Egypt-Based Zaher AI Raises US$150,000 To Advance Generative Engine Optimization In The MENA

Egypt-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Zaher AI has bagged US$150,000 in a funding round that saw the participation of angel investor Dr. Ahmed Samy, founder of the Cairo-based strategic marketing firm Eye Advertising.  

Zaher AI, which is led by founder and CEO Anwar Aly, focuses on generative engine optimization (GEO), a field that aims to improve the visibility of content across AI-driven platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. With this premise, the company is tackling a key issue in the MENA market: the near-invisibility of Arabic websites and brands in AI-generated responses, given how English-language content continues to dominate.   

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Aly said that he sees Zaher AI’s mission as part of a broader evolution in global search behavior. “With global search engine optimization (SEO) already surpassing $100 billion, Zaher AI sees a massive shift—not a replacement, but an evolution,” he said. “User behavior is moving from traditional search engines to AI-powered tools like ChatGPT and Gemini, with research showing that 74 percent of people under 30 years old are searching in large language models (LLMs) instead of regular search engines. The rise of zero-click searches, especially after the rollout of Google’s AI Overviews, has caused a dramatic drop in organic click-through rates—with some reports indicating drops between 20 percent and 80 percent. That means people are finding answers inside the AI interface—not visiting websites.”  

This, therefore, is the gap Zaher AI aims to bridge. “Zaher AI addresses this shift head-on,” Aly explained. “We’re not just optimizing for GEO instead of SEO—we're bridging them, [and] optimizing overall brand visibility in the AI era.”  

According to Aly, Zaher AI distinguishes itself from other players in this domain with its Arabic-first approach. “We’re the first and only platform that’s built Arabic-first—designed to ensure Arabic content is visible, cited, and trusted across AI models,” he said. “We offer a four-layer value system that no one else in the space delivers. The first is clarity—we reverse-engineer how LLMs rank and cite content to simulate real user prompts and model responses. Next is causality—every recommendation is tied to business impact (visibility uplift, traffic, conversions, or revenue). The third is customization—Zaher AI adapts to each business’s vertical, language, and funnel stage, from prompt library to scoring logic. And finally comes our focus on culture—we localize deeply across Arabic dialects (Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine) and content norms, something no global platform does.”   

Zaher AI's Anwar Aly and Ahmed Samy.

From Aly’s perspective, the challenges Zaher AI is tackling are rooted in a stark imbalance between the region’s online behavior and the visibility of its content. “Arabic is spoken by over 400 million people; yet, it makes up less than one percent of online content, despite representing over 50 percent of search queries in the MENA,” he pointed out. “That’s a massive mismatch between demand and visibility. Most Arabic content isn’t cited by AI because LLMs were never properly trained on Arabic datasets, and creators often switch to English just to be seen. This leads to algorithmic invisibility—a systemic exclusion from AI-generated answers.”  

Aly is therefore clearly proud when he declares that Zaher AI is the first Arabic-first platform to simulate, audit, and optimize how content appears across AI platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others. “We also built dialect-aware libraries and [the educational platform] Zaher Academy to raise awareness and train experts,” Aly added. “With new Arabic LLMs like Allam emerging, the need for Arabic GEO infrastructure has never been more critical, and Zaher is leading that movement.” 

The investment in Zaher AI comes as the startup launches in the Arab region and joins Egypt-based venture studio Meska AI, which supports and invests in AI startups across the MENA region, to accelerate its expansion. With its initial funding secured and Meska AI’s backing, Zaher AI plans to move toward its next round once its products reach stability and market readiness. 

In terms of advice for other entrepreneurs building solutions centered on underrepresented languages like Arabic, Aly started by highlighting the massive business opportunity it presents, using Zaher AI as an example. “Arabic is spoken by over 400 million people; yet, most AI tools are still English-first,” he said. “That means you’re not just enriching your culture—you’re entering an underserved, underoptimized market with exponential potential. What we’ve learned building Zaher AI is simple: Arabic-first means architecture-first—rethink prompt structures, natural language processing (NLP) logic, and interfaces to natively support the language, not just translate it. Design for edge cases upfront—dialects, mixed-language inputs, and context ambiguity aren’t bugs; they’re core specs.” 

Aly also suggested that it’d be good for startups to build their own tech stacks. “LLMs won’t magically ‘get better’ at Arabic,” he said. “You need to build the infrastructure that makes them work, from prompt libraries to scoring logic, to optimization layers. Bottom line: don’t wait for Big Tech to serve your language. Own it. You’re not just solving a cultural gap—you’re stepping into a whitespace that no one else is addressing yet." But above all, Aly urged his fellow founders to focus on results. “Tie everything to outcomes,” he said. “In underrepresented markets, trust is earned through results. Show how your AI outputs move the needle on visibility, traffic, or revenue."

Pictured in the lead image is Zaher AI founder and CEO Anwar Aly. All images courtesy Zaher AI.