Raff raises $1.7 million to bridge online brands with physical retail. News - 25 August, 2026 * Saudi Arabia-based retailtech startup Raff has raised $1.7 million in a pre-seed round led by Vision Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, Oqal Group, Salla co-founder Salman Butt and other investors. * Founded in 2024 by Ali Al Qudah and Abdul Kareem Munla, Raff operates a technology platform that connects consumer brands with retailers, digitising distribution, inventory management, order fulfilment, payments and other commercial operations. * The funding will be used to support Raff's expansion across the GCC, accelerate product development and strengthen its AI capabilities. Raff, a Saudi-based technology platform simplifying distribution and inventory management by connecting consumer brands directly with retailers, today announced the closing of its $1.7 million pre-seed funding round, led by Vision Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, Oqal Group, Salman Butt (Co-founder of Salla), among others. The funding will support Raff's regional expansion across the GCC while accelerating product development and AI capabilities as the company continues to simplify how consumer brands expand into physical retail. Digital platforms and marketplaces have made it easier for consumer brands across the GCC to launch and grow online. However, expanding into offline retail remains a fragmented, time-consuming, and expensive process, requiring separate onboarding, logistics, and commercial relationships with each retailer. The opportunity is massive, with the GCC retail market valued at more than $300 billion a year. Raff addresses this challenge through an end-to-end platform that digitises distribution, commercial operations, inventory management, order fulfilment, and payments, making it easier for brands to expand their presence across physical retail channels. For retailers, the platform automates key workflows and simplifies the management of a growing vendor network, while integrating with leading point-of-sale and accounting software in the region, allowing them to spend more time growing their businesses. The startup was founded in 2024 by Ali Al Qudah and Abdul Kareem Munla, bringing together experience across e-commerce, technology, finance, and business operations. Al Qudah previously built and scaled two e-commerce brands before joining Saudi e-commerce company Salla as an early employee and later serving as Head of Growth at legal-tech startup Qanoniah. Munla brings more than 20 years of experience in financial management and business operations, spanning financial transformation, governance, compliance, and operational efficiency across multiple sectors. 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. While the barriers to launching an e-commerce business have never been lower, reaching customers through physical retail still requires brands to navigate multiple operational and commercial hurdles. Our mission is to simplify that journey and give brands a faster and more efficient way to reach offline customers. This investment enables us to accelerate that vision, expand across the GCC, and continue building the infrastructure powering the next generation of retail." Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, added: "We are excited to partner with Ali and the Raff team as they represent the caliber of high-execution talent that we look for. We previously supported the shift from offline to online through our early investment in Salla. Today, we see an equally significant opportunity as brands look to expand from online into physical retail. Raff is solving a high-friction challenge at the intersection of retail technology and logistics, creating a new efficiency layer for commerce across the region. We are proud to lead this round and support the team's ambitious vision." Since launching less than 18 months ago, Raff has enabled more than 900 brands across nine countries, spanning the GCC and the UK, to grow their presence through physical retail channels.

UAE-based fintech XSquare has raised an undisclosed pre-seed round led by Raed Ventures, with participation from AngelSpark, 500 Global and Oraseya Capital. Founded in 2023 by Tanvir Shah and Ashwin Shenoy, XSquare operates a B2B payment orchestration platform that consolidates multiple payment rails, collections, payments and reconciliation into one system. The company partners with Mastercard to enable card-funded supplier and vendor payments that settle directly to bank accounts. XSquare is currently live in the UAE and Qatar, with the Qatar launch marking its first cross-border expansion. The startup will use the funding to expand its payment rail and banking partnerships, grow its engineering and commercial teams, and launch operations in Saudi Arabia. The platform integrates rails from Telr, Geidea, VaultsPay, Spare and Tess Payments.

XSquare raises pre-Seed round to expand into Saudi Arabia. News - 20 August, 2026 * UAE-based fintech XSquare has raised an undisclosed pre-Seed round led by Raed Ventures, with participation from AngelSpark, 500 Global and Oraseya Capital. * Founded in 2023 by Tanvir Shah and Ashwin Shenoy, XSquare is building a B2B payment orchestration platform that brings multiple payment rails, collections, payments and reconciliation into a single system for businesses. * XSquare is currently live in the UAE and Qatar, with its Qatar launch marking its first cross-border expansion. * The funding will be used to expand XSquare's payment rail and banking partnerships, grow its engineering and commercial teams, and launch operations in Saudi Arabia. * Earlier this year, XSquare raised a funding round from AngelSpark for an undisclosed value. XSquare, a business-to-business (B2B) payments company operating in partnership with Mastercard, today announced the successful close of its Pre-Seed funding round. The round was led by Raed Ventures, with participation from AngelSpark, 500 Global and Oraseya Capital, a Dubai government-backed venture fund. With the new capital, XSquare is scaling what it describes as the region's first and only payment orchestration layer built purely for B2B. The platform unifies multiple payment rails behind a single integration, allowing businesses to collect, pay and reconcile across providers without stitching together separate systems. XSquare is launching with rails from Telr, Geidea, VaultsPay, Spare and Tess Payments, with further partners to follow. Under its partnership with Mastercard, the company is also bringing Mastercard's B2B payments product to market, enabling card-funded supplier and vendor payments that settle directly to bank accounts. XSquare is deploying the program with marquee government and large corporate clients, unlocking commercial card economics on business spend that has traditionally sat outside the card ecosystem. Beyond its UAE base, XSquare is live in Qatar, where it holds a presence at the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and is partnering with leading banks and regulated payment partners in Doha. The Qatar launch marks the company's first cross-border expansion and lays the groundwork for a wider GCC footprint. "B2B payments in this region have been underserved for too long, forced onto tools built for consumer markets. We are building the payment infrastructure that regional businesses need: card and bank rails, orchestration and reconciliation, all in one place. Having Raed Ventures lead this round, alongside AngelSpark, 500 Global and Oraseya Capital, is a strong endorsement of that vision and of the traction we are seeing with Banks, Government entities and large Corporates." Tanvir Shah, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, XSquare "The B2B payments opportunity across the GCC is large and still largely untapped, and XSquare is one of the few teams with both the banking depth and technical execution to capture it. Their early traction with Banks, Government entities and enterprise clients, together with their progress on the Mastercard B2B programme, gave us the conviction to lead this round. We look forward to supporting the team as they scale across the region." Saed Nashef, Founding Partner, Raed Ventures XSquare plans to use the funding to expand its rail and bank partnerships, grow its engineering and commercial teams, and begin operations in Saudi Arabia.