Raf Saudi raises $1.7 million to link digital commerce with traditional retail stores via AI

The Saudi retail technology platform “Raf” closed a pre-seed financing round of $1.7 million led by Vision Ventures, with participation from 500 Global, Palm VC, and the Aqaal Group, alongside Salman Bat, co-founder of the “Salla” platform, and other investors. The platform aims with this round to strengthen its regional expansion across the Gulf Cooperation Council states, accelerate product development, and support AI capabilities directed at linking consumer brands with physical retail outlets.

Raf was founded in 2024 by Ali Al-Qada and Abdul-Kareem Manla to address an operational and commercial gap that emerged as e-commerce matured in the region. Although the barriers to launching digital stores have fallen and online platforms have grown, expansion into physical stores still represents a complex and costly path that requires separate onboarding procedures, management of fragmented logistics chains, and individual commercial relationships with each retailer, all within a Gulf retail market whose annual value exceeds $300 billion.

Building an operational efficiency layer enables digital brands to enter retail outlets without bearing separate logistics burdens.The platform functions as a comprehensive link for digitising distribution channels, inventory management, order fulfilment, payment settlement and shared commercial operations. It allows retailers to automate workflows and manage a growing network of suppliers with direct integration to leading point-of-sale software and accounting systems, enabling more than 900 brands in nine countries, including Gulf states and the United Kingdom, to expand their physical presence in less than eighteen months after launch.

The founding team brings experience spanning e-commerce, technology and finance, as Ali Al-Qada previously built two brands and oversaw growth at the “Qanuni” platform after working on the early stages of “Salla”, while Abdul-Kareem Manla has more than twenty years of experience in financial management, financial transformation, governance and compliance. Qais Al-Isa, co-founder and CEO of Vision Ventures, sees the investment as an extension of support for commercial transformation that began with early investment in “Salla”, but now aims to bridge the gap between the digital space and physical stores through technologies that reduce operational friction.

This trajectory reshapes the priorities of operations managers and brand founders in the Gulf and Egypt, as the challenge shifts from attracting digital visits to lowering the cost of shelf presence and inventory management in a multichannel environment. Integrating predictive analytics and AI into distribution management reduces inventory waste and allows startups to test consumer response in traditional sales outlets at minimal cost and without prior logistical commitments, prompting conventional stores to upgrade point-of-sale and accounting systems to keep pace with automated supplier flows.