Sanabil Investments, wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), recently participated in the USD 30 million Series A funding round for 1001, a GCC- and London-based provider of sovereign AI for critical infrastructure.
The funding round was led by Lux Capital, with other backers including Hanabi, General Catalyst, CIV and Stanford AI researcher Chris Ré.
The startup has been backed by a number of regional and global angel investors, including Karim Atiyeh (Co-founder & CTO, Ramp), Kareem Amin (Co-founder & CEO, Clay), Russell Kaplan (President, Cognition), Shayan Shafii, Daniel Garber and Junaid Hussain.
The new capital will scale 1001’s team, especially engineering, and build out its commercial and go-to-market presence across key GCC markets, 1001 said in a statement.
Sanabil believes 1001 is well positioned to become a key sovereign AI partner for institutions across all critical infrastructure.
Founded in 2025 by Abu-Ghazaleh, 1001 has previously been backed by angel investors including Amjad Masad (Replit), Amira Sajwani (DAMAC), Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud (RAED Ventures), and Hisham Al-Falih (Lean Technologies).
McKinsey estimates broader AI adoption is likely to add up to USD 150 billion to GCC economies, about 9% of combined GDP, with critical infrastructure among the highest-value opportunities.
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