Egypt’s Intella relocates headquarters to Saudi Arabia after KSA’s AI boom 

Egypt’s Intella relocates headquarters to Saudi Arabia after KSA’s AI boom 
Operating a Software-as-a-Service business model, Intella has been profitable since its inception in 2021 but has been heavily investing in research and development. (Supplied)
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Updated 28 May 2023
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Egypt’s Intella relocates headquarters to Saudi Arabia after KSA’s AI boom 

Egypt’s Intella relocates headquarters to Saudi Arabia after KSA’s AI boom 
  • Kingdom is becoming a hub for tech companies, says Intella CEO and founder Nour Taher
  • Saudi Arabia’s artificial intelligence sector is increasingly attracting regional and international players as demand continues to escalate, with Egypt-based Intella the latest to join the field.

CAIRO: Speaking exclusively with Arab News, Nour Taher, CEO and founder of the company, said Intella has begun relocating its headquarters to the Kingdom after gaining massive traction in the country. 

The move is evidence of how Saudi Arabia is making strides in the field of artificial intelligence and positioning itself at the forefront of the AI revolution in the Middle East. 

“Saudi is becoming a hub for tech companies, and we plan on playing a core role in the Saudi tech ecosystem,” Taher said. 




Nour Taher

“Saudi Arabia is currently our largest market with 70 percent of our business coming from there. We have just taken the decision to relocate our HQ there to better serve our existing clients and further expand our business. We are also inspired and aligned with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030,” she added. 

Intella is one of the region’s leading deep tech companies that aspires to create Arabic-language AI technology that caters to a vast range of dialects.  

“Our mission is to capture voice data and convert it into text, which we then analyze and mine for valuable information,” Taher explained. 

AI-Powered products 

The company offers a wide range of products in the areas of voice transcribing, data mining, and AI-powered insight capturing. 

“Our unique advantage lies in our ability to amass vast datasets, which we continue to expand with every conversation captured. By harnessing the power of technology, we are able to reveal insights and patterns that might have been impossible to detect through traditional means,” she explained. 

Intella offers Intella Contact Center Intelligence, a transcribing then analyzing tool for call centers; Intella Surveys, a real-time insight-capturing tool for businesses; and Intella Voice, a multi-dialect Arabic voice transcriber which averages a 95.7 percent accuracy rate covering 25 dialects. 

“We transcribe different Saudi dialects such as Najdi, Hejazi, Gulf and Faifi with an accuracy exceeding 95 percent, even when multiple dialects are intertwined within the same conversation,” Taher explained. 

Opportunities Ahead 

Intella has already cemented its position in the Kingdom with a majority of its client base coming from Saudi Arabia as well as landing multiple partnerships. 

Taher explained that the company’s AI products are suited for contact centers, government bodies, businesses, media agencies, and educational institutions. 

FASTFACTS

Intella won the Startup World Cup regional competition last February and will be heading to Silicon Valley to compete in the grand finale for a $1 million prize.

Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as a cornerstone for AI development in the region, with multi-billion dollar investments and initiatives set to reshape the sector.

The Kingdom established the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority back in 2019 to drive national data and AI to transform the country as a leading data-driven economy.

Saudi Arabia has also set its sights on being ranked among the top 15 nations in AI by 2030.

“We have hundreds of active partnerships, in Saudi Arabia we are working very closely with governmental entities, consulting firms, tech companies, and contact centers. We have also secured global and regional partnerships with big tech companies like Huawei and Microsoft,” Taher stated. 

Taher believes that the Kingdom holds a massive opportunity for AI adoption. She stated that the company’s products were built for businesses and institutions to capture solutions and expand on them. 

“The most exciting part at Intella is that we’re not trying to build solutions alone. The first thing we’ve done when we built our model was avail it through API integration for other parties to integrate with and build on top of,” she said. 

“Saudi Arabia is becoming a tech hub and is attracting a lot of regional and global tech players, hence empowering everyone with accurate multi-dialect transcription could mean that every single conversation turns into meaningful insights,” she added. 

