Value Makers Studio Invests in Saudi Startups Driving Tech and Mental Health Innovation

Value Makers Studio (VMS) has revealed fresh investments in two startups it believes are poised for regional impact: Ballurh, a Saudi-based restaurant tech company, and Arab Therapy, a digital mental health platform that began in Germany before expanding into the Kingdom. The announcement came alongside VMS Bridge 2025, a wider initiative to back young, ambitious ventures.

Ballurh is carving out its own lane in the crowded food-tech scene by offering restaurants a single operating system to manage everything from delivery-platform revenues to marketing campaigns. In plain English, it’s the back-office brain many eateries didn’t know they needed. The numbers are striking too: over 400 restaurants already using the service, with transactions worth more than SAR 1 billion crunched through its platform. Considering Saudi’s food and beverage market is estimated at $30 billion, with more than 100,000 restaurants jockeying for space, the scale of the opportunity is pretty obvious.

VMS founder and chief executive Motaz Abuonq noted that Ballurh addresses “one of the toughest challenges in the digital restaurant economy: how operators can achieve sustainable growth and profitability on delivery platforms.” He highlighted both its early traction and accolades—like reaching the Top 100 globally in the Entrepreneurship World Cup—as signs of potential. Ballurh’s own boss, Abdulwahab AlZaidi, underlined that the startup isn’t just about boosting sales but giving restaurants clarity on where the money is coming from, and more importantly, how much of it they actually keep. And having logged a fair bit of experience walking into family-owned restaurants that struggle just to keep tabs on Uber Eats commissions, I reckon he’s spot on—most small operators are desperate for tools that aren’t a bit of a faff to use.

Then there’s Arab Therapy. Starting life in Berlin but now firmly setting up in Saudi Arabia with VMS’s backing, the platform offers remote therapy sessions with licensed professionals, as well as corporate wellness programmes for companies keen on supporting staff mental health. If you’ve ever had a startup founder quietly admit that burnout is chewing them up—something I’ve heard more often than I’d like—you know just how timely this service feels.

“Supporting mental health is a vital part of building resilient, future-ready societies,” Abuonq remarked, stressing that scalability and social good can, in this case, go hand in hand. Arab Therapy co-founder Tareq Dalbah was candid too, saying the tie-up is about more than money. It’s a pathway to bring best-practice standards from European institutions into Saudi, lining up neatly with the Vision 2030 agenda, particularly its Quality of Life push. On the flip side, mental health as a professional service still fights stigma across the region, so Arab Therapy has a hill to climb. But if it lands well, it could unlock huge social value.

From where I’m sitting, the pairing of an AI-driven restaurant system and a mental health platform may sound like chalk and cheese, but VMS’s strategy is clearly about picking startups that plug straight into Saudi Arabia’s transformation plans. And while no one investment guarantees success, the message is crystal clear: innovation that’s both profitable and purposeful is exactly what’s getting funded. As we at Arageek often say, empowering ventures at this intersection is where the real energy lies—even if the road is definately not straightforward.

🚀 Got exciting news to share?

If you're a startup founder, VC, or PR agency with big updates—funding rounds, product launches 📢, or company milestones 🎉 — AraGeek English wants to hear from you!

✉️ Send Us Your Story 👇

https://en.arageek.com/send-us-your-story-or-a-news-tip