qeen.ai secures largest seed investments in MENA; total funding reaches $12mln
UAE: Dubai-based AI startup qeen.ai has raised one of the largest seed investments in the MENA region to date, securing $10 million in funding, according to a press release.
The fundraising transaction was led by Prosus Ventures, with participation from existing investors including Wamda Capital, 10x Founders, and Dara Holdings.
The investment, which brings qeen.ai's total funding to $12 million, will support the startup's growth strategy by expanding the reach and capabilities of its agentic AI platform, scaling the team, and attracting a wider customer base.
Morteza Ibrahimi, Co-Founder and CEO of qeen.ai, stated: 'By building AI solutions that are both intuitive and accessible, we enable e-commerce businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and thrive in the evolving digital economy.'
Robin Voogd, Head of Middle East Investments at Prosus Ventures, commented: 'The company has demonstrated an innovative approach to bringing AI to the e-commerce industry and is backed by an expert founding team. They will provide significant value to merchants focused on delivering a strong digital shopping experience across countries.'
Launched in the second quarter (Q2) of 2024, qeen.ai has served over 15 million users, generating more than 1 million SKU descriptions, and enabling merchants to achieve a 30% uplift in sales.
In June 2024, qeen.ai closed a $2.20 million pre-Seed funding round to boost MENA's e-commerce sector.
It is worth highlighting that the e-commerce market in MENA is projected to reach $50 billion in 2025, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading the landscape.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fintech News ME
39 minutes ago
- Fintech News ME
Emirates NBD Partners with iPiD for Real-Time Cross-Border Payee Verification
Emirates NBD has entered into a partnership with iPiD, a Singapore-based provider of Know Your Payee (KYP) validation services. The collaboration aims to enhance the bank's cross-border payment processes by enabling real-time beneficiary validation. Through the integration of iPiD's technology, customers will be able to verify payee names, IBANs, and account numbers before initiating a payment. This is expected to reduce the risk of fraud, prevent transaction errors caused by incorrect details, and improve overall efficiency. The move is part of Emirates NBD's wider efforts to strengthen its fraud prevention measures and expand its capacity for payee verification across international markets. Anith Daniel, Group Head of Transaction Banking Services at Emirates NBD, said: 'At Emirates NBD we are committed to delivering an exceptional digital experience for our customers, underpinned by robust security and trust. Our partnership with iPiD, bringing global payee verification capabilities to enhance cross-border payments, reinforces this commitment. Together, we are ensuring safer, more efficient digital payments for our customers, domestically or across borders.' Damien Dagauquier, CEO and Co-founder of iPiD, added: 'With our advanced API and validation capabilities, we are empowering institutions like Emirates NBD to proactively combat fraud and deliver seamless payment experiences.'
Tahawul Tech
44 minutes ago
- Tahawul Tech
'We are a collaborative powerhouse that equips businesses with the right expertise, tools, and strategies to scale.' – Agam Chaudhary, Two99
CNME Editor Mark Forker sat down with Agam Chaudhary, Founder and CEO of Two99, to better understand how his company has become such a collaborative powerhouse in the e-commerce and marketing space, and how it is aligning businesses with the right expertise, tools, and strategies to scale effectively, and at speed. The United Arab Emirates is a country that doesn't just imagine the future, it builds it. The fusion of dynamism, creativity, entrepreneurship and leadership between the private and public sector has enabled cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi to become global hubs for innovation and technological advancement. As a result of this unique landscape, the UAE is home to serial entrepreneurs and innovators, such as Agam Chaudhary. Chaudhary has enjoyed a decorated career to date in the IT industry, and established himself as a transformational force when it comes to digitisation of the marketing and e-commerce sectors across the Middle East region. He began his career in India, and co-founded a digital marketing start-up company called Digital Labs, long before digital marketing was in vogue. Digital Labs helped 140 companies grow their business by harnessing the power of digital marketing, before his majority stake was acquired by Laqshya Media Group in 2018. As a serial entrepreneur, it wasn't long until Chaudhary was thinking about his next venture, and in November 2020, Two99 was born. Chaudhary began the interview by detailing the mission statement of the company, and how the name of Two99 was selected. 'The name Two99 is derived from the speed of light, which we wanted to use to really emphasise our belief in the importance of speed for brands in today's fast-paced, dynamic and volatile marketplace. Time is money, and we are on a mission to save businesses time, which we know inevitably will result in a reduction in costs and overheads. We do that by providing users with access to a portfolio of solutions that are designed to help them overcome complex marketing challenges,' said Chaudhary. As a business model, Two99 operates under a consortium of three agencies, which are e-commerce, marketing/consultancy and cybersecurity. Under his leadership, Two99 has expanded globally, now operating in India, Dubai, and other key markets, helping brands achieve 3x lead generation, higher conversions, and market dominance. But how exactly has he been able to do this, not only in such a short space of time, but also in such a competitive marketplace. 'We don't believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, it's just not going to work anymore, especially when there is so much technological change happening on a constant basis. It has been exacerbated even more so with the advent of Gen and Agentic AI, but as a business you have to be agile, and you need to have the ability to be adaptive. Two99 is a collaborative powerhouse, that is aligning businesses with the right expertise, tools, and strategies to scale effectively,' said Chaudhary. One of the key components in their success has been their ability to not only demonstrate that their products can yield phenomenal user experiences, but also in building communities that foster brand loyalty. 