Riyadh-based Rasēd raises pre-seed round for AI fraud detection
Platform has already prevented over $100 million in fraud
#SaudiArabia #funding – Saudi Arabia-based AI startup Rasēd has closed a pre-seed funding round led by Saudi Aramco’s venture capital fund Wa’ed Ventures and Abu Dhabi-headquartered investment firm Shorooq Partners, with participation from other investors. Founded in 2022 by Talal Al-Badrani and Mustafa Al-Salhi, Rasēd provides an AI-powered platform that identifies and prevents digital financial fraud in real time whilst maintaining system speed and user experience. According to the founders, the platform has prevented over $100 million in fraud to-date. The startup plans to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council region, leveraging its scalable infrastructure and regulatory-grade AI technology that complies with Saudi Central Bank regulations.
SO WHAT? – Current and upcoming, global and local regulations can limit digital transformation across the financial services sector, as institutions try to replace or enhance legacy systems with AI-enabled processes. Alignment with the Saudi Central Bank’s compliance framework positions the startup to capitalise on demand from regulated institutions seeking alternatives to traditional rule-based fraud detection systems. Rasēd’s ability to prevent fraud whilst maintaining sub-millisecond response times addresses a critical challenge for financial institutions balancing security requirements with customer experience expectations.
Here are some key points about this announcement:
Riyadh-based fraud detection startup Rasēd has closed a pre-seed funding round led by Saudi Aramco’s venture capital fund Wa’ed Ventures and Abu Dhabi-headquartered investment firm Shorooq Partners, with participation from other investors. The investment will enable expansion across the GCC region.
The platform analyses behavioural and device signals in real time, evaluating them within milliseconds to help banks, fintechs, financial institutions and regulators block suspicious transactions before escalation, whilst maintaining user experience.
According to Rasēd, its anti-fraud technology has prevented over $100 million in fraud across its client base, whilst maintaining sub-millisecond response times that ensure zero friction for legitimate transactions, serving top-tier institutions across Saudi Arabia.
The AI-powered platform features continuously learning models that adapt to user behaviour patterns, reducing false positives and improving decision accuracy as an alternative to traditional rule-based fraud detection systems.
Rasēd offers comprehensive fraud case management capabilities with rapid integration through APIs or SDKs, built to meet regulatory compliance requirements with privacy-preserving and audit-ready logging tools aligned with the Saudi Central Bank framework.
The startup operates offices spanning Riyadh, New York and Scandinavia, with current operations serving clients in Saudi Arabia and expansion plans targeting the wider GCC market leveraging its scalable infrastructure.
Founded in 2022, Rasēd emerged to address financial institutions’ requirement for sophisticated, rapid fraud detection that maintains accuracy without creating friction for legitimate users across digital banking and payment channels.
ZOOM OUT – The Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) region is home to 898 funded fintech startups, including 465 scaleups, according to a February 2025 report by Lucidity Insights and SAP. The payments and transfers sector has accumulated over $5.4 billion in funding over two decades, whilst lending, digital assets and wealthtech verticals are gaining traction. Abu Dhabi-headquartered Shorooq Partners has invested $879 million across 24 regional fintech companies, largely at seed to Series A stages.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
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