Saudi Arabian AI infrastructure company Think has successfully closed an $8 million pre-seed funding round, the largest of its kind for a deeptech firm in the MENA region. The investment, co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa'ed Ventures, will fuel the deployment of Think's platform designed to make artificial intelligence more efficient and affordable. This significant capital injection positions the company to address critical challenges in AI adoption.
Addressing AI Infrastructure Challenges
The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence has exposed significant hurdles, including expensive, inefficient, and complex infrastructure that is difficult to scale. Think was founded to confront these issues by offering a more sustainable alternative to the industry's focus on ever-larger data centers. CEO Ahmed AlSharif emphasizes that the future of AI lies in a new age of efficiency, helping organizations maximize their existing compute resources.
An Integrated Hardware and Software Solution
Think's innovative approach combines proprietary high-density, liquid-cooled hardware with its ILM software orchestration layer to maximize resource usage. This integrated system is engineered to dramatically improve GPU utilization, a key metric for AI performance and cost. In production benchmarks, the platform has demonstrated sustained GPU utilization rates exceeding 90 percent, a substantial leap over industry averages.
This enhanced efficiency directly translates into significant cost reductions for deploying AI models. The company reports that its per-million-token cost is nearly ten times lower than the average for leading models from major tech giants. Notably, these results are achieved using widely available GPUs, removing the need for proprietary or specialized inference hardware and increasing accessibility.
Strategic Investment for Regional Growth
The funding round brings together prominent regional investors, including co-leads RAED Ventures and Wa'ed Ventures, alongside Dhahran Techno Valley's venture capital arm. These backers share Think's vision that the next wave of AI will be defined by practical, affordable, and sovereign infrastructure. Their investment signals strong confidence in the company's potential to become a category leader with global reach, originating from Saudi Arabia.
According to co-founder Ammar Enaya, there is strong market demand from enterprises and government bodies seeking greater control over their AI capabilities. These organizations want to avoid the spiraling costs and security concerns often associated with large-scale cloud providers. The investment validates Think's approach to delivering high-performance infrastructure that ensures total ownership and data sovereignty for its clients.
Future Ambitions and Market Expansion
The newly secured capital will be instrumental in accelerating Think's growth trajectory across several key areas. The company plans to expand its team, scale up its manufacturing capabilities, and advance its product development pipeline. These efforts are aimed at rapidly increasing deployments across Saudi Arabia and preparing for strategic international expansion.
Over the next 18 months, Think intends to establish a strong presence across the GCC while continuing to refine its technology. A primary focus will be the development of its ILM orchestration software as a standalone platform. This strategic expansion aligns with Saudi Arabia's national ambition to establish itself as a global hub for next-generation AI infrastructure.
This landmark $8 million pre-seed funding round marks a pivotal moment for Think and the broader MENA technology landscape. By tackling the core challenges of cost and efficiency, the company is poised to democratize access to powerful AI capabilities. As Think expands its operations, its focus on sovereign and sustainable infrastructure will be crucial in shaping the future of artificial intelligence globally.