'We are able to elevate user experiences by deploying and implementing the very best-in-class technology and content. Other businesses adopt a different business model, and think we have to find a softer price point, but we take inspiration from Apple. Apple were able to demonstrate and deliver a superior user experience and that justifies the cost to their users, and our mantra is the same. At Two99, we use social media channels, forums, and communities to foster brand loyalty through repeat business and referrals, moving beyond just running performance campaigns for customer acquisition. This approach increases profits and reduces the cost of acquiring new customers,' said Chaudhary. In terms of the challenges facing the customers Two99 work with, Chaudhary conceded that there was a recurring theme. 'You need efficient distribution to be successful, and there's no two ways about that. Technology can both streamline the processes and enable you to make better decisions, but again, this is easier said than done. The common issue is the fact that many brands frequently change agencies based solely on cost per-lead without considering lead quality, or the need to build trust and deliver positive user experiences. Two99 aims to create an environment where customers trust the brand and have good experiences with their products and services consistently,' said Chaudhary. In terms of what makes them different, and why Two99 have enjoyed so much success since their inception almost 5 years ago, Chaudhary insisted that it was their ability to intrinsically understand their customers' issues that differentiates the company from market rivals. 'Our unique selling proposition definitely lies in understanding customers' audiences and infusing solutions to solve their marketing challenges, rather than just offering individual services. We adopt a problem-solving approach, we are not coming as we said earlier with a magic product that will fix everything, we need to determine what the problem is and then solve it. We are able to do this by providing real-time analytical dashboards tailored to different decision-makers within a company, ensuring everyone understands the company's health beyond typical digital marketing metrics. Our approach fosters organisational alignment and long-term relationships,' said Chaudhary. Companies are under increasing pressure to show an ROI when investing in new cutting-edge products, but especially those infused with AI. Chaudhary provided two examples of how customers who adopted their technologies instantly saw results. 'We worked with a B2C skincare brand with a very low website conversion rate, where we quickly identified the issue was with Facebook traffic and, by simply shifting their focus to Instagram, this company increased their conversion rate from 1.7% to 3.5% within three and a half months. That's the power of the technology we use, and the quality of the analytics that we provide. We also worked with a large educational institution that were looking for a specific number of leads, their approach was both outdated and redundant. We helped them build their tech infrastructure, improve SEO, and leverage generative AI, ultimately growing their business way beyond just lead generation,' said Chaudhary. The conversation shifted towards Binary Wall, Two99's real-time threat intelligence cybersecurity platform designed for cloud-first digital businesses. 'In simple terms, Binary Wall addresses the vulnerability of growing brands and the common misconception that cyberattacks won't happen to them. The product uses AI to analyse, detect, and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in real time. Binary Wall not only detects vulnerabilities, but it also automatically fixes them and reports findings on a transparent dashboard, eliminating the need for a manual security team to handle these tasks. The implementation process also involves gaining access to the client's cloud ecosystem, where the product integrates and continuously learns, with minimal impact on RAM usage,' said Chaudhary. Chaudhary concluded a brilliant conversation by highlighting the impact Binary Wall has had since its release, and his excitement in relation to the potential its GenShark product could have on the marketplace once it is out of its production phase. 'Binary Wall has been in use for three to four months, and the initial responses have been incredible. While every business needs strong cybersecurity, we are currently seeing more demand from finance-related businesses due to government policies and the need to report attacks, followed by healthcare due to sensitive patient and financial data. Our product provides them with the services they need from both a solution and governance standpoint. In terms of our innovations beyond Binary Wall. We are working on a product called GenShark, which helps brands get into conversations on AI platforms like ChatGPT and Gemini for educational, informational, and transactional queries, similar to search engine optimization for these new platforms. We are excited at the impact it is going to have, and we are also heavily investing in AI training for both our employees and our customers,' said Chaudhary.
Zawya
an hour ago
- Zawya
Dubai Aerospace signs $300mln 3-year term loan
Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Ltd. has signed a $300 million three-year unsecured term loan with Bank of China (Dubai) Branch, Bank of China Limited, London Branch and Bank of China (Hong Kong) Limited. The aircraft lessor, which is fully owned by Investment Corporation of Dubai, will use the loan for general corporate purposes and future financing needs of the business. Firoz Tarapore, CEO of DAE, said the transaction with BOC 'provides us with additional liquidity to support our ongoing commitment to meeting the needs of our airline customers while maintaining a modern and efficient fleet'. In March 2024, DAE signed $420 million 5-year unsecured term loan with China Construction Bank (DIFC Branch) and China Construction Bank (Asia) Corporation Limited. As of March 31, 2025, the company had a total debt of $8 billion, of which 80% was unsecured. Net debt-to-equity ratio was 2.43x. (Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
