectory.

Recent signals suggest growing awareness of the need to broaden sector exposure. According to public announcements and fund mandates, several Saudi-backed investment vehicles and accelerators have launched programs specifically targeting health innovation, climate solutions, and industrial technology.

Corporate venture arms are also beginning to look beyond fintech. Increasingly, they are seeking strategic technologies that align with operational needs, supply chains, and productivity gains rather than purely financial returns.

These shifts suggest fintech dominance may represent a phase rather than a permanent imbalance.

Investors and the Role of Incentives

Venture capital firms shape the startup ecosystem by deciding where to put their money. Many investment funds in Saudi Arabia were created when financial technology was growing quickly. Their teams, networks, and investment strategies were built around that sector.

Industry observers say that moving into new areas of investment requires important changes:

• Spending more time and effort understanding the technology behind startups
• Being willing to invest for a longer period before seeing returns
• Adjusting expectations about when and how investments will succeed

Investors who provide the capital for these funds, such as large institutions and government-backed organizations, play a key role. They can support longer-term projects that may take years to pay off but can have a lasting impact on the economy.

What the Data Means for Founders

For founders operating outside fintech, the fundraising environment is more selective, but it is not closed. Non-fintech startups are expected to demonstrate credibility earlier in the fundraising process. That often includes:

• Clear regulatory progress
• Pilot deployments with credible partners
• Revenue-linked traction
• Well-defined scalability pathways

Saudi Arabia offers structural advantages here. Government procurement programs, large corporate buyers, and centralized decision-making can dramatically shorten adoption cycles if accessed effectively.

In this environment, execution matters more than narrative. Strong fundamentals can still unlock capital, even in less appealing sectors.

Conclusion: Fintech as a Foundation, Not a Ceiling

According to every major dataset tracking Saudi Arabia’s venture capital market, fintech has earned its place as a leading sector. Regulatory reform, market readiness, and investor confidence have aligned to create one of the region’s most active fintech ecosystems.

At the same time, the same data highlights concentration. Deal flow, talent, and capital remain heavily going after fintech, while other strategically important sectors continue to lag behind.

The challenge ahead is one of balance. Not replacing fintech, but building alongside it.

Noha Gad

The global financial ecosystem is undergoing a quiet yet profound transformation, driven by the rise of digital assets. At the forefront of this shift are stablecoins, digital currencies designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to a reserve asset such as the US dollar, gold, or another fiat currency. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, whose prices fluctuate sharply, stablecoins aim to combine the speed and efficiency of digital assets with the reliability of traditional money. 

Stablecoins promise the transparency and borderless nature of blockchain technology while mitigating the wild price swings that have hindered the everyday use of digital currencies. They are becoming a critical infrastructure layer for the new economy, enabling instant settlements, powering decentralized finance applications, and offering a digital haven of stability. Thanks to their potential to streamline payments, reduce transaction costs, and enhance financial inclusion, stablecoins are increasingly used for faster payments, remittances, and cross-border transactions.

Regulated rollout in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is taking steady moves toward launching stablecoins under national regulation, signaling a new phase in the Kingdom's digital asset strategy. Recently, Saudi Minister of Municipal, Rural Affairs, and Housing Majed Al-Hogail announced that the government plans to launch stablecoins soon in partnership with the Capital Market (CMA) and the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), affirming that digital currencies could create a faster financial system if they were developed within Saudi values and regulations.

With 79% of retail transactions already cashless, Saudi Arabia is uniquely positioned to utilize stablecoins as part of its vision to become a global logistics and financial hub. 

Experts believe that the Kingdom’s exploration for regulated, utility-based stablecoins marks a turning point for the region’s digital asset landscape and reflects Saudi Arabia’s commitment to modernization, consumer protection, and financial stability. They emphasized that stablecoins could advance the Saudi financial ecosystem when embedded in rigorous regulatory frameworks and governed transparently, ultimately enhancing payments, trade, and innovation.

Impacts on key sectors

Utilizing regulated stablecoins could have transformative impacts across key sectors in the Kingdom, thanks to their stability, speed, and blockchain efficiency. They could revolutionize the fintech and payments landscape through a foundational shift towards a real-time, programmable, and seamlessly integrated financial infrastructure. The inherent transparency of blockchain transactions, when designed with privacy safeguards, can automate regulatory reporting and anti-money laundering checks, creating a more secure and efficient financial system. Additionally, stablecoins could enable instant, low-cost remittances vital for the Kingdom's large expatriate population, outpacing traditional systems by reducing fees and settlement times.

In logistics and e-commerce, stablecoins will play a pivotal role in streamlining cross-border settlements, cutting friction in supply chains, and reinforcing the Kingdom’s position as a global logistics hub. By eliminating the settlement delays and interbank fees inherent in current card and transfer systems, consumers will enjoy near-instant checkout, both online and in physical stores, using QR codes or device-to-device transfers. This will eventually create a more dynamic, cash-lite economy where small merchants benefit from immediate settlement, reducing their working capital burdens.

