1001 Raises $30 Mn in Series A Round led by Lux Capital

Other investors included Sanabil Investments, 9Yards, Hanabi, and existing investors General Catalyst, CIV, and Chris Ré, who increased their investments. Several regional and global angel investors also participated in the round.

The company believes the Middle East is becoming a place where AI is developed and tested, not just used. It also believes that in the future, countries will need to build and manage their own AI systems for important sectors instead of relying only on technology from other countries.

“The GCC runs some of the world's most important infrastructure, managing a significant share of global oil flows, container traffic and international aviation,” said Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh, founder and CEO of 1001. "Business leaders here don't just want pilots. They want sovereign systems that deliver measurable results and make thousands of real-time decisions they can trust. This is the work we've set out to do, and this round lets us go deeper and bring the best local and global talent to it.”

"Bilal and the 1001 team are exactly the kind of founders we take pride in backing: mission-driven, technically world-class, and building in one of the most consequential environments anywhere. They are proving that frontier AI for critical infrastructure can be built, owned and governed locally, rather than imported from abroad. We are especially proud to lead this round and to partner with 1001 as it helps the GCC build not just AI, but the capability to run its most important systems," said Deena Shakir, Partner at Lux Capital.

“GCC economies are investing at unprecedented scale in data, compute and infrastructure, and the focus now is on building local capability to operate these assets with trusted AI," said a spokesperson from Sanabil Investments. "We believe 1001 is well positioned to become a key sovereign AI partner for institutions across all critical infrastructure."

Founded in 2025 by Abu-Ghazaleh, 1001 works with the systems that companies already use and creates a real-time digital view of their operations. It brings together information about assets, processes, dependencies, and other important data in one place.

The platform helps operators make better decisions by identifying potential problems before they happen. It can recommend the best action or automatically respond, helping businesses solve issues faster and more efficiently.

The AI systems are built, managed, and controlled within the customer's own country. This gives organizations full control over their critical infrastructure and reduces their dependence on outside technology providers.

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