The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Strategic decision · 2006–2025
Unifonic bet Saudi CPaaS could lead emerging markets; SoftBank's first Saudi deal
Saudi customer-engagement platform unified SMS, WhatsApp and voice; $125M SoftBank-led Series B was the country's largest startup round, IPO planned
Unifonic
What the business is
A Riyadh-based customer engagement platform (CPaaS) that unifies SMS, voice, messaging apps and chatbots into one channel for enterprises.
Starting capital：Bootstrapped for 12 years; $21M Series A in 2018
How it started
Ahmed Hamdan built a messaging-software business in Saudi Arabia, operating in emerging markets since 2006, and turned it into Unifonic, a customer engagement platform. In 2018 it raised a $21M Series A led by STV, one of the region's largest at the time.
What happened
In September 2021 Unifonic closed a $125M Series B co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Sanabil Investments, marking SoftBank's first direct investment in a Saudi company and the largest round ever raised by a Saudi startup. It handled 10 billion-plus annual transactions, served clients like Saudi Electricity, Uber, Aramex and Noon, and acquired Turkish AI voice company Sestek in 2022.
How it ended up
The company kept scaling: in October 2025 Kuwait's Kamco Invest acquired a stake on behalf of clients, with CEO Ahmed Hamdan saying the partnership supported preparation for an IPO on Tadawul expected within two years.
Background
Unifonic started as a messaging-software business in Saudi Arabia, operating in emerging markets since 2006, and turned itself into the region's leading customer engagement platform, or CPaaS. The bet was that enterprises juggling SMS, WhatsApp, voice and web channels would pay for one platform to manage them all. It won flagship Saudi clients first, including banks, Saudi Electricity, government services and Uber, and raised a $21M Series A led by STV in 2018.
In September 2021 Unifonic closed a $125M Series B co-led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Sanabil Investments, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund. It was SoftBank's first direct investment in a Saudi-based company and the largest funding round ever raised by a Saudi startup. The company said it processed more than 10 billion transactions a year and would use the money to expand across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Unifonic continued to grow after the landmark round, acquiring Turkish AI voice company Sestek in 2022 and building out conversational AI. In October 2025, Kuwait's Kamco Invest acquired a stake in the company on behalf of clients, and CEO Ahmed Hamdan said the partnership supported preparation for an IPO on the Saudi exchange Tadawul expected within two years. The company remained live and scaling rather than sold or wound down.
What has to be true
- The founders picked a category, CPaaS, that was proven globally but underserved locally, and dominated the home market before raising international capital.
- Government and enterprise clients in Saudi Arabia gave Unifonic recurring, mission-critical revenue that made the growth story credible to SoftBank and Sanabil.
- The round was as much a country bet as a company bet: SoftBank and PIF's Sanabil needed a flagship Saudi startup, and Unifonic fit.
- A 12-year bootstrapped run meant the company reached its huge round with proven unit economics instead of a venture-subsidized burn.
What can be applied
Own an ignored infrastructure layer in your home market first: local dominance proves the model, then international capital funds the expansion it could not have seeded.
Aftermath
As of October 2025 Unifonic was still independent, profitable in growth mode and preparing to list: Kuwait's Kamco Invest had just acquired a stake on behalf of clients, and CEO Ahmed Hamdan said the partnership supported an IPO on Tadawul expected within two years. The company had expanded from SMS into an omnichannel AI platform, acquired Sestek for voice AI, and was positioning itself for the wave of Saudi technology listings.
Sources
- SoftBank leads $125m funding round in Saudi Arabian tech start-up Unifonic
- Doubling down on Unifonic: Creating the Leading Cloud Communication Platform in Emerging Markets
- Unifonic calls in $125m series B round
- Kamco Invest Kuwait acquires stake in Saudi platform Unifonic
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card