Scale AI alum raises $9 million for artificial intelligence serving critical industries in the MENA region

Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh had moved to London a few days before our call, where he was dividing his time between there and Dubai.

After nearly a decade in the US, including a stint at Scale AI, he brings this experience to his next venture: 1001 AI, a company creating AI infrastructure for critical industries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The startup recently raised a $9 million seed round led by CIV, General Catalyst, and Lux ​​Capital. Other backers include global and regional angels such as Chris Rhee, Amjad Massad (Riplett), Amira Sajwani (DAMAC), Khalid bin Badr Al Saud (RAED Ventures), and Hisham Al-Falih (Lean Technologies).

Abu-Ghazaleh said that his company, which was founded two months ago, promises to reduce shortcomings in high-risk sectors such as aviation, logistics, oil and gas through an operating system that relies on artificial intelligence for decision-making.

“Just looking at the three or four big industries like airports, ports, construction, and oil and gas, we see over $10 billion in inefficiencies across the Gulf alone,” the founder and CEO said in an interview with TechCrunch. “This is only in markets like the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Even without counting other sectors, these industries represent a huge opportunity.”

For example, any efficiencies found in airport operations could double the savings, impacting the airport and its airlines. At the same time, he said nine out of ten mega projects in the region are behind schedule or over budget, meaning small increases in efficiency can save big money for these projects.

1001 AI hopes to sell its decision-making AI to new ventures after the launch of its first product, which is scheduled by the end of the year. Abu-Ghazaleh said that the startup is in talks with some of the largest construction and airport companies in the Gulf.

Abu-Ghazaleh was born and raised in Jordan, then moved to the United States for university studies and subsequently joined the startup scene in the Gulf region. After an early producer role at computer vision startup Hive AI, he joined Scale AI in 2020 during its rapid expansion. There, he rose through the ranks from operations associate to director of the company’s GenAI operations, expanding the network of contributors responsible for annotating and classifying training data.

He was later recruited to join Scale’s international public sector unit, which builds AI solutions for foreign governments. But when Meta invested in Scale, the company changed direction, and Abu-Ghazaleh left to found 1001 AI.

The Gulf region, especially the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, has become one of the countries most adopting artificial intelligence in the world. From sovereign-backed projects such as G42 in Abu Dhabi to the National Center for Artificial Intelligence in Saudi Arabia, governments are investing billions to build local AI infrastructure and attract global talent.

For Abu Ghazaleh, this combination of appetite, budget and urgency makes the region an ideal testing ground. But unlike most AI startups that focus on software or enterprise tools, 1001 targets real-world physical operations, an area where the company’s investors believe the potential is greater in the Middle East.

“We are very optimistic about AI solving problems of the physical world at scale, that is, improving how airports manage flights, how ports move goods, and how construction sites operate,” said Dina Shaker, partner at Lux Capital. “The MENA region offers great potential in this area with mission-critical infrastructure that is still not digital and ready for transformation.”

While the product is still under development, Abu-Ghazaleh provided an overview of how it works. The system pulls data from the customer’s existing software, models operational workflows, and issues real-time guidance to improve efficiency.

“Today, an operations manager may manually call someone to redirect a fuel truck or send a cleaning crew to another gate,” Abu-Ghazaleh said. “With our system, this coordination happens automatically. The AI ​​coordinator uses real-time data to redirect vehicles, reassign crews, and adjust operations without human intervention.”

Unlike most AI startups that target specific industries, Abu-Ghazaleh says 1001 could be accessible to many because operational flows across industries often look similar.

This model borrows from precision consulting and contract work. The CEO said the team spends weeks engaged with customers, conducting joint development processes to adapt its systems to the realities of each operation.

“Bilal is building the decision engine to automate this complexity with proven execution at scale and regional appeal to make 1001 the platform this market relies on,” commented Neeraj Arora, Managing Director, General Catalyst.

The new funding will accelerate early deployments in aviation, logistics and infrastructure, while boosting recruitment in engineering, operations and market roles while growing its team in Dubai and London.

1001 AI plans to launch its first customer deployment by the end of the year, starting with the build process. Over the next five years, Abu-Ghazaleh wants the company to become the Gulf region’s main coordination layer for these industries before expanding globally.