With Saudi Arabia opening to the world, Arabic speaking individuals are heading to the Kingdom to take hold of the opportunities presented by the trillion-dollar economy. “What’s interesting about the Saudi market for us is that Arabic is the main spoken language and even the expats in Saudi are predominantly Arab, so we believe the country is in line with our vision of bridging the gap between global AI advancements and the Arab-speaking world,” Taher emphasized. 

“We’ve also seen an increasing demand from Saudi media and podcast companies who are using our self-service platform to obtain transcripts for their voice content to boost their search engine optimization,” she added. 

Taher aims to position Intella as a market leader in the Saudi space as she stated that the company is actively hiring in Riyadh across a wide range of roles. 

“We are currently 29 and we’re expecting to double this year with the majority of the new hiring happening in our Saudi office,” she added. 

Operating a Software-as-a-Service business model, Intella has been profitable since its inception in 2021 but has been heavily investing in research and development, Taher claims. 

“We have already quadrupled last year’s revenue in the first 5 months of this year,” she said. 

In terms of funding, the company secured a $1 million investment last year through a funding round led by Hala Ventures, in addition to “wrapping up a larger round which will be announced soon,” Taher said. 

Furthermore, Intella won the Startup World Cup regional competition last February and will be heading to Silicon Valley to compete in the grand finale for a $1 million prize. 

Saudi Arabia has positioned itself as a cornerstone for AI development in the region, with multi-billion dollar investments and initiatives set to reshape the sector. 

The Kingdom established the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority back in 2019 to drive national data and AI to transform the country as a leading data-driven economy.  

This includes the development of Saudi Arabia’s National Strategy for Data and AI, which was launched in 2020 with the aim of attracting $20 billion in investments for AI initiatives, training 20,000 data and AI specialists, and certifying 100,000 Saudi citizens in the sector by 2030. 

Moreover, Saudi Arabia has set its sights on being ranked among the top 15 nations in AI by 2030.  

Another major attraction is the Kingdom’s giga-project NEOM, intended to be a smart city powered by AI, machine learning, and other variations of advanced technology.


Global Leadership Summit: Top decision-makers discuss real estate trends in Riyadh

Global Leadership Summit: Top decision-makers discuss real estate trends in Riyadh
Updated 28 sec ago
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Global Leadership Summit: Top decision-makers discuss real estate trends in Riyadh

Global Leadership Summit: Top decision-makers discuss real estate trends in Riyadh

RIYADH: Real estate leaders and decision-makers from over 110 countries have assembled in Riyadh to exchange knowledge, share best practices, and explore the latest domestic and international developments in the sector.

The International Real Estate Federation’s 42nd edition of the Global Leadership Summit brought together over 30 speakers under the theme “Resilience for Growth,” featuring high-level sessions with keynote presentations and roundtables addressing critical issues affecting the industry.   

Endorsed by FIABCI and organized by the Eyes of Cities, the event is scheduled to run from Dec. 4 to 7 in Riyadh.

Saudi Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majel Al-Hogail used his address to the gatherting to highlight the Kingdom’s pioneering real estate initiatives.

“In Saudi Arabia, we are working to develop two segments. We aim to develop our human (capital) and our real estate. Humans are the building blocks for a great nation and transformation,” Al-Hogail said. 

He further explained that the Kingdom’s human capital serves as a catalyst for the ongoing development and initiatives reshaping the economy. 

“In the heart of this transformation, the Kingdom witnesses a flourishing real estate sector across different projects anticipated on a global level,” the minister added.  

Al-Hogail emphasized that the Kingdom’s ongoing transformative agenda, Vision 2030, is already underway, thanks to grand real estate projects like NEOM, the Line, and Oxagon. 

Furthermore, Mohammad Al-Suliman, the CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate Registry, highlighted Vision 2030’s impact on the Kingdom’s sector. 