Integrating stablecoins into the real estate sector will also facilitate fractional ownership of tokenized assets and attract global capital inflows. In his speech at the World PropTech Summit 2025, Al-Hogail highlighted that stablecoins could expand the SAR 300 billion real estate funds market by enabling transparent, real-time investor access to commercial, residential, and land properties. Additionally, a regulated, Riyal-pegged stablecoin would enable atomic settlements, where payment and asset title transfer occur simultaneously in a single, irreversible transaction. This eliminates the need for lengthy escrow processes, reduces counterparty risk, and significantly cuts the administrative and legal fees associated with property transactions.

Furthermore, High-value properties can be divided into digital tokens representing shares, traded on regulated platforms, thereby unlocking immense liquidity in a traditionally illiquid market and opening the sector to a broader base of investors.

Launching and integrating regulated stablecoins into major sectors in Saudi Arabia will not merely digitize cash but also deploy a programmable monetary platform that reshapes economic interactions. The transformation across retail, real estate, and finance sectors will be characterized by the near-elimination of settlement risk, a substantial reduction in transaction costs and time, the unlocking of new asset classes and liquidity, and the creation of a more inclusive, transparent, and globally competitive digital economy for the Kingdom.

Major challenges 

Regulating stablecoins in Saudi Arabia presents different challenges that entwine technological innovation with core financial and national priorities. These challenges include:

• Regulatory classification and legal clarity. Determining whether a stablecoin is a payment instrument, a security, a commodity, or a new, unique asset class is pivotal to deciding which regulatory authority, either SAMA, the CMA, or both, has oversight. Creating a seamless, non-overlapping regulatory border for potentially hybrid instruments that blend payment and investment features requires unprecedented inter-agency coordination and potentially new legislative frameworks.
• Implementing rigorous Shariah-compliance frameworks. Stablecoins must comply with Shariah principles to gain mass acceptance in the Kingdom. Thus, regulators will need to establish clear and standardized guidelines, which may lead to a preference for asset-backed or gold-backed stablecoin models over algorithmic ones.
•  Operational and technological hurdles. Regulators may face the operational and tech hurdles of cross-border coordination and effective supervision. Domestically, Saudi regulators might need to build new supervisory capacities to monitor 24/7 blockchain-based systems, conduct real-time audits of reserve holdings, and oversee smart contract security to protect consumers from technical failures or hacks.

Finally, the emergence of stablecoins represents a pivotal evolution in the architecture of global finance, offering a fusion of blockchain innovation and monetary stability. In Saudi Arabia, the deliberate and regulated integration of this technology is a modern means to advance the strategic ambitions of Vision 2030, ultimately enhancing payments efficiency, revolutionizing capital markets through tokenization, and fortifying the Kingdom’s position as a cross-border trade connection.

The successful navigation of regulatory and technological challenges will eventually determine whether the Kingdom can transform these digital instruments into robust pillars of its future economy.

Ghada Ismail

In the early stages of a startup, sales are rarely handled by a dedicated team. Instead, founders are often the first—and sometimes only—salespeople. This approach, known as founder-led sales, plays a critical role in shaping how a startup understands its market, refines its product, and builds early traction.

Founder-led sales refers to a model where the founder is directly responsible for selling the product or service. This typically includes pitching to customers, running demos, negotiating commercial terms, and closing the company’s first deals. While it may appear informal, founder-led sales is a deliberate and necessary phase for most early-stage startups.

Why founder-led sales is common in early-stage startups

Startups operate under conditions of uncertainty. Products are still evolving, customer segments are not fully defined, and pricing models are often being tested. In this environment, hiring a sales team too early can lead to misalignment and wasted resources.

Founder-led sales allow startups to:

• Leverage the founder’s deep understanding of the problem and solution
• Build trust with early customers who want to engage with decision-makers
• Adjust messaging and positioning quickly based on live feedback
• Validate assumptions before scaling commercial efforts

Early customers are not only buying a product. They are buying into a vision, and founders are best positioned to communicate that vision clearly.

How founder-led sales support product-market fit

One of the most important outcomes of founder-led sales is learning. Direct conversations with customers help founders understand what truly matters to buyers and where the product delivers the most value.

Through founder-led sales, startups can:

• Identify recurring pain points and unmet needs
• Understand why deals are won or lost
• Test pricing, packaging, and positioning
• Use customer feedback to shape the product roadmap

This process accelerates the journey toward product-market fit and reduces the risk of building solutions that lack real demand.

