ZIWO Raises Strategic Growth Funding to Expand Arabic-First AI Platform Across the Gulf

Dubai-based cloud contact centre company ZIWO has secured a strategic growth investment from Ajeej Capital’s Amplify Growth Fund, as it seeks to expand its Arabic-first AI platform across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The companies did not disclose the size of the transaction. The funding will be used to scale ZIWO’s presence across more than 10 markets in the Middle East and North Africa and to accelerate development of its AI-enabled customer communication tools.

ZIWO provides a cloud-native Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) platform that allows enterprises to manage voice calls, messaging and digital customer interactions through a unified system. The company says it now serves more than 1,000 customers across retail, logistics, financial services and the public sector, and has delivered 6.6 times revenue growth since its Series A round. The figures are company-reported.

“Across the Middle East, organisations are accelerating digital transformation at an unprecedented pace,” said Renaud de Gonfreville, co-founder and chief executive of ZIWO. “From the beginning, we focused on building Arabic-first AI and cloud technologies designed specifically for the operational realities of the region. This investment allows us to accelerate innovation in voice AI and intelligence, while continuing to deliver a secure, scalable and locally compliant platform.”

Sharaf Sharaf, fund head for the Amplify Growth Fund at Ajeej Capital, said the firm viewed ZIWO as well positioned to capture rising demand for AI-enabled communications infrastructure.

“ZIWO has demonstrated strong traction, a highly scalable platform, and a deep understanding of regional regulatory and operational requirements,” he said. “We believe these strengths position the company to build a leading presence in AI-enabled, cloud-based customer communications across MENA.”

Enterprise AI Moves From Experiment to Infrastructure

The deal comes as Gulf economies intensify efforts to embed AI across government services and private enterprise. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have both made AI adoption central to their economic diversification strategies, but much of the practical implementation is occurring in enterprise back-office functions rather than consumer-facing innovation.

Contact centres represent one of the largest operational cost centres for banks, telecom operators, e-commerce companies and public agencies across the region. AI tools that automate call routing, transcribe conversations, analyse sentiment and monitor service quality offer immediate efficiency gains.

ZIWO’s platform integrates Arabic-dialect AI, multilingual generative AI, real-time voice intelligence, automated quality assurance and predictive analytics. The company says its systems are designed to operate within local telecom infrastructure and comply with regional data protection requirements.

Global CCaaS providers such as Genesys, NICE and Five9 offer Arabic-language support, but many were originally built for English-speaking markets. Dialect variation, regulatory requirements and telecom routing complexities in the Gulf create operational constraints that can favour regionally specialised platforms.

Regulation and Data Residency Shape Competition

Data protection regimes across the GCC have tightened in recent years. Saudi Arabia’s Personal Data Protection Law and evolving frameworks in the UAE require companies to pay closer attention to data residency and cross-border transfers.

For contact centre providers, where customer calls are recorded and stored, compliance is not optional. Systems must integrate with local carriers and meet country-specific regulatory standards.

In this context, regional infrastructure providers may benefit from closer alignment with local requirements. However, the competitive landscape remains fluid. Global hyperscalers continue to expand regional cloud presence and invest heavily in multilingual AI capabilities, potentially narrowing any technological gap.

A More Disciplined Funding Climate

The investment also reflects a more measured funding environment across emerging markets. Growth credit — rather than traditional venture equity — typically signals a company with recurring revenues seeking expansion capital without significant dilution.

After the global venture capital slowdown that began in 2022, investors have placed greater emphasis on revenue quality and operational efficiency. Enterprise SaaS businesses with demonstrable traction have been better positioned to secure structured growth financing.

Whether ZIWO can maintain its reported growth trajectory as competition intensifies remains to be seen. The company is expanding at a time when AI adoption is accelerating, but enterprise buyers are also becoming more cost-conscious and compliance-focused.

AI’s Quiet Transformation of Service Work

Beyond capital flows, the expansion of AI-enabled contact centre systems carries workforce implications. Automation of call scoring, transcription and performance analytics alters supervisory roles and raises expectations around productivity and response times.

While companies emphasise efficiency and customer experience, the shift also increases data-driven oversight within service-sector employment — a dynamic that is unfolding globally as AI tools move from pilot projects into operational systems.

For now, ZIWO’s funding round underscores a broader trend: in the Gulf, AI deployment is increasingly embedded in enterprise infrastructure rather than confined to experimental initiatives.

The headlines may focus on sovereign AI strategies and data centre investments. But much of the region’s digital transformation is being built through systems that handle everyday customer interactions — one call at a time.