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

Many founders start with the same belief: build a great product, solve a real problem, and the market will eventually take notice. While that sounds logical, startups rarely succeed on product quality alone. In today's crowded business landscape, visibility matters almost as much as innovation.

Customers need to know you exist. Investors need to understand your vision. Potential employees need a reason to join your journey. Without visibility, even promising startups can struggle to gain momentum.

This is where public relations comes in. Effective PR is not simply about securing media coverage. It is about building credibility, shaping perception, and ensuring that a company's story reaches the people who matter most.

The question for founders is not whether PR is valuable, but when the timing is right.

When Your Startup Has Found Its Voice

Not every startup is ready for PR from day one.

If a company is still refining its business model, experimenting with different customer segments, or constantly changing direction, communications efforts can feel premature. Before investing in PR, founders should have a clear understanding of what problem they solve, who they serve, and what makes them different.

Once that foundation is in place, PR becomes much more effective. A communications team can help transform a startup's mission, milestones, and expertise into stories that resonate with customers, investors, and the media.

Simply put, PR works best when there is already a story worth telling.

When Fundraising Is Around the Corner

Fundraising often marks a turning point in a startup's communications strategy.

Investors make decisions based on business fundamentals, but visibility can strengthen credibility. Consistent media presence can help a startup build familiarity before fundraising conversations even begin.

Beyond funding rounds themselves, PR can amplify major announcements such as partnerships, product launches, customer wins, and expansion plans. These milestones help demonstrate traction and momentum—two qualities investors are always looking for.

For startups entering a competitive fundraising environment, a strong public profile can become an important supporting asset.

When Competitors Are Dominating the Conversation

In sectors such as fintech, AI, healthtech, and e-commerce, competition extends far beyond products and services. Companies are also competing for attention.

When rival startups are regularly featured in industry publications, speaking at conferences, publishing insights, and engaging with the broader ecosystem, they naturally become more visible to customers, investors, and potential partners.

Remaining silent carries its own risk. It can create the impression that a company is less active or influential than its competitors, even when the opposite is true.

A strategic PR program helps ensure that a startup's achievements, expertise, and perspectives become part of the industry's ongoing conversation rather than remaining behind the scenes.

When Entering New Markets

Growth often means introducing the business to entirely new audiences.

Whether a startup is expanding into another city, another country, or a completely new customer segment, one challenge remains constant: building trust from scratch.

New markets bring unfamiliar stakeholders, different customer expectations, and fresh competition. PR can help accelerate awareness, establish credibility, and create opportunities for engagement before a startup has built a substantial local presence.

For companies pursuing regional or international expansion, communications can play a critical role in shortening the path to market acceptance.

When Founders Are Spending Too Much Time on Communications

In the early stages, founders tend to multitask.

They oversee product development, fundraising, hiring, operations, sales, and often communications as well. Writing press releases, responding to journalists, arranging interviews, and managing company announcements can initially seem manageable.

As the company grows, however, communications demands become more frequent and more complex.

At some point, founders need to decide where their time creates the greatest value. Delegating PR responsibilities to specialists allows leadership teams to focus on scaling the business while ensuring the company's messaging remains clear, professional, and consistent.

When Reputation Becomes a Competitive Advantage

A startup's reputation becomes increasingly valuable as it matures.

Customers are more likely to trust brands they recognize. Investors often place significant weight on the credibility of leadership teams. Talented professionals are naturally drawn toward companies that appear established, respected, and ambitious.

Reputation is built over years rather than months, but PR can help shape that journey. Through consistent storytelling, thought leadership, and strategic media engagement, startups can strengthen trust and reinforce their position within the market.

Over time, that reputation can become a meaningful competitive advantage.

To Wrap Things Up…

There is no universal milestone that signals it is time to hire a PR team. Some startups benefit from communications support shortly after finding product-market fit, while others wait until fundraising or expansion becomes a priority.

The more useful question is whether greater visibility could help accelerate the company's next phase of growth.

If a startup has meaningful progress to share, a clear market position, and ambitions that extend beyond its current audience, PR can evolve from a nice-to-have function into a strategic business tool.

Because in the startup world, success is not determined solely by what a company builds. It is also shaped by how effectively it communicates why its work matters.

Kholoud Hussein 

Behind every successful startup lies a delicate balance between ownership, commitment, and long-term value creation. While entrepreneurs often focus on fundraising, product development, and customer acquisition, one of the most important mechanisms shaping a company's future is frequently overlooked during the early stages: the vesting schedule.

At first glance, a vesting schedule may appear to be a legal or administrative detail buried within shareholder agreements. In reality, it is one of the most powerful tools startups use to align incentives, protect company ownership, and ensure that the people building the business remain committed to its long-term success.

A vesting schedule is a predefined timeline that determines when founders, employees, advisors, or executives earn ownership rights to their shares or equity grants. Rather than receiving all their shares immediately, recipients gradually gain ownership over a specific period, often several years. This approach ensures that equity is earned through continued contribution rather than granted upfront without conditions.

The concept emerged from the broader corporate world but has become particularly important in the startup ecosystem, where companies often compensate early employees with stock options or equity in exchange for taking the risk of joining a young business. In many cases, startups lack the financial resources to compete with large corporations on salary alone, making equity one of their most valuable tools for attracting and retaining talent.

For founders, vesting schedules play an equally critical role. Investors rarely want to fund a startup where founding team members can walk away with significant ownership shortly after raising capital. Without vesting provisions, a founder who leaves the company early could retain a large stake despite no longer contributing to the business. This scenario can create governance challenges, discourage future investors, and complicate decision-making as the company grows.

To address this risk, startup investors typically require founders' shares to be subject to vesting. The most common structure is a four-year vesting schedule with a one-year cliff. Under this model, no shares are earned during the first twelve months. Once the one-year milestone is reached, a portion of the shares vests immediately, while the remaining equity is earned gradually over the following three years.

For example, if a founder receives 20% ownership subject to a four-year vesting schedule and leaves after two years, they would retain only the portion that has vested during that period rather than the entire allocation. The unvested shares would return to the company and could later be redistributed to new executives, employees, or future founders.

