Aramco's venture capital arm Wa'ed Ventures has invested in UK AI cloud provider Ori to support Ori's expansion into the Middle East market over the next 12 months. The investment follows Ori's recent £140 million ($176.23m) raise, and the AI cloud provider has another larger raise underway that will be completed in 2025.
Founder and CEO of Ori, Mahdi Yahya, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Saudi Aramco’s VC fund Wa’ed Ventures as a strategic investor in Ori. This partnership not only provides us with the resources to scale faster into the Middle East, but also aligns with our vision to provide end-to-end AI infrastructure for innovators and businesses around the world.”
CIO of Wa’ed Ventures, Muhammed Zeeshan Hassan, added: “At Wa’ed Ventures, we seek to empower pioneering startups that bring transformative technologies to the local and regional market. Our investment in Ori reflects our commitment to advancing AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. As demand for GPU cloud solutions accelerates, Ori’s technology enables businesses to scale AI workloads efficiently. This partnership will also provide our AI portfolio companies with cutting-edge cloud infrastructure, ensuring they have the computing power needed to build and scale transformative AI solutions."
