Kuwait's COFE Tech raises pre-IPO round at $178M, eyes Saudi listing by 2029

For years, the Gulf's startup story has been about consumer apps and flashy delivery services. But the region's real ambition is now showing up in the quieter corridors of enterprise software. The latest proof landed this week at LEAP, Riyadh's tech carnival, where Kuwait's COFE Tech announced it had closed a pre-IPO round at a $178 million valuation. The company, once known as COFE App, has shed its consumer-only skin and now dresses as an enterprise technology provider, selling AI-powered procurement and commerce infrastructure to over a thousand Gulf businesses. The funding round was co-led by Wa'ed Ventures, the venture arm of Saudi oil giant Aramco, alongside Aditum Investment Management, Masarrah Investment Company, and Alyasra Foods, a Kuwaiti food conglomerate. The investment amount remains undisclosed, but the valuation and the investor list speak volumes about where Gulf capital is heading.

COFE Tech started in 2018 as a coffee marketplace in Kuwait, founded by Ali Al-Ebrahim. It was a simple idea: connect coffee lovers with specialty roasters. But Al-Ebrahim had bigger plans. He pivoted the company into what he calls the 'Salesforce of MENA' — a platform that unifies procurement, sales, and inventory for enterprises, using AI agents to automate tasks like restocking shelves or chasing invoices. The shift from beans to business software might seem abrupt, but it mirrors a broader trend in the Gulf: startups that began as consumer plays are morphing into B2B infrastructure providers, chasing higher margins and deeper corporate relationships. COFE's evolution is a case study in how regional founders are repositioning themselves to capture the enterprise spending boom.

For outsiders, the significance of this deal lies in the investors. Wa'ed is Aramco's domestic venturing arm, and its backing is a stamp of approval from the Saudi establishment. Aditum, a regional fund with ties to global giants like BlackRock, adds an international layer of credibility. Masarrah and Alyasra Foods are local names that signal confidence from within the Kuwaiti business community. The round is a pre-IPO move, setting up COFE Tech for a targeted listing on the Saudi Exchange by 2029. That timeline is not arbitrary — it aligns with Saudi Vision 2030, the kingdom's grand plan to diversify its economy away from oil. For any tech company in the region, a Saudi listing is the ultimate prize, offering access to deep capital pools and a government eager to showcase homegrown innovation.

This deal also highlights a subtle but significant shift in Gulf wealth. Historically, family offices and sovereign funds poured money into real estate, retail, and energy. Now they are increasingly backing technology companies that can modernize the region's traditional sectors. COFE Tech's platform addresses a real pain point: many Gulf enterprises still run fragmented systems that don't talk to each other, leading to inefficiencies that cost millions. By investing in a company that solves this, these investors are betting not just on a single firm, but on a digitally transformed Gulf economy. The fact that a Kuwaiti startup is being groomed for a Saudi IPO shows how capital and talent are flowing across borders, creating a more integrated regional market.

Looking ahead, COFE Tech's journey is one to watch for anyone tracking Middle East wealth. A successful listing in 2029 would validate the model of regional startups scaling through a mix of Gulf capital and cross-border expansion. It would also signal that the region's tech ecosystem is maturing beyond the seed stage, producing companies that can compete on a global stage. For the founders and investors involved, the next few years will be about execution — proving that AI-driven procurement can deliver real returns. But for the rest of us, the story is about how a coffee app from Kuwait grew into a company that could become a cornerstone of the Saudi tech bourse. That is not just a business milestone; it is a marker of how far the Gulf's wealth has come in embracing the future.