This mechanism has become a standard expectation among venture capital firms and angel investors worldwide. From Silicon Valley to emerging startup ecosystems in the Middle East, vesting schedules are viewed as a sign of professional governance and long-term commitment. Investors often consider vesting arrangements before committing capital because they provide reassurance that key stakeholders remain incentivized to execute the company's growth strategy.

The relevance of vesting schedules extends beyond founders and investors. As startups scale, they increasingly rely on employee stock option plans (ESOPs) to recruit highly skilled professionals. Engineers, product managers, sales leaders, and senior executives may accept lower salaries in exchange for equity participation. A vesting schedule ensures these employees remain engaged over time while allowing them to share in the company's future success.

The growing maturity of startup ecosystems across the Gulf region has further increased awareness of vesting structures. As venture capital activity expands in markets such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, founders are becoming more familiar with global investment standards and governance practices. Vesting schedules are now routinely included in shareholder agreements, employee incentive programs, and funding negotiations, reflecting the region's evolution into a more sophisticated entrepreneurial landscape.

However, vesting is not simply about protecting investors or preventing founders from leaving. At its core, it is about aligning incentives. Startups operate in environments characterized by uncertainty, long development cycles, and constant change. A vesting schedule encourages all stakeholders to focus on long-term value creation rather than short-term gains, fostering a culture of commitment and accountability.

As startup ecosystems continue to mature globally, vesting schedules are likely to remain one of the most important foundations of company building. While they may not attract the same attention as funding rounds or billion-dollar valuations, they play a crucial role in determining how ownership is earned, how talent is retained, and how sustainable businesses are ultimately built. In the world of startups, success is rarely achieved overnight, and a vesting schedule ensures that equity reflects that reality.

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.

Noha Gad

Businesses constantly face a critical challenge: when they will see the right return on the capital they have allocated to new projects, investments, and growth initiatives. Companies can report record revenues and rising profits; however, they still fail to create real value for their shareholders. The missing piece often lies not in how much money a business makes, but in how efficiently it uses the capital entrusted to it. This is where Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) comes in.

ROIC is a powerful financial metric that measures the percentage return a company generates from all the capital invested in it, both from shareholders and debt holders. It strips away the noise of financing structures and accounting tricks to reveal the true profitability and operational efficiency of a business. 

A good understanding of ROIC provides business owners evaluating new projects, investors comparing companies, or finance professionals optimizing resource allocation, a clear lens into whether a company is creating value or simply burning capital. 

What does ROIC tell you?

ROIC indicates how efficiently a company puts the capital under its control toward profitable investments or projects. The ROIC ratio gives a sense of how well a company is using the money it has raised to generate returns. Comparing a company’s return on invested capital with its weighted average cost of capital (WACC) reveals whether invested capital is being used effectively.

The ROIC formula is net operating profit after tax (NOPAT) divided by invested capital. Companies with a steady or improving return on capital are unlikely to put significant amounts of new capital to work. Investors and analysts might also use the return on new invested capital (RONIC) calculation to determine the value of deploying new or additional capital to a new or existing project.

This metric is particularly useful when examining companies in industries that depend on investing a large amount of capital. Like many metrics, it is most informative when used to compare similar companies operating in the same sector.

Importance of ROIC

ROIC is a critical indicator of a company’s ability to create real, sustainable value. Unlike metrics that focus only on revenue growth or net profit, ROIC reveals whether a business is generating returns that exceed the cost of the capital it uses. It stands out as one of the most important metrics for decision-makers as it:

• Measures true capital efficiency. ROIC shows how effectively a company converts invested capital into profits. A high ROIC means the business is using its money wisely.
• Reveals value creation against value destruction. The most powerful insight ROIC provides is whether a company is creating or destroying value. If the ROIC is higher than the company’s Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC), this means that the company is creating value, but if it is lower than the WACC, then the company is destroying value; even if it is profitable on paper, it is not earning enough to cover its cost of capital.
• Takes a more comprehensive view of investment analysis. While Return on Equity (ROE) only considers shareholder equity and Return on Assets (ROA) focuses on assets, ROIC takes a more comprehensive view by including all capital, debt, and equity alike. This makes ROIC a more accurate measure of operational performance, especially for companies with significant debt or complex financing structures.
• Provides clearer earnings quality assessment. ROIC helps investors distinguish between high-quality earnings and low-quality earnings. Companies with strong ROIC tend to have more sustainable, repeatable profit streams.

Additionally, ROIC assists business owners and executives in evaluating new projects, making acquisition decisions, optimizing resource allocation, and finding the best pricing strategies by understanding the return generated from capital-intensive operations.

In short, ROIC helps businesses and investors move beyond just looking at revenue or profit and instead see how capital is being used. A high ROIC above the cost of capital means real value is being created, while a low ROIC below that cost means value is being destroyed, no matter how good the financial statements look. By focusing on ROIC, companies can make smarter decisions about where to put their money, and investors can find businesses that truly deliver lasting returns. 

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

When most people think about borrowing money, financing a business, or securing an investment, they think of banks. Yet an increasing share of financial activity today takes place outside the traditional banking system.

Private credit funds, fintech lenders, money market funds, and other non-bank institutions are playing a growing role in moving capital across the economy. Together, these players make up what is known as the shadow banking system.

The term may sound mysterious, but shadow banking is neither hidden nor necessarily risky by nature. It simply refers to financial institutions that perform many of the functions of banks without operating as licensed commercial banks.

What Is Shadow Banking?

In simple terms, shadow banking describes organizations that provide financing and credit without accepting customer deposits like traditional banks.

These institutions help businesses and individuals access capital through a variety of channels. Common examples include:

• Private credit funds
• Money market funds
• Hedge funds
• Finance companies
• Fintech lending platforms
• Peer-to-peer lending networks

While their structures differ, they all serve a similar purpose: connecting capital with those who need it.

Why Is Shadow Banking Growing?

