Saudi AI Startup Think Raises US$8M Pre-Seed in MENA's Largest AI Infrastructure Pre-Seed Round

Think AI co-founders: Ammar Enaya and Ahmed AlSharif

Saudi Arabia's artificial intelligence ambitions continue to gain momentum as Think, an AI infrastructure startup building integrated hardware and software for enterprise AI deployment, announced it has secured more than US$8 million in pre-seed funding.

The investment marks what the company describes as the largest AI infrastructure and deeptech pre-seed funding round in the MENA region as of 2026, reflecting growing investor appetite for sovereign AI infrastructure rather than solely AI applications or foundation models.

The round was co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa'ed Ventures, with participation from Dhahran Techno Valley Ventures (DTV) and strategic angel investors.

The capital will fund:

• Expansion of engineering and commercial teams
• Manufacturing scale-up
• Product development
• Commercial deployments across Saudi Arabia
• Expansion into GCC and selected international markets

The announcement comes as Saudi Arabia accelerates investments under Vision 2030, while national AI initiatives—including HUMAIN, NEOM, and government-backed digital transformation programs—continue expanding demand for domestic AI infrastructure.

Why Is AI Infrastructure Becoming the Next Battleground?

While much of the AI industry has focused on increasingly larger language models, infrastructure has emerged as one of the industry's biggest bottlenecks.

Training and deploying AI systems remains expensive because of:

• Limited GPU availability
• Rising compute costs
• Data sovereignty requirements
• Energy consumption
• Low hardware utilization

Think is targeting these challenges by integrating proprietary AI hardware with bare-metal orchestration software designed to maximize GPU efficiency.

Instead of requiring proprietary inference chips, the platform works using commercially available GPUs while supporting future mixed-vendor accelerator deployments.

According to the company, this enables organizations to deploy AI workloads more securely, efficiently, and cost-effectively across enterprise environments.

How Does Think's AI Infrastructure Improve Efficiency?

Think combines liquid-cooled, multi-GPU compute nodes with its proprietary orchestration platform called ILM, designed to optimize infrastructure utilization rather than simply adding more hardware.

During production benchmark testing, the company reported significant efficiency improvements.

Metric	Think Platform	Industry Average
GPU Utilization	Over 90%	30–50%
Token Cost	Nearly 10× lower	Baseline
Hardware	Existing commercial GPUs	Existing deployments

Higher GPU utilization allows enterprises to process more AI workloads without purchasing additional compute resources, lowering both operating costs and energy consumption.

The platform is designed for deployment across:

• Enterprise data centres
• Government infrastructure
• Research laboratories
• Edge computing environments
• Private cloud deployments

Who Founded Think AI?

Think was founded by:

• Ahmed AlSharif, whose leadership experience includes Meta, Sony PlayStation Europe, and EA Games
• Ammar Enaya, a technology executive with previous leadership roles at Cisco, HPE Aruba, and Vectra AI

CEO Ahmed AlSharif said the AI industry is entering a new phase where efficiency will become more valuable than simply building larger models.

"AI infrastructure today is expensive, inefficient, and increasingly difficult to scale. Think exists to help organizations do more with the compute they already have."

Why Does Sovereign AI Matter for Saudi Arabia?

As governments increasingly prioritize data sovereignty, many organizations are seeking alternatives to hyperscale public cloud providers.

Think positions itself as infrastructure for sovereign AI, allowing enterprises and public-sector organizations to retain greater control over:

• AI models
• Sensitive datasets
• Infrastructure
• Security
• Deployment costs

The company is already conducting multiple proof-of-concept projects, production deployments, and strategic partnerships across Saudi Arabia, including collaborations within the Kingdom's expanding AI ecosystem alongside HUMAIN.

The strategy aligns with Saudi Arabia's broader ambitions to become a regional AI hub, complementing initiatives led by organizations such as SDAIA, NEOM, King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), and the Kingdom's growing network of AI-focused data centres.

Why Are Investors Backing AI Infrastructure Instead of AI Applications?

Investors increasingly view infrastructure as one of AI's largest long-term opportunities.

Rather than competing directly with frontier model developers such as OpenAI, Google DeepMind, or Anthropic, infrastructure providers enable enterprises to deploy AI more economically regardless of which models they use.

Wael Nafee, General Partner at RAED Ventures, believes future AI leaders will be defined by infrastructure as much as model development.

Similarly, Wa'ed Ventures CEO Eng. Anas Algahtani highlighted Saudi Arabia's opportunity to build the infrastructure powering the next generation of AI rather than remaining solely an adopter.

Dhahran Techno Valley Ventures also emphasized that sovereign AI infrastructure is becoming foundational for national AI competitiveness.

What Does This Funding Mean for Saudi Arabia's AI Ecosystem?

The funding reflects a broader shift in AI investment across the Gulf.

While much venture funding over the past two years has targeted AI software and foundation models, infrastructure has become increasingly strategic as enterprises seek lower deployment costs and greater control over sensitive workloads.

Think plans to:

• Expand across GCC markets over the next 18 months
• Accelerate commercial deployments in Saudi Arabia
• Continue development of ILM as a standalone software platform
• Strengthen international partnerships
• Support enterprise and government AI deployments

If successful, the company could become a foundational layer supporting Saudi Arabia's ambition to establish itself as a global AI infrastructure hub under Vision 2030.

 

 

FAQs

1. What does Think do?
Think is a Saudi Arabia-based AI infrastructure company that develops integrated hardware and software platforms to help enterprises deploy artificial intelligence more efficiently while reducing compute costs.

2. How much funding did Think AI raise?
Think AI raised more than US$8 million in a pre-seed funding round in 2026, described by the company as the largest AI infrastructure and deeptech pre-seed investment in the MENA region.

3. Who invested in Think?
The funding round was co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa'ed Ventures, with participation from Dhahran Techno Valley Ventures (DTV) and strategic angel investors.

4. What makes Think's AI platform different?
Think combines liquid-cooled GPU hardware with proprietary orchestration software that reportedly achieves over 90% GPU utilization, compared with industry averages of 30–50%, helping reduce AI deployment costs.

5. Why is sovereign AI infrastructure important?
Sovereign AI infrastructure enables governments and enterprises to maintain control over AI models, sensitive data, security, and compute resources while reducing dependence on foreign hyperscale cloud providers.