aiXplain, the California-based AI platform announced that it has closed a $6.5 million Pre-series A round led by Wa’ed Ventures, the $500 million Saudi venture capital fund backed by Aramco. This brings the total funding raised by the company to $16.5 million, with notable U.S. based firms Transform VC and Calibrate VC having backed the company’s seed round last year.

Why it matters? aiXplain’s existing subsidiary in Saudi Arabia will function as the company’s MENA region’s headquarters. The company also works with over a dozen leading AI organizations across the region to build an alliance for Arabic large language model development, which is set to debut later this year.

More to Know:

• aiXplain was founded in San Jose, California in 2020 by Hassan Sawaf who has over 25 years of experience in developing and deploying cutting-edge technologies at Meta, Amazon, and eBay.
• The startup offers 40,000+ ready-to-use AI models across more than 55 functions, pipelines and tools accessible through its platform.
• The startup was profitable last year.

Related Comments:

• Building practical AI solutions shouldn’t be reserved for big tech companies with extensive AI resources. There are so many AI assets available today—models, datasets, pipelines—but very little infrastructure making these assets readily accessible. aiXplan is changing that,” said Hassan Sawaf.
• Sawaf Added: “AI has the potential to make a tangible difference for businesses around the world, and our latest financing will help us bring this vision to life.”
• “Hassan and his team deeply understand the global disparity in AI access and the potentially damaging effects of leaving this gap unaddressed,” said Fahad Alidi, Managing Director and CEO at Wa’ed Ventures. “aiXplain has already helped close the AI innovation gap in the MENA region, and we see significant potential for the company to localize its solutions in the Kingdom.”