KSA-Based Qewam Fund Invests In Riyadh-Headquartered Operater

Operater (formerly known as QPioneers), a Riyadh-based tech company that provides artificial intelligence (AI)-powered operating systems (OS) for startups, has closed a funding round led by Qewam Fund, the investment arm of Qewam Holding, a Riyadh-based investment and business development firm. 

Founded by Hicham Almamlouk and Adel Alsaadi in Riyadh in 2025, Operater allows startups to unify collaboration tools, operations, and smart analytics under one roof, while its intelligent assistant QP Agent automates workflows and provides strategic recommendations based on company data, acting as an effective team member. 

In an interview with Inc. Arabia, Almamlouk, who also serves as the company's CEO, shared that Operater emerged after he and his co-founders identified a critical pattern affecting startups across the MENA and Europe.  "We saw the same pattern everywhere," he said. "Startups were investing heavily in AI and software, yet execution was still slow, fragmented, expensive, and lacked engagement from their teams." 

As Almamlouk and his team worked to address this issue, they realized the solution required a fundamental reimagining of how startups operate and grow. "Our core mission is to redefine how startups scale," he said. "We believe scaling should not mean hiring more people or increasing operational costs. The future belongs to what we call micro-startups. Teams of 10 to 50 people, powered by AI, capable of building companies worth tens or even hundreds of billions." 

What’s more, in building their own company, Almamlouk and his team found that, while businesses are making significant investments in AI technology, a structural problem persists in the value that these tools actually deliver. "Today, businesses spend over US$6.5 million annually on AI, yet nearly 95 percent of AI-led productivity and automation efforts fail," he noted. "The reason is simple. AI lacks real-time context and real access." 

Closing this gap between AI's potential and its actual performance became Operater's founding mission. "Operater is building an agentic startup operating system," Almamlouk explained. "A single source of truth where teams work, tools live, and AI agents operate with full real-time context and real access. This infrastructure allows AI to stop being a passive assistant and start acting as a true operator inside the company." 

The company's approach centers on what Almamlouk calls the QP Agent, which functions differently from traditional AI tools, promising to double operational efficiency for companies by working side-by-side with team members to execute tasks. "Doubling operational efficiency with Operater means eliminating manual execution entirely." Almamlouk said. "The QP Agent does not just suggest actions. It executes them. Because the entire team works inside one workspace, the agent has live visibility into meetings, chats, documents, and tools. It knows what is happening, when it is happening, and who is involved."

"For example, a marketing agent can design creatives in Canva, write captions, and publish them directly to LinkedIn," Almamlouk continued. "A sales agent can source leads via LinkedIn or Apollo, find emails, send personalized outreach, and follow up automatically. This is not automation. This is delegation. The agent behaves like a junior team member with perfect memory and zero downtime.” 

As an investor, Qewam Fund is set to play a strategic role in Operater's growth. "Qewam Fund was the right partner because they think like builders, not financiers," Almamlouk said. "At this stage, capital alone is not the bottleneck. Execution, governance, and access to real operational environments are what matter.” Qewam Fund also adds significant value beyond investment, he added. "Joining Qewam Holding's ecosystem gives us direct exposure to companies that operate at scale, real enterprise workflows, and decision makers who understand operational efficiency deeply," he said. "That is critical for a platform like Operater, which sits at the core of how companies run. The partnership accelerates learning, product validation, and market entry, especially within Saudi Arabia."

Now, with the new capital secured from Qewam Fund, Operater is accelerating its growth plans across multiple fronts. "This funding enables us to double down on infrastructure," Almamlouk said. "We are investing heavily in agent execution capabilities, real-time context systems, and deeper tool access across the startup stack. We are also expanding our presence beyond Saudi Arabia and working closely with innovation hubs, venture builders, and startup programs globally. The next phase is about turning Operater into the default operating system for startups. A world where scaling revenue does not require scaling headcount or cost.” 

In terms of advice for his fellow entrepreneurs in the region and beyond, Almamlouk had this to say to founders still juggling fragmented workflows. "Founders need to stop thinking in terms of tools, and start thinking in terms of infrastructure," he said. "Adding more AI tools does not scale a company. Giving AI full context and execution power does. "And while the technology may help, it alone doesn't guarantee adoption, with Almamlouk emphasizing that a fundamental change in thinking is required. "The mindset shift is trusting AI with ownership, not just advice," he said. "When everything happens in one workspace, AI can actually run workflows end-to-end. The result is faster execution, fewer hires, lower burn, and more focus on strategy, product, and customers. This is how small teams build massive companies." 

Pictured in the lead image is Hicham Almamlouk, co-founder and CEO of Operater, and Lewa Abukhait, CEO of Qewam fund. Image courtesy Operater.