The expansion of shadow banking is being driven by a combination of market demand, regulatory dynamics, and technological innovation.

Today, businesses are seeking faster and more flexible financing options, while investors continue to look for returns beyond those offered by traditional savings and investment products. At the same time, digital platforms and fintech solutions have made it easier to connect borrowers with alternative sources of capital.

Several factors continue to support the growth of non-bank finance:

• Businesses need more diverse funding channels. 
• Investors are searching for higher-yield opportunities. 
• Fintech platforms are streamlining access to credit and investment products. 

Startups and SMEs often require financing solutions that fall outside conventional lending models. 

Institutional investors are allocating more capital to private credit and alternative assets. 

As these trends continue, shadow banking is becoming an increasingly important source of funding and liquidity within the broader financial ecosystem.

The Advantages of Shadow Banking

Supporters argue that shadow banking makes financial markets more flexible and efficient.

For businesses, especially startups and growing companies, alternative lenders can often provide faster access to capital than traditional banks. In some cases, they are also willing to finance businesses that may not fit a bank's standard risk profile.

Some of the key benefits include:

• Greater access to funding
• Faster financing decisions
• More competition in financial services
• Increased support for innovation and entrepreneurship

In many markets, shadow banking complements traditional banking rather than replacing it.

Risks and Regulatory Concerns

While shadow banking expands access to capital and financial services, it also presents a unique set of risks.

Because many non-bank financial institutions operate under different regulatory frameworks than traditional banks, their risk profiles can vary significantly. In some segments, oversight may be lighter, while certain business models may be more exposed to market fluctuations or funding pressures.

Key concerns associated with shadow banking include:

• Liquidity pressures during periods of market uncertainty 
• Greater sensitivity to asset price and market volatility 
• Regulatory gaps across different jurisdictions and sectors 
• Interconnected financial relationships that can amplify risks across markets 

As the sector continues to grow, regulators and market participants are increasingly focused on improving transparency, risk management, and oversight to ensure that innovation and financial stability develop in parallel.

The Fintech Factor

The rise of fintech has added a new chapter to the shadow banking story.

Digital lenders, Buy Now Pay Later providers, and alternative financing platforms are transforming how people access credit. While many operate within regulatory frameworks, they also highlight a broader trend: financial services are no longer the exclusive domain of traditional banks.

As technology continues to reshape finance, the line between banks and non-bank institutions is becoming increasingly blurred.

Wrapping Things Up…

Shadow banking has become a major force in modern finance, helping businesses raise capital, supporting investment activity, and expanding access to funding.

Its growth reflects a broader shift in how money moves through the economy. While regulators continue to monitor the risks, shadow banking is likely to remain an important source of financing in the years ahead.

For entrepreneurs, investors, and anyone following the future of finance, understanding shadow banking is no longer optional; it's now essential.

Kholoud Hussein 

In the language of business and investing, few expressions carry as much optimism as “getting in on the ground floor.” The phrase is frequently used by investors, entrepreneurs, and startup founders to describe an opportunity to participate in a company, project, or market at its earliest stage, before significant growth occurs. While the concept originated in real estate and construction—where entering a building at the ground floor meant being there from the very beginning—it has become one of the most widely used terms in the startup ecosystem.

For startups, the ground floor represents more than just an early stage of development. It symbolizes potential. It is the period when a company has yet to realize its full value, when risks are high, but the prospects for future growth can be substantial. Investors who enter at the ground floor hope to benefit from the company's future success, while founders seek partners willing to believe in a vision before it becomes a proven business.

The appeal of the ground floor concept is rooted in the mathematics of growth. Early participants often have access to opportunities that later entrants cannot obtain. A startup that raises capital at a modest valuation may, if successful, multiply its worth many times over in subsequent funding rounds. This is why venture capital firms devote considerable resources to identifying promising companies before they become household names. The greatest returns in startup investing are often generated not by finding established winners, but by recognizing future winners before the broader market does.

This dynamic has shaped some of the world's most successful technology companies. Early investors in businesses such as Airbnb, Uber, and Stripe entered long before these firms achieved global scale. At the time, the opportunities were uncertain, the business models were still evolving, and profitability was far from guaranteed. Yet those willing to participate at the ground floor were rewarded when these startups transformed entire industries.

For founders, attracting ground-floor investors can be equally important. Early-stage capital often provides the resources needed to validate a business model, develop a product, hire talent, and enter the market. Beyond funding, these investors frequently contribute strategic guidance, industry expertise, and valuable networks that help young companies navigate their most vulnerable period.

However, the ground floor is also where uncertainty is greatest. Most startups fail before reaching maturity, making early-stage investing inherently risky. Products may never achieve market fit, competitors may emerge with stronger offerings, or economic conditions may shift unexpectedly. As a result, entering at the ground floor requires more than optimism; it demands careful evaluation, due diligence, and a long-term perspective.

In recent years, the concept has gained particular relevance in emerging startup ecosystems, including Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC region. As governments pursue economic diversification and innovation-led growth, investors are increasingly looking for opportunities to participate in sectors that are still in their formative stages. Areas such as artificial intelligence, fintech, climate technology, logistics, digital health, and space technology are attracting attention precisely because they offer the possibility of entering on the ground floor of industries that could expand dramatically over the next decade.

Saudi Arabia, in particular, presents a compelling example. Under Vision 2030, the Kingdom has invested heavily in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and technology infrastructure. New startups are emerging across a wide range of sectors, creating opportunities for investors to back businesses before they achieve regional or international scale. For many venture capital firms, the attraction lies not only in individual startups but also in participating in the ground floor of an entire innovation ecosystem that is still evolving.

The concept extends beyond investors. Employees who join startups in their earliest days are often described as getting in on the ground floor as well. Early hires may receive equity, take on leadership responsibilities, and help shape company culture. If the startup succeeds, their rewards can extend far beyond a traditional salary. This has contributed to a growing entrepreneurial culture where talented professionals increasingly view startups as career opportunities rather than risky alternatives to established corporations.

