Najm Capital

Najm Fund I + Co-InvestGCC growth equity, infrastructure, and strategic buyouts · Q1 2026 reporting

K. Al Rashidi · Director

Najm/Pipeline/Hala

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Hala

Private

Logistics SaaS / AI·Growth Equity·$35M check·@ $0.3B

Matches thesisTechnology & AI·Partner owner: Sara Al Mazrouei

Inbound source

Co-investor intro

Faisal Al MufarrijHead of Investments, Wa'ed · Saudi Aramco Ventures (Wa'ed)

[email protected]

Apr 10, 202610:30 AM

Subject: Hala Series B — Strategic Co-Investor Opportunity

Tariq — we're co-investing in Hala's Series B and wanted to flag it to Najm given your AI thesis. Hala is a B2B logistics AI platform for last-mile delivery in Saudi Arabia with 200+ enterprise clients including Saudi Aramco, STC, and Al Rajhi Bank. 2.5x YoY growth. We see it as a key enabler of Saudi logistics infrastructure Vision 2030. Happy to arrange a management call with Mohannad Almasri (CEO) if you'd like to explore.

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Executive summary

Hala is a Saudi-founded B2B logistics SaaS platform that provides AI-powered route optimisation, fleet management, and last-mile delivery orchestration to enterprise clients. With 200+ enterprise clients including Saudi Aramco, STC Logistics, and Al Rajhi Bank, Hala has demonstrated strong product-market fit in Saudi Arabia's rapidly growing logistics sector. At $280M entry, Najm is acquiring a 2.5x-growth AI platform at 9.3x annualised revenue — reasonable for a B2B SaaS business with Aramco-validated enterprise traction. The primary risk is dependence on a small number of large clients and competition from regional platforms such as Nana Direct and global entrants like Oracle Logistics Cloud.

Company snapshot

Business model: Annual SaaS subscription ($15K–$250K/year depending on fleet size) for enterprise logistics operators; AI route-optimisation engine reduces fuel costs and delivery times; revenue model supplemented by per-delivery API calls for third-party integrators.
Products: Hala Route AI (route optimisation engine) · Hala Fleet Manager · Hala Last Mile (consumer-facing delivery tracking) · Hala API (developer platform for 3PL integrations)
Geography + scale: Saudi Arabia (85% of revenue) · UAE (10%) · Kuwait + Bahrain (5%, pilot)
People: Mohannad Almasri (CEO & Co-Founder, ex-Uber ATG) · Sara Al Ghamdi (CTO & Co-Founder, ex-Amazon Web Services) · Bader Al Issa (VP Sales, ex-Oracle MENA)

Market

TAM + growth: Saudi logistics market $40B by 2030 · last-mile delivery $5B · logistics SaaS MENA $1.2B by 2027
Competitive set: Global: Oracle Logistics Cloud, SAP Transportation Management (complex, expensive). Regional: Nana Direct (grocery logistics, different use case), Fetchr (UAE-focused, delivery). Hala's AI-native architecture and Saudi-specific road network training data create a localisation advantage.
Tailwinds: Saudi Vision 2030 logistics hub strategy (King Salman International Airport logistics zone) · Saudi e-commerce fuel delivery demand growth · Aramco supply chain digitisation mandate · NEOM smart logistics district

Financial profile

Revenue: FY2025A revenue SAR 112M (~$30M) · ARR growing toward SAR 140M by YE2026
Growth: 2.5x YoY revenue · client count grew from 80 to 200+ · average contract value grew 35% as clients upgrade to enterprise tier
Profitability: Gross margin 74% on SaaS · contribution-positive · net loss SAR 28M investing in AI R&D and UAE expansion
Unit economics: CAC $18,000 per enterprise client · LTV $240,000 over 5 years · NRR 118% (strong upsell)

Deal structure

Round size: Series B $70M total · $35M Najm allocation
Valuation: $280M pre-money · 9.3x FY2025 revenue
Security: Preferred with 1.0x liquidation preference
Co-investors: Saudi Aramco Ventures (Wa'ed) · VentureSouq · Alrajhi Capital

Thesis fit · Technology & AI

AI-native product architectureStrong

Hala's route optimisation model is trained on 4.2B km of Saudi road network data — a proprietary dataset competitors cannot easily replicate.

Enterprise traction with blue-chip clientsStrong

Saudi Aramco (via Wa'ed investment), STC Logistics, and Al Rajhi Bank are anchor clients providing revenue visibility and reference value.

Revenue scale and trajectoryPartial

SAR 112M ($30M) is early-stage for an $80M+ check; the 2.5x growth trajectory needs to be stress-tested against market saturation in Saudi.

Geographic concentrationPartial

85% Saudi revenue — UAE and GCC expansion is nascent. Single-market exposure is a risk at this valuation.

Risks + mitigants

Client concentration — top 5 clients represent ~45% of revenue, including AramcoMitigant: Wa'ed investment locks in Aramco relationship; diversification to 200+ clients reduces concentration to manageable levels within 18 months

Oracle and SAP enterprise logistics products are increasingly competitive in Saudi marketMitigant: Hala's Saudi-specific AI training data and lower implementation cost ($50K vs $500K for Oracle) create a strong SME-to-mid-market moat

UAE expansion burning cash before Saudi core reaches profitabilityMitigant: UAE launch is asset-light (SaaS only, no fleet); management expects UAE to be contribution-positive within 6 months of launch

Similar deals in playbook

Locus (India logistics SaaS)2024Watchlisted

Locus grew from $10M to $50M ARR in India in 3 years before plateauing — market saturation risk for logistics SaaS is real. Hala needs to show GCC expansion can extend the growth curve.

Aramex (MENA logistics)2023Passed

Passed on Aramex digital division carve-out — logistics digital transformation is a platform problem not an incumbent carve-out. Hala is the right vehicle for Najm's AI-logistics thesis.

Preliminary diligence items

1.Product walkthrough and AI model validation — assess route optimisation performance vs baseline

2.Client references: Aramco procurement team + STC Logistics operations head

3.NRR cohort analysis — understand upsell vs expansion revenue vs new client growth

4.UAE expansion plan review — timeline, customer pipeline, and capital requirements

5.Competitive displacement analysis — has Hala won clients away from Oracle/SAP?

Deal progressionStage 2 of 6

InboundCIM received · initial parse

Quick LookMemo drafted · thesis matchWith: Tariq Al Suwaidi

Diligence scopingWorkstreams + owners defined

Diligence activeData room · expert calls · model

IC memoDrafted → IC review

DecisionPursue · pass · watch

Co-investor set

Saudi Aramco Ventures (Wa'ed)

VentureSouq

Alrajhi Capital

Structure

1.0x liquidation preference