“Vision 2030 is mapping a new era of real estate, which can be navigated by elevating home ownership, achieving investment attractiveness, streamlining digital services, and securing investments,” Al-Suliman said during the event.  

Moreover, Abdullah Al-Hammad, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate General Authority, shed light on the Kingdom’s approach to boosting its property industry. 

“The Kingdom’s real estate sector holds immense potential, supported by robust legislation and governmental support. This framework, along with the sector’s ability to promptly address challenges, makes it highly promising,” Al-Hammad said.  

During the discussion, other international leaders, including Budiarsa Sastrawinata, the president of FIABCI, highlighted the significant impact of real estate on national development. 

Sastrawinata further applauded the Kingdom’s developments and its hosting of such an event, which is set to bolster investment opportunities and prosperity in the sector. 

Tony Blair, former UK prime minister and founder of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, also highlighted the Kingdom’s developments. 

“Saudi Arabia can become a demonstration of what strong leadership with a clear sense of direction can achieve. The developments here show the potential for real change,” Blair said during the event.  


Closing Bell: Saudi main index loses 48 points to close at 11,144 

Closing Bell: Saudi main index loses 48 points to close at 11,144 
Updated 22 min 29 sec ago
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Closing Bell: Saudi main index loses 48 points to close at 11,144 

Closing Bell: Saudi main index loses 48 points to close at 11,144 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index turned red on Tuesday, as it shed 47.56 points, or 0.42 percent, to close at 11,143.83.  

The total trading turnover of the benchmark index was SR5.86 billion ($1.56 billion) as 98 of the stocks advanced, while 119 declined.  

The Kingdom’s parallel market, Nomu, also slipped with the index shedding 97.22 points to close at 24,003.59.  

The MSCI Tadawul Index edged down by 0.46 percent to close at 1,433.85.  

The top performers on the main index were mainly insurance firms, with the best-performing stock being Saudi Enaya Cooperative Insurance Co. The company’s share price soared by 9.90 percent to SR15.32. 

Other top performers on the main index were LIVA Insurance Co. and Amana Cooperative Insurance Co. whose share prices surged by 8.56 percent and 8.32 percent, respectively.  

The worst performer of the day was Development Works Food Co., as its share price tumbled by 9.79 percent to SR118.  

Meanwhile, the share price of Riyadh Cement Co., which started its trading on the main market today, went up by 0.14 percent to SR34.85.  

The best performers on the parallel market were Naseej for Technology Co. and Bena Steel Industries Co. whose share prices edged up by 11.86 percent and 8.78 percent, respectively.  

On the announcements front, KEIR International Co. said it has signed a 21-month contract worth SR48 million with National Grid SA to connect Al-Aridh Bulk Supply Point with the 132-kilovolt network in Riyadh.  

According to a Tadawul statement, KEIR International will carry out tasks related to high-voltage 132 kV underground cable installation, station protection, communications, and the implementation of remote-control systems.  

The company further noted that the financial impact of this deal will be visible from the first quarter of 2024 until the fourth quarter of 2025.  

KEIR International added that there are no related parties to the deal.  


ROSHN targets doubling energy efficiency of homes

ROSHN targets doubling energy efficiency of homes
Updated 25 min 12 sec ago
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ROSHN targets doubling energy efficiency of homes

ROSHN targets doubling energy efficiency of homes

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia’s national real estate developer ROSHN is targeting a 50 percent reduction in its homes’ energy bills, according to a company head.

The firm’s Director of Sustainability Waleed Al-Ghamdi spoke with Arab News on the sidelines of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, noting that the company is averaging 18 percent less energy consumption compared to the required building code in the Kingdom.

As a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund, the entity has been mandated to develop sustainable urban communities with about 400,000 homes as part of the Vision 2030 plan laid by Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Al-Ghamdi said: “Our typical buildings or typical homes that we design, our customers save on average about 18 percent energy compared to the Saudi building code. 

“So, we are above and beyond what the legal requirements are. The same applies to water. The same applies to our accessibility to public spaces and proximity to daily services.” 