Looking ahead, the importance of the ground floor concept is likely to increase as technological disruption accelerates. Emerging fields such as generative AI, robotics, clean energy, quantum computing, and advanced mobility are creating entirely new markets where today's startups may become tomorrow's industry leaders. Investors, founders, and employees alike are searching for opportunities to participate before these sectors mature.

Ultimately, the phrase "getting in on the ground floor" captures one of the most powerful ideas in entrepreneurship: the belief that value is created long before it becomes visible. For startups, it represents the earliest chapter of growth. For investors, it represents the pursuit of outsized returns. And for innovation-driven economies such as Saudi Arabia, it represents the opportunity to build the next generation of globally competitive companies from the very beginning.

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

Investors in today’s fast-paced financial world face a constant challenge: how to grow their wealth effectively without getting lost in the complexities of daily market movements. For both seasoned investors and those who start to build their portfolio, the decisions they make and the time they are willing to spend making them can significantly impact their financial future. For many, the ideal solution is to partner with a professional who can navigate market volatility on their behalf, combining expertise with a personalized approach to wealth management. This is where discretionary investment management comes in.

What is discretionary investment management?

Discretionary investment management is a service model in which a professional investment manager is authorized to make buying and selling decisions on behalf of the client, without needing prior approval for each transaction. Instead of spending hours researching stocks, analyzing trends, or monitoring global economic developments, clients delegate day-to-day portfolio decisions to a trusted advisor while retaining overall control through a clearly defined investment mandate. 

This service is usually offered to wealthy individuals or large institutions and often requires a large minimum investment. It can be an ideal choice for clients who do not wish to manage day-to -day investment decisions.

What do discretionary investment managers do?

Discretionary investment services cater to high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors, requiring minimum investments. The portfolio manager uses their expertise to grow and protect the client’s account balance over time, while making investments that align with the client’s goals.

Managers’ strategy may involve purchasing a variety of securities in the market, as long as it aligns with the client's risk profile and financial goals. Managers might buy stocks, bonds, ETFs, and financial derivatives.

Benefits of discretionary investment management

Discretionary investment management offers a compelling value proposition for investors who want professional expertise without the burden of daily portfolio oversight. Core benefits that make this approach increasingly popular among high-net-worth individuals, institutional clients, and retail investors include:

• Professional expertise and active management. Discretionary investment management offers access to skilled investment professionals who dedicate their time and knowledge to analyzing markets, identifying opportunities, and managing risk. These managers continuously monitor economic indicators, company performance, and global events to make informed decisions that align with the investment objectives.
• Time-saving and convenience. Saving time is one of the key benefits of discretionary management services. It also enables investors to focus on their career, business, or personal life, while the manager handles all transaction execution, research, and portfolio adjustments, making it a truly hands-off investment experience.
• Designing personalized portfolios. Discretionary managers create tailored investment strategies designed specifically for investors’ financial goals, risk tolerance, time horizon, and liquidity needs. Unlike off-the-shelf investment products or pooled funds that follow a one-size-fits-all approach, the portfolio is constructed to match investors’ unique circumstances. 
• Faster reaction to market opportunities. As discretionary managers can execute trades immediately without waiting for client approval, they can capitalize on time-sensitive opportunities or quickly reduce exposure during market downturns.

These benefits make discretionary investment management an attractive option for investors seeking expert guidance, efficiency, and the potential for superior risk-adjusted returns, all while maintaining control over their overall financial direction through a well-defined investment mandate.

Whether you are a high-net-worth individual, an institutional investor, or a retail investor increasingly accessing these services through digital platforms, discretionary management provides the perfect balance of professional expertise and hands-off convenience. It allows investors to focus on what matters most, their career, business, or personal life, while their portfolios are actively managed to align with their financial goals and risk tolerance.

Ghada Ismail

In the startup world, raising money is often treated as the ultimate sign of success. Big funding rounds generate headlines, attract attention, and create momentum around companies. But experienced founders know something many first-time entrepreneurs eventually learn the hard way: not all money behaves the same way.

Some investors stay committed when growth slows down or markets become uncertain. Others disappear the moment conditions become difficult.

That difference is what people in the investment world call “sticky capital.”

What Is Sticky Capital?

Sticky capital refers to long-term investment that stays committed to a company or market despite temporary setbacks, economic uncertainty, or market volatility.

Unlike speculative funding that chases trends and quick returns, sticky capital focuses on sustainable growth. Investors providing this type of funding understand that building successful businesses takes time and that difficult periods are part of the process.

In simple terms, sticky capital is often described as “loyal money.”

Sticky capital usually involves:

• Investors staying during downturns instead of exiting quickly 
• Long-term commitment over short-term gains 
• Patience with slower growth periods 
• Strategic guidance alongside financial support 
• Focus on fundamentals rather than hype 

For founders, this kind of stability can be incredibly valuable. It creates room to experiment, solve problems, and improve the business without constantly worrying about investors suddenly pulling back.

Not All Money Behaves the Same Way

In the startup ecosystem, founders often celebrate funding rounds as signs of success. But experienced entrepreneurs know that where the money comes from matters just as much as how much is raised.

Some investors aggressively enter trending sectors during boom periods, chasing hype and fast returns. But when markets cool down, they pull back just as quickly.

This is often called “tourist capital.”

Tourist capital follows momentum. Sticky capital follows conviction.

The difference is simple:

Tourist Capital

• Chases trends and hype 
• Focused on quick returns 
• Pulls back quickly during downturns 

Sticky Capital

• Thinks long term 
• Supports sustainable growth 
• Remains committed during uncertainty 

That difference can completely shape a startup’s future.

Why is Sticky Capital important?

Startups operate in uncertain environments by nature. Markets shift, customer behavior changes, competition evolves, and economic slowdowns can happen unexpectedly.

During those moments, stable investors become extremely important.

Startups backed by sticky capital are often better positioned to survive difficult cycles because they are not forced into panic-driven decisions. Instead of abandoning long-term goals outright, they can focus on improving products, refining operations, and adapting strategically.

