KSA-Based DOO Raises US$1.7 Million To Expand Its AI Customer Experience Platform In The GCC

Saudi Arabia-headquartered DOO, an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered customer experience (CX) platform, has raised US$1.7 million in funding led by Riyadh-based investment firm Merak Capital, with participation from the MENA-based early-stage venture capital firm, Plus VC, and other regional investors. 

Founded by Ali Mohsen and Mohamed AlKhabbaz in KSA in 2024, DOO combines natural language processing with regional linguistic expertise to provide AI-based customer support tailored to Arabic dialects and cultural contexts. The platform enables enterprises to engage with customers across WhatsApp, Instagram, websites, and other mobile apps.  

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Mohsen, CEO of DOO, said that the new investment marks a pivotal step in scaling his enterprise's technology and its team, and thereby anchoring innovation in the region rather than importing it. “The GCC deserves AI that is created here, not imported, with its language and culture at the core,” he said. “The majority of this capital will go into advancing our Arabic-first models, building world-class CX infrastructure, and attracting the region’s best builders. At the same time, we are forging partnerships with leading enterprises that allow us to deploy faster and prove impact at scale. This is not only about serving the GCC, it is about creating a technology base here that becomes the reference point for culturally aware AI worldwide.” 

Built on a localized model, DOO has seen rapid adoption among enterprises across the GCC, where customer expectations are increasingly defined by speed, personalization, and accessibility. Today, the platform supports more than 50 enterprises spanning telecom, airlines, banking, and e-commerce. Mohsen shared that the new funding will be directed toward product innovation, enhancing integrations with customer relationship management (CRM) and e-commerce platforms, and expanding across the wider GCC market. 

However, Mohsen revealed that building Arabic-first AI capable of understanding and responding naturally to people across the region has not been without challenges. Indeed, he noted that the complexity of Arabic dialects required the team to engineer an entirely new layer of linguistic intelligence. “Arabic is not one language; it is hundreds of voices, identities, and expressions," he said. "The toughest challenge was making AI authentic enough to reflect dialects, yet flexible enough to stay consistent with a brand’s personality."

To address the challenge of balancing linguistic authenticity with brand consistency, DOO developed two proprietary tools that form the backbone of its AI architecture. The first, OMLAQ, focuses on understanding and adapting to Arabic dialects, while the second, CTRL, allows enterprises to customize and control how their AI communicates. “We built OMLAQ, our Arabic dialect engine, as a dedicated layer to handle this complexity. It understands Najdi, Bahraini, Kuwaiti, Emirati, and more, in the way people actually speak," Mohsen explained. "Then, through CTRL, we gave enterprises the steering wheel, letting them fine-tune until the AI feels truly on brand. The breakthrough was creating something that sounds human, feels local, and scales across industries and geographies.” 

This deep cultural grounding, he added, is precisely what many founders in the GCC overlook when developing AI solutions, Mohsen explained. “The mistake is trying to copy and paste solutions from elsewhere," he said. "The GCC has its own languages, consumer behavior, and regulatory frameworks. Ignoring that context is a shortcut to failure. The mindset that has guided us is to build Arabic-first, GCC-first. When you anchor your product in the culture and solve real operational pain points, enterprises do not just adopt your solution, they champion it. That is the foundation for creating technology that starts here but scales everywhere.” 

Looking to the future, Mohsen believes the next evolution in customer experience will hinge on AI that anticipates user needs rather than reacts to them. “The next frontier is proactive intelligence, AI that anticipates needs before the customer even asks,” he said. “In the GCC, that means predicting seasonal surges like Ramadan, cultural moments that shape consumer behavior, and intent signals unique to the region. Whoever builds proactive, culturally aware AI at scale will set the new global standard for customer experience. We see the GCC not just as a market to serve, but as the place where the future of customer experience is being written for the world.” 

Pictured in the lead image are DOO co-founders Ali Mohsen (L) and Mohamed AlKhabbaz (R). Image courtesy DOO.