VenueX Secures $1.2M to Propel AI-Powered Retail in MENA Markets

Malaz Madani

Last updated 13-06-2025

3 min

VenueX secures $1.

2 million to expand in the MENA market, focusing on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The funding round was led by Orbit Startups and included Turkish investors Re-Pie, Akkök, and Akyasam.

VenueX's platform uses AI agents to optimise retail marketing, improving efficiency and customer targeting.

Plans include opening offices in Dubai and Riyadh, focusing on growth and data science talent.

The startup aims to enhance AI tools for inventory optimisation, creative generation, and customer segmentation.

It looks like the AI retail revolution shows no sign of slowing down—Turkiye-based VenueX recently announced they've secured a tidy little investment of $1.2 million to fuel their push into the booming MENA market, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Led by Singapore's Orbit Startups, this bridge funding round also got participation from Turkish investors Re-Pie, Akkök, and Akyasam. It's certainly a solid step forward for VenueX, a startup focused on automating retail marketing by connecting digital ad spend with real-life sales outcomes. Since launching their unified advertising platform in April this year, they've already locked in 25 paying clients—so they must be doing something right.

Their tech basically lets retailers tap into AI-based agents to measure budgets, track inventory and analyse customer behaviours in real-time. All this magic helps brands run smarter, more efficient campaigns without much manual interference. To be honest, I'm not a massive fan of digital adverts popping up all over my screen, but if it saves retailers from blindly chucking money at campaigns and actually gets the right customers in-store, fair play I reckon.

With fresh funds in pocket, VenueX is now gearing up to open regional offices in Dubai and Riyadh, boosting their presence and team-building efforts significantly. They're going all-in on hiring more talent in growth, biz development, and data science—makes sense when they're aiming for an all-singing, all-dancing autonomous marketing solution down the line. And believe it or not, their next set of development goals includes enhancing their AI tools for inventory optimisation, creative generation, and sharper customer segmentation.

The timing certainly couldn't be better. There's noticeably growing interest across MENA—again, particularly in fast-digitising markets like Saudi Arabia and the UAE—for tools that clearly link online customer acquisition efforts with offline sales performance. I remember chatting with startup founders at one of Areageek's recent meetups, and a recurring complaint was the struggle retailers have to measure the real effectiveness of digital marketing spends. Looks like VenueX has spotted this very gap and is betting big they'll fill it.

Mind you, a quick heads-up, investing in expansion at pace can be a bit of a faff if the execution doesn't follow quickly, but VenueX’s current momentum certainly seems spot on. With the kind of energy and clarity they seem to have, I reckon they’ll soon be chuffed to bits to see their ambitions translate into results across the region.

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