Sticky capital also allows founders to think beyond short-term optics. When entrepreneurs know their investors believe in the bigger vision, they are more likely to invest in talent, infrastructure, and long-term product development instead of obsessing over the next funding round.

In many cases, companies built with patient capital become healthier businesses because they are focused on fundamentals rather than hype.

To Wrap Things Up…

Every startup ecosystem wants investment flowing into the market. But sustainable growth depends on attracting the right type of investment.

Sticky capital encourages healthier founder-investor relationships, supports long-term thinking, and helps startups survive difficult cycles without losing focus.

Most importantly, it creates businesses built on resilience rather than hype.

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 

Saudi Arabia’s food and beverage landscape is entering one of its most dynamic periods in recent history. Dining has become a central expression of the Kingdom’s cultural transformation—fueled by an expanding middle class, rising disposable income, record spending on experiences, and a powerful shift toward homegrown concepts. As restaurants multiply across Riyadh, Jeddah, and emerging destination districts, one bottleneck remains stubbornly persistent: access to growth capital that reflects the real economics of hospitality.

Traditional financing tools—rigid bank loans, equity dilution, and short-term discount-driven customer acquisition—have long failed to match the realities of an industry defined by seasonality, thin margins, and escalating operating costs. This gap has created a critical need for financial models built specifically for restaurants, not adapted from generic SME templates. It is within this landscape that SPICE has emerged as one of the sector’s most closely watched disruptors.

Founded by a veteran entrepreneurial team with a two-decade track record in F&B technology, SPICE is introducing what it calls Dining Capital—a Sharia-compliant, zero-debt financing model that pre-purchases future dining credit to provide restaurants with upfront, non-dilutive cash tied directly to guest demand. At the same time, the company is building an invite-only dining platform designed to attract high-value customers, offering curated recommendations and instant rewards that strengthen restaurant loyalty without eroding brand equity.

With Saudi Arabia as its headquarters and primary growth market, SPICE is positioning itself at the intersection of fintech, hospitality, and Vision 2030’s experience-led economy. The Kingdom now represents nearly one-third of all POS transactions in the region’s foodservice sector, and as tourism accelerates and giga-projects set new expectations for hospitality, the demand for smart, aligned financing structures is only growing.

In this exclusive interview with Sharikat Mubasher, co-founder and CEO Zeid Husban discusses the economics behind Dining Capital, SPICE’s strategic alignment with Vision 2030, how the company underwrites risk, and why premium dining represents one of the most attractive investment categories across the GCC. He also reflects on past exits—including ifood.jo and POSRocket—and how those lessons shaped SPICE’s operational philosophy. As the company scales across Saudi Arabia and prepares for GCC expansion, Husban lays out a vision for a future in which growth capital, curated demand, and technology-driven guest experiences operate as a single, integrated ecosystem powering the region’s next generation of restaurant brands.

SPICE positions itself as a catalyst for a “premium dining movement.” How does your Sharia‑compliant, zero‑debt financing model reshape the way premium and fine‑dining restaurants access growth capital in Saudi Arabia today?

We started SPICE because, honestly, financing for restaurants is not easy and it’s broken. Banks still look at restaurants like any other SME. They expect fixed repayments every month, even though the F&B industry is faced with seasonality, volatility, and very thin margins. Great restaurants and their operators end up punished for investing in people, product, and the dining experience.

That is why we looked to build a solution, given our background in creating F&B tech solutions. Our answer to that is what we call Dining Capital. Instead of giving a loan with interest, we pre‑purchase future dining credit from the restaurant and give restaurants upfront, Sharia‑compliant cash that does not sit as debt on their balance sheet. That credit is then used over time as SPICE guests dine and pay through our consumer app.

So the “repayment” happens naturally through real visits that generate revenue, not through a fixed schedule that ignores how this business actually works. It lets premium venues grow, without resorting to discounts or short‑term fixes that hurt their brand. For us, that is how you genuinely support a premium dining movement in Saudi.

Saudi Arabia is seeing unprecedented momentum in the foodservice sector, with restaurants representing nearly a third of all POS transactions. How is SPICE aligning its investment strategy with Vision 2030 and the Kingdom’s rapidly expanding F&B landscape?

If you spend any time in Saudi Arabia today, you can feel how much dining has become part of the country’s new story. Vision 2030 put hospitality and tourism at the center, and you see it in how people go out, where they spend, and how quickly new concepts are opening. This is not just with nationals and residents, but tourists as well. 

We chose to make Riyadh our headquarters because we believe Saudi is where you can build truly category‑defining companies, not only for the region but globally. Every riyal of Dining Capital we deploy ends up as real spend at partner venues. That means more local brands, more jobs, and more reasons for residents and visitors to have a great dining experience with Saudi hospitality.

Our strategy is very focused. We choose to partner with select premium restaurants that we think should become part of the country’s dining fabric, and then we tie their funding directly to guest demand. That way, our growth, their growth, and Vision 2030’s push for an experience‑led economy are all moving in the same direction.

You’re offering what you call “Dining Capital” upfront cash with no interest and no fixed repayments. Can you walk us through the economics of this model and how you mitigate risk while still enabling restaurants to scale?

The model is quite simple and has no hidden intentions. We give a restaurant an upfront lump sum, and in return, we receive a larger pool of future dining credit that will be used by SPICE diners over time, who are invited to use our app. There is no interest, no fixed instalments, and no equity dilution. The restaurant is simply agreeing to honour this pre‑purchased credit at face value whenever our guests dine. Guests simply book and pay through the app. Every time they pay, they get rewarded with 20% cashback, which can add up to a significant amount. 

But that is why we need to manage risk very closely, which explains why we are selective with the brands we fund. We work only with premium and upper‑casual venues that meet high standards on consistency, concept, and brand. Second, we size each financing opportunity based on realistic future demand, using our experience, data, and technology.  Third, we do not just wire money and disappear. We actively drive demand through our invite‑only diners, so capital and demand always work together.

For the operator, it feels like getting growth equity without giving up ownership. This kind of working capital eliminates the headache of monthly repayment pressure. For us, it creates a new, Sharia‑compliant asset class that is directly backed by how often people dine at these venues.