To attain a 50 percent decrease goal, the company is facilitating purchasing agreements for new technologies and partnerships while ensuring that the purchasing price for the customer remains unaffected.

The company’s presence at COP28, as part of the region’s delegation, serves as a means to “keep abreast of what is happening on the global scene,” said the director.

“We build communities within existing cities. So our integration is important in addition to scouting and understanding what’s happening with friends and peers and vendors and suppliers, and also being abreast of what the trends are moving forward, specifically when it comes to decarbonization and also financing of those,” Al-Ghamdi added.

The company is mandated to build infrastructure and public amenities alongside the homes within its developments. This leads to a large supply chain that depends significantly on multiple vendors, and enforcing sustainability standards down the supply chain proves to be a challenge, he explained.

“Sustainability in the supply chain is not something easy for any company globally to manage. But one of the ways that we try to manage that is through signing certain partnerships with the suppliers and vendors within the region and helping them improve,” said Al-Ghamdi.


ENOWA to develop world’s first high-voltage smart grid

ENOWA to develop world’s first high-voltage smart grid
Updated 46 min 38 sec ago
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ENOWA to develop world’s first high-voltage smart grid

ENOWA to develop world’s first high-voltage smart grid

DUBAI: NEOM’s water and electricity subsidiary ENOWA has developed a blueprint for the world’s first renewable, high-voltage smart grid, Peter Terium, the company’s CEO, told Arab News.

In an interview on the sidelines of the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference, Terium said that the “grid of microgrids” will allow ENOWA to supply the NEOM region with sizable, 100 percent renewable electricity that simultaneously provides a 50 percent reduction of the corridor footprint.

According to the CEO, the principle of smart grids is simple, as they are traditionally used on a small scale in buildings. However, the sheer size of the development and the scope of coverage needed for the nine to 10 million individuals who will be residing in NEOM adds to the difficulty of the undertaking.

“That’s a huge achievement given it’s the size that makes it complex. You know, one windmill, a refrigerator, and a television are all 100 percent renewable. But a NEOM within the Kingdom that eventually is going to have nine to 10 million inhabitants. That’s very sizable,” Terium said.

In order to ensure minimum disturbance to the natural terrain and minimize visual disruption, the CEO noted that this would require limiting the number of corridors and implementing part of the grid to operate underground.

To achieve 100 percent renewable electricity in NEOM, Terium emphasized the crucial role of an efficient grid, highlighting that individuals often underestimate that all solar and wind farms require connectivity to “bring the electrons to the customer.”

Another key element, the CEO underscored, is storage. In order to ensure the stabilization, backup, and security of its renewable supply, the giga-project is implementing a portfolio of storage solutions.

The development is investing “billions and billions of Saudi riyals” to ensure that its first customers have access to green electricity, sustainable water, and reliable quality electricity through its grid and storage.

“One example is already for sure and we are expanding into the market with that, which is the world’s largest closed-loop pump, hydro storage, and it combines the traditional form of water-based hydro storage, so a small upper lake and a lower lake,” Terium said.

“That has two effects. First of all, it reduces the evaporation of the water. So that’s an economic effect. But the second effect is that it is a great attractor for birds. Birds and wildlife. So we have a major positive solution for storage that is pretty sizable, the largest in the world,” he added.

Considering the challenges ahead, the CEO highlighted that the development isn’t exclusively centered on creating new technologies. Instead, their key focus is to ensure that the electricity supplied to the NEOM region is renewable, dependable, and affordable.

While not entirely cheap, mature large-scale solar and wind technologies remain affordable, underscored Terium, and will thus be primarily implemented into the framework of connectivity used by the futuristic city.

“The NEOM region has a combination of very intensive solar irradiation and very abundant wind profiling — the solar during the day and the wind mainly in the evening. That makes it a perfect combination to take these two cheapest renewable technologies and get as much as possible out of them,” he outlined.