Where founder-led sales works best

Founder-led sales is especially effective in B2B startups, particularly those serving mid-market or enterprise customers. In these segments, purchasing decisions often involve multiple stakeholders and longer sales cycles, making credibility and trust essential.

It is most effective in:

• B2B and enterprise-focused startups
• Products that are new, technical, or complex
• Markets where relationships and long-term commitment matter

In such cases, founder involvement signals accountability and long-term intent.

When founders should transition away from sales

Founder-led sales is not a permanent model. As the startup matures, founders should begin translating their experience into repeatable processes that can be passed on to a dedicated sales team.

A transition becomes viable when:

• The ideal customer profile is clearly defined
• Sales messaging is consistent and repeatable
• Demand follows predictable patterns
• The founder can train others based on proven insights

Wrapping Things Up…

Founder-led sales is not a distraction from building a startup; it is a foundational phase that informs strategy, product development, and future growth. For early-stage startups, particularly in emerging ecosystems, founder-led sales provide the clarity and confidence needed to scale effectively. By staying close to customers early on, founders can build stronger businesses and better sales engines for the long term.

Noha Gad

In the dynamic world of startups, founders chase breakthroughs amid fierce competition, while investors hunt for the next big opportunity in a sea of pitches. In recent years, we have seen a major shift as investing in startups is no longer limited to venture capital (VC) firms. It increasingly includes individual investors who use technological tools and data to steer capital directly into the startups they care about and believe in. Angel syndicates emerged as a game-changer, pooling resources to fuel innovation and deliver shared rewards.

What are angel syndicates?

An angel syndicate is an informal group of individuals and/or angel investors who pool their resources together to invest in startups, normally via a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a separate company with its own balance sheet that can be established as a trust, a corporation, a limited partnership, or a Limited Liability Company (LLC).

Each member of the group may not qualify as a BA themselves, but together they have access to more opportunities. One or two investors may "lead" the syndicate.

These high-net-worth individuals invest some of their own money into startups, typically in exchange for equity. The total amount invested will probably be lower than funding from a VC firm or a bank; however, founders can receive cash much earlier compared to traditional funding routes or from bigger investors.

In addition to investing in early-stage deals, an angel syndicate allows a startup founder to deal with just one representative of the syndicate, rather than with 10 or 20 individuals.

How do angel syndicates work?

At the beginning, the syndicate lead must secure an allocation or a piece of the round. They do this from their source of deal flow, either from inbound interest from a founder or via cold outreach. Once leaders find a deal they deem worthy, they will bring it to the syndicate members to choose to collectively invest in the startup.

A syndicate lead can request more info, such as milestones reached, business model, market size, team, financial data, as well as the term sheet, to determine and regulate the relationship between investors once the investment vehicle has been materialized.

To close the deal, the SPV will be created, which will be the party that will execute the investment in the startup. The important decisions will be made by the leader. The expenses related to the creation of the investment vehicle are usually equally paid by the investors, regardless of the amount invested.

Benefits of syndicate investing

• Better deal access. By forming a syndicate, investors can pool their resources and invest a larger amount in each deal. Syndicating an investment this way is frequently required to gain access to the most competitive opportunities alongside VC firms, since founders may have high minimum investment requirements.
• Portfolio diversity. Syndicate investing allows angels to build larger portfolios. By investing with an angel syndicate and increasing portfolio size, investors can significantly increase the probability of tripling or quintupling their invested capital across the entire portfolio
• Shared deal flow and due diligence. Syndicate investing allows angel investors to pool their knowledge, experience, and resources. By leveraging the collective intelligence of the entire angel syndicate, they are able to source more opportunities and carry out more informed due diligence on the startups they review. 
• Simplicity. The rise of online syndication platforms made it easier for investors to participate in syndicate investing. These platforms provide a central location where investors can connect, identify and evaluate potential investment opportunities, and manage their investments. 

How do angel syndicates support startups' businesses?

• Financial backing: Startups can secure substantial capital infusions by pooling resources from multiple investors, often enabling larger funding rounds than a single angel could offer alone. This supports critical business functions such as product development, team expansion, and market entry strategies.
• Guidance and mentorship: syndicates deliver invaluable mentorship and strategic guidance from experienced lead investors and syndicate members. Their collective networks open doors to potential customers, partners, and subsequent VC opportunities, accelerating growth and credibility in competitive ecosystems.
• Reducing administrative burdens: When a lead handles due diligence and negotiations, this will reduce administrative burdens on founders, leading to quicker deal closures and freeing up time for core business activities. 

In summary, angel syndicates revolutionize early-stage investing by offering startups not just essential capital but also mentorship, networks, and streamlined processes that propel business growth amid fierce competition. Investors, in turn, gain access to premium deals, diversified portfolios, and shared due diligence, amplifying their chances for substantial returns without the isolation of solo ventures.