On the consumer side, SPICE is building an invite‑only dining platform with concierge features and 20% instant rewards. How does your technology shape the guest experience, and what competitive advantage does this create for your restaurant partners?

On the consumer side, we are trying to build the app that serious diners wish already existed. SPICE is invite‑only. That’s why it feels more like a membership than a mass deals app, and every venue on it is handpicked. If a venue is on SPICE, it is because we would happily send our friends and family there. It is the app that people in the know use when they have to choose where to go. 

Inside the app, you can quickly find the right spot for a date, a business lunch, or a family dinner, then pay in‑app and receive 20 percent instant rewards on your bill. Over time, the product learns where you like to go, what kind of vibe you prefer, and even what kind of occasion you are planning. It starts to feel like a digital concierge that understands your taste.

For restaurants, that experience matters a lot. They are not getting random coupon hunters. They are getting high‑value guests who come for the experience first and appreciate that SPICE is tied to quality, not cheap deals. That combination of curated demand plus instant rewards is a strong edge for our partners.

Your team has a strong entrepreneurial track record, having led successful exits such as ifood.jo and POSRocket. How have these previous experiences informed SPICE’s operational strategy and its expansion approach in the GCC?

As founders, we have been in food and hospitality tech for almost twenty years now. We built ifood.jo, Jordan’s first food ordering platform, which was acquired by Delivery Hero, and POSRocket, a cloud POS for restaurants that was acquired by Foodics. So we have seen this industry from a lot of different angles, from the kitchen printer to the customer’s phone. More importantly, Wadi, Youssef, and I have built together, and we complement each other’s strengths. 

On the B2B side, we saw great operators struggling with cash flow, and we saw how banks often did not really understand restaurant risk. On the B2C side, we watched as diners were trained to chase discounts, which might look good in the short term but slowly erodes brands and guest trust. In fact, many diners don’t like to show they use discounts, especially when it comes to paying at premium restaurants. 

With SPICE, we are essentially solving the problems we kept running into. Operationally, we decided not to build just another F&B service. We are building a movement where capital, demand generation, and guest experience are tightly connected. That is also why our expansion plan is careful by design. We are 100% focused on Saudi first. After proving the model works and scales, we’ll take it into other markets in the GCC. 

Saudi Arabia is your primary focus today, but you’ve previously hinted at wider regional expansion. What can you share about SPICE’s plans across the Gulf, and what markets are you prioritizing next?

Saudi Arabia will always be home for SPICE. It is where we launched and where we are building the Dining Capital category. It is home not just for the brand but for our team and our families. But from the beginning, we knew the model would resonate across the Gulf.

Markets across the GCC have high dining‑out spend, very savvy consumers, and restaurants facing similar challenges with funding and loyalty. Yet no one has really owned the premium dining capital and cashback space in a way that feels curated and long-term. This category is non-existent, and we are essentially building from the ground up.

We plan to earn the right to expand by proving what we do in Saudi Arabia first. Once we have shown that Dining Capital can become part of how premium restaurants in Riyadh and other major cities fund growth, we will start rolling out into other Gulf markets where Sharia‑compliant, non‑debt funding and premium dining experiences are just as relevant.

In each market, we will adapt the curation to local taste, but our core stays the same, where we partner with recognised venues, provide zero‑debt growth capital, and enable an elevated, rewarding dining experience. Eventually, we want a SPICE member from Riyadh to land in Dubai or Kuwait, open the same app, and instantly feel at home.

Access to capital is still one of the biggest bottlenecks for restaurants looking to scale. From your perspective, what structural changes or financial innovations are needed to unlock the next wave of F&B growth in the Kingdom?

If you talk to operators in Saudi Arabia, many will tell you the same thing. Getting the first location off the ground is hard, but getting from one or two branches to a real group is often even harder, simply because the right kind of capital is not always available.

Banks tend to apply generic SME models that do not fully reflect how hospitality works. Equity investors often want to back platforms, not individual restaurant brands. So a lot of very good concepts get stuck in the middle, even while the overall market is booming. Starting a restaurant isn’t cheap either, with a few million riyals needed in upfront capital. 

We think the next wave of growth will come from a mix of new structures and better data. Instruments like Dining Capital, where funding is Sharia‑compliant, non‑dilutive, and repaid through actual guest visits, are one important piece. Another is using real transaction and behaviour data to underwrite restaurant performance instead of relying purely on static projections. That’s why we are investing heavily in our technology so we can model the data right, but also target the right audience for each brand. 

The other important priority is alignment with the KSA leadership’s vision for the country. As tourism and hospitality targets ramp up, you need funding tools that are designed specifically for restaurants in key locations, especially around giga‑projects and destination districts. With SPICE, we are trying to show what that can look like when you connect capital directly to demand and treat the dining experience itself as the asset.

With Sharia‑compliant financing and consumer rewards merging into a single ecosystem, where do you see SPICE in the next three to five years? Are external investments or new funding rounds part of that growth trajectory?

When we think about the next three to five years, we do not just think in terms of app metrics. We imagine a world where Dining Capital is a normal part of the conversation for premium restaurants across Saudi Arabia and the GCC.

If a group is planning a new branch or a new concept, we want them to reach out to us first and seek Dining Capital from SPICE. This isn’t just about lending once, but being a real partner in the growth journey of high-potential brands. On the diner side, if you care about where you eat and how you are rewarded, we want closing the bill with SPICE to feel like the natural way to end a great meal.

Right now, we are well-funded and focused on deploying capital to restaurants. At the end of the day, we want to be an active partner supporting the F&B ecosystem. In pioneering a new category around Dining Capital and helping define what premium dining in this region feels like, we hope to play a role in how restaurants grow and how guests experience and remember each meal.

Kholoud Hussein 

Saudi Arabia is witnessing the rise of a new socioeconomic force reshaping its cities, workplaces, and daily behaviors: the Digital Middle Class. This emerging demographic—defined not purely by income, but by digital fluency, technological consumption, and ability to thrive in a data-driven economy—is rapidly becoming one of the most important engines of national transformation. Powered by Vision 2030, fast-expanding digital infrastructure, and a tech-driven private sector, this group is changing not only how Saudis live, but how they learn, work, build wealth, and participate in the economy.