While the existing infrastructure for electricity amounted to half a gigawatt to 1 GW, the company has “ramped that up” to 3 GW with the aim of 5-6 GW in the near future.

According to Terium, the first tenders of solar and wind power plants have already been established, and the large green hydrogen plant being built will amount to 5-6 GW of installed capacity for power generation by the year 2026.

Due to the size of the NEOM development, the executive underscored that ENOWA is currently at about 5 percent completion of its infrastructure, with the goal of accelerating to 10 percent in the coming 12 to 18 months.

He said: “NEOM is going to be a large undertaking. And what we do is build the infrastructure in line with the growth of NEOM. So that’s why the percentage of 5 or 10 percent sounds low, but it is connected to the size, eventually, of NEOM. And then again, five or 10 eventually of a massive undertaking is already a huge project.”

The company is working with the Kingdom’s Ministry of Energy and collaborating with entities like the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in its energy-centric ventures. Alongside KAUST, ENOWA will be installing the first carbon capture capacity into a gas-fired plant in the Kingdom. The executive said: “That is one example, but there are many other ones and all the institutions that are there in the Kingdom we work with, but also outside of the Kingdom.”

Through collaboration, it hopes to bring some of its ideas on how to scale renewable energy to the region through its renewable energy approaches and Saudi Arabia’s green hydrogen strategy, a part of which is the NEOM green hydrogen plant.

Terium said: “The Kingdom has now embarked upon a hydrogen strategy and a renewable energy strategy, but it may take advantage of some of the lessons learned that we had in the early stage. And we can bring in some of our ideas of how you can do that bigger and at a larger scale.”

What is important, according to the CEO, is that hydrogen needs to reach its customers, and there are more cost-effective solutions than shipping it in the form of ammonia.

Thus the decision to build a pipeline corridor infrastructure to Europe is something “that only a country like Saudi Arabia can do because that’s a job and a size which is even way too big for even NEOM.”


Saudi Arabia, UK ink deal to strengthen marine environmental protection

Saudi Arabia, UK ink deal to strengthen marine environmental protection
Updated 05 December 2023
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Saudi Arabia, UK ink deal to strengthen marine environmental protection

Saudi Arabia, UK ink deal to strengthen marine environmental protection

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the UK have signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in marine environmental protection. 

The agreement was signed at the Saudi Green Initiative forum on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference on Monday by the Kingdom’s Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture and UK’s Center for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science. 

“The MoU promotes cooperation in the field of marine environmental protection according to the available resources of each participant and in line with their respective regulations and legislation in force,” said the Saudi ministry said in a statement. 

Saudi Arabia and the UK will also cooperate in areas which include the protection, monitoring, evaluation, and preservation of the marine environment and its resources, while also ensuring aquatic biodiversity. 

The deal will also see both countries working together to reduce the pollution in Saudi Arabia’s territorial waters. 

According to the MoU, Saudi Arabia and the UK will also cooperate in areas of climate change science and will partner in efforts to strengthen the marine ecosystem in the Kingdom. 

On Dec.1, Saudi Arabia earned a place on the 40-member council of the International Maritime Organization for 2024-2025. 

The Kingdom’s feat of finding a spot in the 40-member council is considered very significant, as IMO is a global maritime authority that sets the international standards designed to ensure the safety and security of maritime transport, reduce pollution from ships, and implement initiatives that help preserve the marine environment and protect nature.

Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority said that the selection to the council is the recognition of the initiatives the Kingdom has adopted to protect and preserve the marine environment. 

“The win serves as a confirmation of the Kingdom’s influential position and impact within the (IMO), the significant role of the Saudi naval fleet, ambitious initiatives and projects aligned with the national strategy for transportation and logistical services, and contributions and initiatives in safeguarding the marine environment and empowering seafarers,” TGA said in an X post. 

In August, Abdulrahman Al-Fadhli, Saudi minister of environment, water and agriculture said that the Kingdom is committed to amplifying its efforts to mitigate marine pollution and address ecological concerns faced by the region.