Saudi AI Startup Think Raises Over $8 Million in MENA's Largest AI Infrastructure Pre-Seed Round

Riyadh-based AI infrastructure startup Think has raised more than $8 million in a pre-seed round, marking what the company says is the largest AI infrastructure and deep-tech pre-seed investment ever completed in the Middle East and North Africa. The round was co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, Aramco’s venture capital arm, with additional participation from Dhahran Techno Valley’s venture arm and several strategic angel investors. Think said the capital will be used to expand its engineering team, scale manufacturing, accelerate product development, and support commercial expansion across Saudi Arabia, the GCC and select international markets.

"The future of AI will depend not only on larger models but also on more efficient, sovereign, and economically sustainable infrastructure that enables enterprises and governments to maintain full control over their data and AI operations without relying entirely on hyperscale cloud providers," co-founders Ahmed AlSharif and Ammar Enaya said.

Product and performance claims

Think develops an integrated AI infrastructure platform that pairs proprietary hardware with an orchestration software layer designed to simplify deployment and lower operational costs. The platform combines high-density liquid-cooled multi-GPU compute nodes with a proprietary bare-metal orchestration layer that the company says maximizes compute efficiency, lowers power consumption and optimizes GPU utilization.

• Think reported production benchmark tests showing GPU utilization exceeding 90%, compared with an industry average it cites of 30% to 50%.
• The company also claimed nearly a tenfold reduction in token processing costs versus average costs associated with leading frontier AI models, while relying on commercially available GPUs rather than specialized proprietary chips.
• Future updates are planned to support heterogeneous environments that mix GPUs and specialized AI chips from multiple vendors.

Commercial traction and deployment

Think said it is already engaged in multiple pilot projects, production deployments and strategic partnerships across Saudi Arabia. The startup plans to deploy the newly raised capital to grow its engineering and manufacturing capacity and to expand its commercial footprint across the Gulf Cooperation Council over the next 18 months.

The participation of major Saudi investors — including RAED Ventures, Wa’ed Ventures and Dhahran Techno Valley’s VC arm — signals growing local institutional support for domestic AI infrastructure and deep-tech companies. Think’s emphasis on liquid cooling, bare-metal orchestration and high-density multi-GPU nodes targets enterprise and government customers seeking sovereign control over data and cost-effective alternatives to hyperscaler clouds.

Outlook

With more than $8 million in pre-seed funding, Think aims to accelerate product development and broaden deployments in the GCC and selected international markets. The company’s co-founders framed the investment as enabling a shift toward "sovereign and economically sustainable infrastructure"—an argument that positions Think as a potential supplier to organizations prioritizing data control, cost efficiency and on-premises performance.