Raff Secures $1.7M Pre-Seed to Expand Physical Retail Platform Across GCC

Ali Al Qudah and Abdul Kareem Munla, Raff co-founders

Saudi Arabia-based retail technology platform Raff has raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding, led by Vision Ventures with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, Oqal Group, and Salla co-founder Salman Butt. Founded in 2024, Raff will use the funding to expand across the GCC and accelerate product development and AI capabilities.

What did Raff raise in its latest funding round?

Saudi Arabia-based technology platform Raff has raised $1.7 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Vision Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, Oqal Group, and Salman Butt, co-founder of Saudi e-commerce platform Salla, among others.

The 2026 funding round will support Raff's expansion across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) while accelerating product development and artificial intelligence capabilities.

Raff is targeting a persistent challenge in regional commerce: helping consumer brands move from online sales into physical retail without having to manage fragmented distribution, logistics, inventory, and retailer relationships independently.

Why is offline retail still difficult for GCC consumer brands?

Digital platforms and marketplaces have lowered the barriers for consumer brands to launch and scale online across the GCC. However, expanding into physical retail remains considerably more fragmented.

Brands entering offline retail typically need to establish separate relationships with individual retailers while coordinating onboarding, logistics, inventory, payments, and commercial operations.

The size of the opportunity is significant. The GCC retail market is valued at more than $300 billion annually, creating a substantial addressable market for technology that can streamline how brands and retailers work together.

For emerging consumer brands, the challenge is therefore no longer simply reaching customers online. Scaling physical distribution efficiently can become a major operational bottleneck.

How does Raff simplify physical retail distribution?

Raff provides an end-to-end retail technology platform designed to connect consumer brands directly with retailers while digitising the operational processes required to manage physical distribution.

Its platform covers:

Raff capability	How it supports brands and retailers
Distribution	Connects consumer brands with physical retail channels
Commercial operations	Digitises and simplifies retailer-brand relationships
Inventory management	Helps brands and retailers manage stock more efficiently
Order fulfilment	Streamlines the processing and fulfilment of retail orders
Payments	Digitises payment-related workflows
Retailer workflows	Automates key processes for retailers managing multiple vendors
Software integrations	Integrates with leading point-of-sale and accounting software in the region
AI capabilities	Funding will support further development of AI-powered capabilities

For retailers, Raff aims to reduce the administrative burden associated with managing a growing vendor network. Its integrations with point-of-sale (POS) and accounting software are designed to connect retail operations more seamlessly.

For consumer brands, the platform provides a single infrastructure layer for expanding into physical retail rather than requiring them to build separate operational processes for every retailer.

Who founded Raff?

Raff was founded in 2024 by Ali Al Qudah and Abdul Kareem Munla, combining experience across e-commerce, technology, finance, and business operations.

Ali Al Qudah, Raff's co-founder and CEO, previously built and scaled two e-commerce brands before joining Saudi e-commerce company Salla as an early employee. He later served as Head of Growth at legal-tech startup Qanoniah.

Abdul Kareem Munla brings more than 20 years of experience in financial management and business operations, with experience spanning financial transformation, governance, compliance, and operational efficiency across multiple sectors.

The founders' backgrounds reflect Raff's focus on bridging technology with the operational realities of physical commerce.

What will Raff use the $1.7M funding for?

Raff plans to deploy the $1.7 million investment across three primary areas:

• GCC expansion: Scaling the platform across additional Gulf markets.
• Product development: Further improving the infrastructure supporting brands and retailers.
• Artificial intelligence: Accelerating the development of AI capabilities within the platform.

The strategy comes as consumer brands increasingly look beyond digital channels for growth, while retailers face growing complexity in managing diverse vendor networks.

Ali Al Qudah, Co-Founder and CEO of Raff, said:

"We built Raff after experiencing firsthand how difficult it was for growing brands to move beyond online sales."

According to Al Qudah, the company aims to give brands a faster and more efficient route into offline retail by removing operational and commercial barriers.

He added that the new investment will allow Raff to expand across the GCC while building the infrastructure required to support the next generation of retail.

What did Vision Ventures say about Raff?

Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, said the firm sees Raff as addressing a high-friction problem at the intersection of retail technology and logistics.

Vision Ventures has previous experience backing the digitisation of commerce through its early investment in Salla, giving the investor a direct reference point for the shift from offline to online commerce.

Al-Essa said the firm now sees a comparable opportunity in the opposite direction, as brands that have established online businesses seek to expand into physical retail.

Vision Ventures led Raff's $1.7 million pre-seed round, positioning the startup for its next stage of regional expansion.

How quickly has Raff grown since launching?

Despite being founded in 2024, Raff has already enabled more than 900 brands across nine countries to expand their presence through physical retail channels.

Its footprint spans the GCC and the United Kingdom, indicating that the platform's proposition extends beyond a single domestic retail market.

The early traction gives Raff a foundation from which to pursue broader GCC expansion following its latest pre-seed investment.

The company's next phase will focus on scaling that infrastructure while using AI and additional product development to make physical retail distribution more efficient.

What does Raff's funding mean for GCC retail technology?

Raff's $1.7 million pre-seed round highlights a growing opportunity in the infrastructure layer connecting digital-first consumer brands with traditional physical retail.

While e-commerce has simplified customer acquisition and digital distribution, offline expansion introduces a different set of operational requirements. Raff is positioning itself as the technology layer connecting those processes across brands, retailers, inventory, fulfilment, and payments.

With more than 900 brands across nine countries already using its platform and a $300 billion-plus annual GCC retail market as its broader opportunity, the startup is now targeting its next phase of growth through GCC expansion and increased investment in AI.

 

 

 

FAQs

1. What is Raff?
Raff is a Saudi Arabia-based retail technology platform founded in 2024 that helps consumer brands expand into physical retail by digitising distribution, inventory management, commercial operations, order fulfilment, and payments.

2. How much funding did Raff raise?
Raff raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding, led by Vision Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, Oqal Group, and Salla co-founder Salman Butt.

3. What will Raff use its funding for?
Raff plans to use the funding for GCC expansion, product development, and accelerating its AI capabilities.

4. How many brands does Raff serve?
Since launching in 2024, Raff has enabled more than 900 brands across nine countries to expand through physical retail channels across the GCC and UK.

5. Who founded Raff?
Raff was founded in 2024 by Ali Al Qudah and Abdul Kareem Munla. Al Qudah is the company's Co-Founder and CEO, while Munla brings more than 20 years of experience in financial management and business operations.