1001 AI is a deep-tech startup with offices in London and Dubai, founded by Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh. The company has raised $9 million in a seed funding round.
The funding was led by CIV, General Catalyst, and Lux Capital, with support from investors including Chris Ré, Amjad Masad (Replit), Amira Sajwani (DAMAC), Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud (RAED Ventures), and Hisham Al-Falih (Lean Technologies).
1001 AI has offices in London and Dubai to connect global AI expertise with industrial growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
The new funding will help the company start projects in aviation, logistics, and infrastructure faster, and also support hiring more team members in both London and Dubai.
1001 AI is creating an AI-based operating system to help industries make faster, smarter, and more accurate decisions.
By automating complicated workflows, the company aims to reduce inefficiencies worth over $10 billion each year in Gulf industries like airports, ports, construction, and oil & gas.
The platform connects to a company’s current systems and uses real-time data to understand how work flows, spot potential problems, and automate decisions.
This helps businesses improve operations like fleet management and resource planning with less need for manual work.
Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital, commented: We’re extremely bullish on AI that solves physical-world problems at scale—optimising how airports turn around flights, how ports move cargo, and how construction sites operate. The MENA region offers immense potential for this kind of transformation.”
Neeraj Arora, Managing Director at General Catalyst, added: “1001 AI is building the decision engine that automates complexity in large-scale operations, combining world-class AI execution with deep regional understanding.”
The new funding will help 1001 AI grow its engineering, operations, and go-to-market teams in Dubai and London. This will support the development of the Gulf’s first AI-based orchestration platform for key industries.
The company plans to launch its first customer project by the end of 2025 in the construction sector, and then expand its services across the region and globally.
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