AI is changing the way we shop online and is making our experiences more personalized. Smart Assistant recommends products, negotiates transactions and handles customer service. Large retailers and small businesses use AI to improve search, supply chain and checkout.
As AI companies (and their investors) move on the path, shopping will quickly focus on chatting with assistants, with companies automating everything behind the scenes.
Based in Dubai, Qeen.ai (stylized as Qeen.ai) is working to make this happen in the Middle East and elsewhere. The startup raised $10 million to scale its platform. This provides an autonomous AI agent for your e-commerce business.
A leading e-commerce investor, Prosus Ventures leads the largest seed round not only in the Middle Eastern AI industry but also in the entire MENA. VC believes that Qeen.AI is suitable for providing AI-driven automation to merchants as AI agents rebuild their online marketplaces.
Founders Morteza Ibrahimi (CEO), Ahmad Khwileh (CTO), and Dina Alsamhan (CBO) started Qeen after years of working on AI at Google and Deepmind.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Ibrahimi said they had opportunistically refined e-commerce. – Commerce business. In addition to AI expertise, the trio knows how to run ads and optimize SEO very well, and thought it could be a powerful combination.
Google and Deepmind background
E-commerce has grown steadily over the years, but with the exception of certain spikes (particularly during holidays), it accounts for 15% to 20% of retail sales (even in mature markets like the US, it also has 16. It was only 16. (as of last quarter, according to the US Census Bureau).
Qeen.ai’s paper says that if the e-commerce process is carried out better, this could grow. They believed that success in e-commerce should not only be about optimally gaming advertising systems, but also about superior products and operational efficiency. That insight has led them to build a platform that helps e-commerce sellers grow without relying on advertising as the main driver.
The global e-commerce market is expanding rapidly, from changing consumer behavior to digital payments to better logistics. At MENA, the market is expected to reach $50 billion by 2025, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading growth.
Qeen.ai is taking advantage of this boom by developing AI-powered marketing agents designed for e-commerce businesses across MENA. These fully automated agents handle content creation, marketing and conversational sales, allowing small and medium-sized merchants to compete without relying on expensive institutions or deep advertising expertise.
Unlike traditional solutions, Qeen’s AI uses proprietary RL-UI technology to continuously learn from consumer interactions and refine your marketing strategy in real time for better results.
From Google Ads to AI-driven e-commerce
AI-powered sales and customer service tools struggle with high churn rates as companies often switch platforms, but Qeen.ai claims to have a strong e-commerce and marketing retention rate I’m doing it. Ibrahimi is attributable to how Qeen.ai’s AI agents integrate this into Merchants’ workflows, making it a central part of everyday work rather than an interchangeable tool.
Key Features Driven Engagement is dynamic text personalization that coordinates content based on user behavior and device type. For example, iPhone users may view product details in bullet points for quick reads, while laptop users will get detailed paragraphs.
Since launching the dynamic content agent in the second quarter of 2024, Qeen.ai has served over 15 million users, generated explanations for 1 million SKUs, and merchants have increased sales by 30% I let it go.
“We worked with our clients to optimize our content and SEO. After using the AI plugin, our search volume increased by 40%, and our Google rankings increased from 22 to 18. Qeen.ai’s “The whole process was completely autonomous,” said Ibrahimi, who offers another example of AI capabilities shine.
Qeen.ai employs a subscription-based pricing model and incorporates value-based pricing, a growing trend in AI services. Currently, Qeen.ai generates revenue through two subscription models. In content automation, companies pay per Active SKU, typically between $0.10 and $0.20 per SKU per month. Then AI marketing agents whose pricing is based on interaction.
Ibrahimi refused to use Qeen.ai to disclose the number of companies and revenue growth metrics. Notable clients include Dubai Store, 6th Street and Jumia.
Stand out… with talent
Ibrahimi was deeply motivated in early 2023 and co-founded the startup. In the same year, the company raised a $2 million seed round before launching the product in June 2024. With the recent $10 million seed round, Qeen.Ai raised a total of $12 million a year.
During this time, AI-powered marketing agents have gained traction all over the world, with several startups, particularly in the US and Europe, entering the space. Competitors like YC Backed Unreal and Rankai are tackling similar challenges. How does Qeen.ai stand out?
Well, for one, most of these AI startups focus on developed markets, but Qeen.ai instead prioritizes the Middle East first. According to Ibrahimi, Qeen.ai will serve small and medium-sized businesses across MENA, establishing a strong foothold and will then expand globally.
Deep technical expertise and a strong talent pool give Qeen.ai an edge over newcomers, the CEO added. The two co-founders received their PhD in AI over a decade ago, long before AI became mainstream. Ibrahimi herself previously led a deep minded research team specializing in self-learning goal-driven AI agents.
“One of the most exciting things we’ve seen is the quality of AI talent here,” Ibrahimi said. “We attracted amazing talent both locally and internationally. People left the Bay Area, Europe and the UK and came here and built it together.”
Qeen.ai currently employs more than 25 people across the UAE and Jordan.
Seed Fund supports Qeen.AI’s growth strategy by expanding its AI platform, expanding its team and attracting more customers. WAMDA Capital, 10X Founders Fund and Dara Holdings are among the other investors in this round.