Saudi Arabia-based AI startup Lucidya has raised US$30 million in its series B funding round, the largest for an AI company in the country.

Investors include Wa’ed Ventures (Saudi Aramco’s VC arm), lead investor Impact46, Takamol Ventures, SparkLabs, Rua Growth Fund, and ARG.

Founded in 2016, Lucidya provides customer experience software powered by proprietary Arabic-language AI models.

It operates in 11 countries, serving clients in telecom, finance, and public services.

The company plans to use the funds to enhance its AI offerings, including digital agents for automating customer-facing roles in line with local data rules.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

1️⃣ Saudi AI investments reflect broader economic diversification strategy

Lucidya’s record funding round reflects Saudi Arabia’s national commitment to artificial intelligence as a cornerstone of economic transformation.

The Kingdom expects AI to contribute $135.2 billion to its economy by 2030, representing 12.4% of its GDP, as part of a comprehensive effort to reduce oil dependency1.

This funding comes amid Saudi Arabia’s aggressive infrastructure build-out, with the country projected to develop 2,200 megawatts of future data center capacity, significantly surpassing the UAE’s 500 megawatts2.

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) is spearheading efforts to position the Kingdom among global AI leaders, with government AI spending projected to reach $1.9 billion by 20273.

Events like LEAP have already facilitated over $42.4 billion in technology-related investments since 2022, with $14.9 billion specifically directed toward AI initiatives in 2025 alone4.

2️⃣ Arabic language AI development addresses critical regional market gap

Lucidya’s focus on proprietary Arabic-language AI models highlights a strategic advantage in a region where language-specific technology remains underdeveloped.

Arabic is spoken by over 400 million people worldwide, yet most AI models are trained primarily on English and other Western languages, creating significant opportunities for companies developing specialized Arabic NLP capabilities.