KSA-Based Rekaz Bags US$5 Million To Scale Across The GCC

Saudi Arabia-headquartered software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Rekaz has secured US$5 million in seed funding to scale its all-in-one operating system for service-based small and medium businesses (SMBs) across the GCC. 

The round was led by UAE-based COTU Ventures, with participation from KSA-based Impact46, UAE-based Shorooq, KSA-based Numrah Capital, and a group of angel investors. 

Founded by Abdulrahman Alomran and Abdulaziz Alkharashi in Saudi Arabia in 2017, Rekaz aims to simplify the way service businesses—think gyms, salons, clinics, and home service providers—operate and grow. The platform consolidates bookings, payments, subscriptions, and customer communication into a single system, helping businesses manage their operations more efficiently. 

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Alomran, co-founder and CEO, Rekaz, reflected on the unique dynamics of service businesses that shaped his enterprise’s product philosophy. “Service businesses are a completely different beast compared to e-commerce,” Alomran pointed out. “You’re not selling a product that gets shipped in a box; you're selling time, experience, and human interaction. That’s why things like bookings, cancellations, rescheduling, and subscriptions aren’t just features, they're the backbone of how these businesses operate.” 

That operational complexity is what led the Rekaz team to focus its offering on streamlining fragmented workflows. “What we saw early on was just how fragmented their tools were,” Alomran explained to us. “A gym, for example, might be using WhatsApp to talk to customers, Excel to track memberships, Google Calendar to handle bookings, and then a separate payment link to collect fees. It’s messy, inefficient, and it eats up the owner’s time.” 

Rekaz was thus designed as a centralized hub to eliminate that friction. “We built Rekaz to be their all-in-one control center,” Alomran said. “Everything from scheduling to payments to customer communication had to live in one place. And we designed it specifically with non-technical business owners in mind. We focused heavily on ease of use, especially on mobile, because a lot of these businesses are run from a phone, not a laptop.” 

More than 7,000 businesses have already used Rekaz to process over one million appointments and subscriptions. The company also helps merchants create branded booking websites and mobile apps, enhancing online engagement and customer retention. Now, with new backing, Rekaz is looking outward. The fresh capital is set to support its product development, artificial intelligence (AI) enhancement, and geographic expansion beyond Saudi Arabia. 

But Alomran acknowledges that growth across the GCC means navigating a web of regional nuances. “Every market in the GCC has its own personality—even though we’re close geographically, behavior and expectations vary a lot,” he pointed out. “In Saudi, for instance, WhatsApp is critical for business; it's how customers confirm appointments, follow up, and even pay in some cases. In the UAE, businesses are more likely to expect English support and integrations with global tools. In Kuwait, there's a strong preference for local payment wallets and a different sales rhythm entirely.” 

To meet such various needs, Rekaz has built modular infrastructure into its product from the ground up. “A merchant in Riyadh and one in Dubai can both use Rekaz, but their experiences will feel local, whether that’s in terms of currency, language, payment methods, or even support hours,” Alomran explained. “It’s not just about translating the platform; it's about adapting to how business actually gets done in each city.” 

Drawing on his experience as an entrepreneur, Alomran also offered a few key takeaways for those just getting started with their startups. “Solve a real pain, not something that just sounds cool in a pitch deck,” he advised. “For us, it was the chaos and inefficiency in how service businesses operated. We weren’t trying to make them digital just for the sake of it—we focused on building tools that actually saved time, reduced no-shows, and made them more money.” 

A major part of that approach, he added, was staying close to customers. “Talk to your users every single week,” Alomran urged. “And I mean it. Everyone gives that advice, but very few people actually stick to it. Every feature we’ve launched came directly from those conversations. A lot of our early users are now our strongest advocates, simply because they felt heard.” 

As for advice on attracting investor interest, Alomran suggested that entrepreneurs focus on the basics. “Don’t just show them a beautiful deck,” he said. “Show them traction. Show them users. We were lucky to attract attention from firms like COTU and Shorooq, because we had real usage, real revenue, and a deep understanding of our customers. Even if it’s a small base, build something real, and get paying users. That cuts through the noise faster than anything else.” 

Pictured in the lead image are, from left to right, Rekaz co-founders Abdulrahman Alomran and Abdulaziz Alkharashi. Image courtesy Rekaz.