In earlier eras, entering the middle class required stable employment, home ownership, and rising disposable income. Today, digital fluency has become just as important. Access to cloud services, AI-driven productivity tools, fintech platforms, digital payments, e-commerce participation, and new types of online work are defining what opportunity looks like in Saudi Arabia. As a result, the new digital middle class is not a passive outcome of economic change—it is an active contributor to the Kingdom’s transformation.

“Digital transformation is not just a technological project. It is a social and economic movement,” Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swaha said recently. “Our goal is to empower every Saudi citizen with the tools needed to participate in a digital economy, and to lead in it, not just adapt to it.” His words reflect the government’s central thesis: expanding digital participation expands the middle class, and expanding the middle class accelerates the nation’s economic diversification.

A New Definition of Wealth: From Assets to Access and Digital Capability

Digital transformation has redefined what economic mobility looks like. Traditionally, wealth accumulation depended on physical assets—real estate, cars, or retail businesses. But digital-era wealth often grows from intangible assets: data literacy, technological skills, digital entrepreneurship, ability to sell services online, and participation in the digital financial ecosystem.

Saudi Arabia has one of the world’s fastest-growing digital economies, with the ICT sector surpassing $40 billion in market size and maintaining growth rates far above global averages. This economic expansion has created new pathways into the middle class—ones that do not require traditional capital.

Skills such as coding, cloud computing, fintech operations, digital marketing, and AI analysis now open doors to higher-income employment. Remote work, freelancing platforms, and digital marketplaces such as Marsool, Salla, Zid, and Jahez have enabled thousands of Saudis to run businesses with minimal overhead. Even the creative economy has become a serious economic opportunity, with thousands entering fields like game development, digital art, and content production.

For many Saudis entering this new class, the smartphone—not a storefront or an office—has become their first business tool.

How Digital Transformation Expanded the Middle Class

The expansion of digital access has been foundational. Saudi Arabia today ranks among the top nations globally in 5G deployment and internet speed, and more than 98% of the population is connected online. This digital infrastructure has become the gateway to new economic participation.

Government-led platforms such as Absher, Tawakkalna, Nafath, and Musaned have normalized digital trust and online service use, reducing barriers that once required physical presence and long processing times. This shift has empowered citizens to perceive digital services as reliable, safe, and efficient—key ingredients for the rise of the digital middle class.

The digital payments revolution has been equally transformative. The Saudi Central Bank reports that digital payment adoption exceeded 62% in 2023, surpassing Vision 2030’s original target seven years ahead of schedule. This shift has enabled new financial behaviors: online purchases, subscription-based services, e-wallet savings, and investment through digital platforms.

Fintech startups such as Tamara, HyperPay, STC Pay, Tabby, and Raqamyah have introduced financial tools that were previously difficult to access, from installment payments to peer-to-peer financing and micro-investment platforms. As fintech penetration deepened, financial inclusion expanded, allowing more Saudis to build credit histories, access new types of capital, and participate in the digital economy.

The Digital Skills Boom and the Birth of a New Labor Force

One of the most significant shifts is the transformation of the labor force. Saudi Arabia has invested billions into upskilling its population, with programs from SDAIA, MCIT, and Human Capability Development Program (HCDP) targeting emerging fields such as AI, cloud computing, cybersecurity, and software engineering.

The government announced that more than 100,000 Saudis will be trained in AI and advanced technologies by 2030. These investments are not academic exercises; they are building a workforce capable of supporting a trillion-riyal digital economy.

This new labor force is essential for the rise of the digital middle class. Higher-skilled digital roles offer higher salaries, flexible work, and career mobility—traits that rapidly elevate individuals into middle-class stability. Remote work adoption has also increased dramatically, enabling Saudis—especially youth and women—to enter the labor market on new terms.

Female participation in the workforce has surged past 34 percent, a milestone that would not have been possible without digital work environments and technology-enabled jobs. Many of these new participants are entering tech-enabled roles in e-commerce, cloud services, fintech operations, and digital content creation.

Startups as Engines of Digital Mobility

Startups have become one of the most influential forces accelerating the rise of the digital middle class in Saudi Arabia. Already, the Kingdom is the fastest-growing startup market in MENA, attracting more than $1.38 billion in VC investments in 2023 alone.

Startups across sectors—including mobility, logistics, AI, fintech, healthtech, and retail tech—are not only generating economic value but also creating new types of digital employment.

Examples include:

• Jahez, HungerStation, and Mrsool – enabling gig-work and flexible income generation.
• Salla and Zid – empowering thousands of small online merchants to launch digital stores with minimal technical knowledge.
• Lean Technologies and Hakbah – building fintech rails that democratize access to financial services.
• Taffi and Labayh – creating new digital service categories in mental wellness and personal styling.

These startups are directly supporting the expansion of the digital middle class by creating new revenue channels, entrepreneur-friendly tools, and knowledge-based employment. Their models lower entry barriers and expand economic inclusion.

Startups are also filling market gaps—payment infrastructure, logistics optimization, AI-driven services, digital ID systems—that directly enhance citizens’ ability to participate in the digital economy.

The Private Sector’s Expanding Role

As the Kingdom continues its diversification roadmap, the private sector has become a major driver of digital transformation. Telecom companies such as STC, Mobily, and Zain have built world-class digital infrastructure. Banks and fintechs are investing heavily in digital-first strategies. Large retailers are digitizing entire supply chains, onboarding thousands of Saudi employees into tech-enabled roles.

Global tech players, including Google Cloud, Oracle, and Huawei, have opened cloud regions in Saudi Arabia, bringing with them skills development programs and new job opportunities.

These investments create an environment where digital middle-class behaviors—online consumption, digital entrepreneurship, remote employment—become the norm rather than the exception.

