Wulooj enables AI to boost Saudi Arabia’s tech sector

CAIRO: After positioning itself as a digitalization leader, Saudi Arabia’s Wulooj is aiming to fortify its presence in the Kingdom.

Founded in 2021, Wulooj provides technology solutions powered by artificial intelligence to boost the growing tech industry. It claims to be the first Saudi artificial intelligence omnichannel company to provide a number of software-based solutions to bridge the digital gap in the Kingdom.

The company provides a number of services in different verticals like AI-enabled call centers, social channels, point of sale, e-commerce building, driver delivery apps and customer relationship management.

In an interview with Arab News, Saud Albeshi, co-founder and CEO of Wulooj, said: “Our company is solving the gap that exists in the market where if a customer requires a digital journey they will search for multiple vendors and have different platforms to access for each module. We aim to provide a unified platform where customers can utilize all these features from just one place.”

In a short span of time, Wulooj has managed to expand its presence to the UAE and Bahrain but Saudi Arabia remains its primary market.

“The Middle East and North Africa is our target market with our main focus currently being Saudi Arabia,” Albeshi highlighted.

He further explained that Wulooj will expand its sales and marketing operations to boost its reach throughout the Kingdom and maximize growth.

“Currently Wulooj has its core team in Riyadh and Eastern Province. With growth in sales or investment, whichever comes first, we will plan to open branches in Jeddah and other major cities with a dedicated on-ground sales team helping us with expansion,” he added.

The company has over 100 clients with a total number of 2,000 users noting that each client can have multiple users utilizing Wulooj’s solutions.

“Our plan is to reach at least 1,000 clients by the end of 2023 which will support Wulooj exponentially in reaching its targets,” Albeshi said.

Our company is solving the gap that exists in the market where if a customer requires a digital journey they will search for multiple vendors and have different platforms to access for each module. We aim to provide a unified platform where customers can utilize all these features from just one place.

Saud Albeshi Wulooj, co-founder and CEO

The company aims to achieve this goal by building on its competitive advantage of having relatively low prices as well as utilizing one of its most prominent growth levers which is word of mouth.

“Our current business strategy lies on focusing on our customer retention. We are prioritizing customer retention and satisfaction by aiming to have biweekly calls with our clients and making sure they’re satisfied with Wulooj and are not facing any issues,” he explained.

Wulooj also provides its clients with analytics and aims to integrate its customer relationship management with other retail solutions to enhance its customer experience.

UAE’s ProTenders set to enter Saudi Arabia amidst construction boom“With increasing concerns about data security and privacy, we have prioritized taking precautions and making sure that accounts are not mishandled or data is not at all shared with any third party. All data is saved in Wulooj servers with the highest level of security,” Albeshi added.

Aside from its CRM integrations, the company aims to add TikTok, Telegram and Snapchat to its social media channels services as well as develop its own AI models as part of its current product pipeline.

“Overall, our business strategy is focused on providing value to our customers, increasing market share and staying ahead of competition through innovation and differentiation,” Albeshi explained.

After four years of designing and developing the business, Albeshi and his co-founders have managed to reach over SR1 million ($266,608) in revenue. 

“Our revenue stream is based on a subscription model that we provide our clients. We have subscriptions monthly and yearly depending on the number of users, type of client, type of service requested and what vertical the client requires,” Albeshi pointed out.

However, the company has still not reached profitability as it operates under a bootstrap strategy. It aims to be profitable when it achieves its target of SR300,000 per month.

Albeshi explained that the company hasn’t raised any investment rounds but is currently in the process of raising $2.6 million in funding to accelerate its hiring and development operations.

“In total, we have around 20 staff that are supporting in growth and product development. Based on growth factors we will aim to hire around 30 staff across the Gulf region. At the same time, we are actively looking for investors to support our plan,” he added.

The Kingdom’s economic growth is largely driven by diversification and digitalization where innovative solutions like those provided by Wulooj play a stellar role.

“The software as a service tech industry in Saudi Arabia is rapidly growing and evolving. As we noticed especially during the LEAP event, the government and private sector are investing heavily in technology and digital transformation initiatives,” Albeshi said.

He added that the company is solving industry-specific problems to improve efficiency and digitalization in the market as well as “to collaborate and develop joint solutions to benefit the market as a whole while taking a cohesive and integrated approach.”

Albeshi concluded that the company is always looking for opportunities to improve its offerings based on the growth standards set out by the Kingdom’s market.