US Pakistani AI Startup AIWalay Takes First Place at Riyadh AI Marketing Hackathon Ahead of LEAP 2026

Pakistani-founded AI company AIWalay has won first place at the AI Marketing Hackathon Riyadh 2026, securing $8,000 in Google Gemini credits and one year of Grona as prizes. Represented by founder Syed Husnain Haider Bukhari and his team, the US–Pakistani startup beat an international field in an intensive build sprint that challenged participants to use agentic and generative AI to deliver an end-to-end marketing solution within a tightly constrained timeframe.

"The message from AI Walay is straightforward: Pakistan has the talent. AI provides the opportunity. And Riyadh is becoming one of the places where the world's next technology companies can be built," said the company following its victory.

Context and how the win unfolded

The hackathon took place in Riyadh just ahead of LEAP 2026, drawing startups, founders and investors who have converged on the Saudi capital for the week’s broader technology programming. AIWalay was tasked with moving rapidly from concept to execution, applying agentic AI techniques and generative models to solve a real-world marketing challenge under strict time limits.

AIWalay, which lists a focus on AI-powered business automation, AI agents, voice AI, WhatsApp automation, SaaS solutions and intelligent systems, demonstrated its practical execution capabilities rather than presenting a theoretical concept. The team’s approach emphasised integrating automation and agent-based flows to deliver marketing outcomes that could be deployed immediately for business customers.

• Winning team: AIWalay (founded by Syed Husnain Haider Bukhari)
• Prize package: $8,000 in Google Gemini credits and one year of Grona
• Event: AI Marketing Hackathon Riyadh 2026, held ahead of LEAP 2026

AIWalay’s founder Syed Husnain Haider Bukhari, who operates with a global outlook, positioned the company’s Riyadh presence as more than attendance at a major tech event. The team deliberately entered the competitive build sprint to validate its ability to apply generative and agentic AI in time‑boxed, productised ways. AIWalay’s stated mission is to "turn AI from a buzzword into systems that actually do the work," and the hackathon win served as an early demonstration of that aim.

The victory adds to the narrative of South Asian startups pushing onto international stages. For a US‑Pakistani company to secure top honours in Riyadh, the result underscores both the technical depth coming from Pakistan’s founders and the appetite among Gulf tech ecosystems to engage with diverse global talent.

Outlook

With the hackathon prize credits and services, AIWalay gains both technical runway and credibility as it heads into LEAP 2026 and subsequent regional engagements. The team’s immediate priorities are likely to include leveraging the Google Gemini credits to scale model experimentation and using the Grona subscription to accelerate deployment workflows.

Beyond short‑term technical benefits, the win gives AIWalay momentum for business development and investor conversations during LEAP 2026. If the company converts the hackathon prototype into a commercial offering, it could further validate its positioning around AI automation, voice interfaces and WhatsApp automation for enterprises seeking rapid operational scaling.