Private sector innovation is also accelerating the adoption of new technologies. From AI-driven healthcare platforms to robotics in logistics, technology is reshaping service accessibility and quality. As these services expand, so does demand for digital talent, further strengthening the digital middle class.

Digital Trust: The Foundation of Behavior Change

The shift in Saudi citizens’ confidence in digital services cannot be overstated. According to SDAIA, public trust in government digital platforms exceeds 90 percent, one of the highest levels globally. This trust is the backbone of digital transformation.

When citizens believe that digital platforms are secure, reliable, and efficient, they adopt them with confidence. This adoption reduces transaction costs, increases economic participation, and boosts productivity—key characteristics of a stable middle class.

Startups play a meaningful role here. By offering secure, user-friendly, and transparent services, they reinforce the culture of digital trust. Fintech companies, in particular, invest heavily in compliance, security, and transparency—strengthening users' confidence in managing money online.

The Future: A Digital Middle Class That Builds, Not Just Consumes

As Saudi Arabia evolves into a digital-first economy, the digital middle class is expected to become an even more influential driver of economic growth. By 2030, the Kingdom aims for:

• A digital economy contributing 30 percent of GDP
• Hundreds of thousands of high-skilled digital jobs
• A global leadership position in AI and cloud-driven industries
• A thriving digital entrepreneurship ecosystem

The future digital middle class will not simply consume technology. It will build it—creating intellectual property, launching startups, exporting digital services, and shaping the Kingdom’s place in the global digital economy.

The rise of AI-native startups, deep-tech ventures, and digital-first SMEs demonstrates this shift. As more Saudi citizens gain advanced digital skills, the country transitions from being a user of global technologies to becoming a producer of them.

Finally, the rise of the digital middle class in Saudi Arabia represents far more than the adoption of apps or online platforms. It marks the restructuring of society around new definitions of opportunity, skill, and economic participation.

Saudi Arabia’s transformation is not only digital—it is deeply social, driven by a new generation that sees technology not as a tool, but as a pathway to agency, competitiveness, and global relevance.

As Vision 2030 continues to unfold, the digital middle class will remain one of the central pillars of economic diversification. Strong digital infrastructure, high adoption rates, a flourishing startup ecosystem, and ambitious government programs are transforming the Kingdom into a global model for digital economic development.

Ghada Ismail

Every year, startups launch with big ambitions, exciting ideas, and dreams of becoming the next success story. Founders spend months building apps, designing products, and preparing launch plans. But many startups run into the same problem: they create something people do not actually need.

That is why validation matters.

Before investing serious time, money, and energy into a startup, founders need to know whether there is genuine demand for what they are building. Validation is not about killing creativity or slowing momentum. It is about making smarter decisions early and avoiding costly mistakes later.

Start With the Problem, Not the Product

A lot of entrepreneurs get excited about an idea and immediately jump into building the product. But successful startups usually begin with a real problem, not just a clever solution.

Ask yourself a few honest questions. What problem are you solving? Who experiences this problem every day? And is it frustrating enough that people would actively look for a solution?

The best way to answer these questions is by talking to people directly. Have conversations with potential users. Ask them about their experiences, frustrations, and current alternatives. Instead of trying to convince them that your idea is great, focus on listening.

When multiple people describe the same issue repeatedly, that is often a strong sign that you are solving something meaningful.

Define Your Audience Clearly

One common mistake founders make is trying to target everyone. In reality, validation works better when you focus on a specific group first.

Think carefully about who your ideal customer is. Are you targeting students, small businesses, working parents, freelancers, or enterprise companies? The clearer your audience, the easier it becomes to understand their behavior and needs.

For example, validating a fintech app for university students requires a completely different approach than validating software for logistics companies.

Knowing your audience also helps you understand how they currently solve the problem—and whether they would realistically switch to your solution.

Research the Market

Some founders worry when they discover competitors in the market. But competition is not always a bad sign. In many cases, it proves there is already demand.

Take time to study businesses operating in the same space. Look at their pricing, features, customer reviews, and overall positioning. Pay attention to complaints customers frequently mention because those gaps could become opportunities for your startup.

At the same time, avoid copying competitors blindly. Validation is not about building the same thing with a different logo. It is about understanding what customers still feel is missing.

And if you cannot find any competitors at all, that may also be worth questioning. Sometimes a market is untapped, but sometimes there is simply no demand.

Build a Simple Version First

You do not need a fully developed product to start validating your idea.

Many successful startups begin with a Minimum Viable Product, often called an MVP. This is a basic version of your idea, designed to quickly and cheaply test interest.

An MVP could be a landing page, a prototype, a waitlist, a short demo video, or even a social media page explaining your concept.

The goal is not perfection. The goal is learning.

Watch how people respond. Are they signing up? Asking questions? Sharing it with others? Or are they losing interest after the first interaction?

Real behavior tells you far more than polite compliments ever will.

Focus on Actions, Not Opinions

Friends and family will often encourage your idea because they want to support you. But encouragement is not validation.

The real question is whether people are willing to take action.

Would they join a waiting list? Book a demo? Pre-order the product? Pay for early access?

These actions matter because they show genuine interest. Many startup founders confuse positive feedback with actual demand, and the two are very different.

Someone saying “That sounds cool” is not the same as someone opening their wallet.

Test Whether People Will Pay

One of the biggest validation mistakes founders make is avoiding conversations about money.

A startup can solve a real problem and still fail if customers are not willing to pay enough for the solution.

Testing pricing early helps you understand whether your business model is realistic. Even simple experiments—such as different pricing options on a landing page or discussing budgets during customer interviews—can reveal valuable insights.

If people hesitate when pricing enters the conversation, you may need to rethink your positioning or value proposition.

To Wrap Things Up…

Building a startup always involves risk, but validation helps reduce unnecessary uncertainty. Instead of relying on guesses, founders learn directly from real people and real market behavior.

It may feel tempting to build quickly and figure things out later, but taking the time to validate first can save enormous amounts of time, money, and frustration in the future.

In the end, the strongest startup ideas are not just innovative; they solve real problems for real people.