- The strategic investment will accelerate AI-powered verification and deepfake detection in Saudi Arabia and across the Middle East, supporting responsible AI adoption and strengthening digital trust.
Santa Clara, USA & Dhahran, Saudi Arabia – Wa’ed Ventures, a $500 million venture capital fund owned by Saudi Aramco, today announced a strategic investment in Resemble AI, a leading California-based security company specializing in AI voice generation and real-time multimodal deepfake detection. The company closed a $13 million strategic round in December, backed by investors including Google’s AI Future Fund, Sony Innovation Fund, Javelin, and Ubiquity.
The investment comes amid a global surge in AI-powered fraud. Saudi Arabia is proactively and rapidly addressing these risks through a strong regulatory framework, including the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which criminalizes the spread of fake news and misinformation that threatens public peace, security, or national interests. At the same time, global deepfake-related fraud will result in more than $25 billion in losses in 2024, and deepfake incidents are predicted to cause $40 billion in losses worldwide by 2027.
Wa’ed Ventures’ investment will support Resemble AI’s expansion into the Middle East, enabling organizations across Saudi Arabia to deploy secure real-time AI detection technology aligned with regional data sovereignty and security requirements. “At Wa’ed Ventures, our role goes beyond raising capital. We work closely with founders to scale technology that is globally competitive while remaining rooted in Saudi Arabia’s priorities. As Saudi Arabia strengthens AI governance, digital trust, and content authenticity regulations, solutions like Resemble AI’s deepfake detection and synthetic media safeguards directly support efforts to ensure safe and ethical AI adoption across the public and private sectors.” Wa’ed Anas Al-Ghatani, CEO of Ventures, said:
“The Middle East is facing an unprecedented surge in AI-generated fraud, with deepfake incidents in Saudi Arabia alone increasing by 600% last year,” said Zohaib Ahmed, CEO and co-founder of Resemble AI. “Organizations across the Gulf need detection capabilities that can be deployed on their infrastructure and have the speed and accuracy to capture threats in real time. Wa’ed understands this urgency, and their support will accelerate our ability to provide that protection to the region.”
Resemble AI’s platform enables both cloud and on-premises deployment, allowing government, defense, and regulated organizations to analyze voice and audio content without sending sensitive data to external servers. This is a key requirement across the region.
About Resemble AI
Resemble AI is a leader in AI voice generation, multimodal verification, and deepfake detection, providing real-time solutions to combat AI-generated fraud. The company’s technology enables organizations to discover synthetic audio and media operations in both cloud and on-premises environments, supporting secure deployment in highly regulated industries. For more information, please visit https://www.resemble.ai/.
About Wa’ed Ventures
Wa’ed Ventures is a $500 million institutional venture capital firm wholly owned by Aramco that accelerates Saudi economic diversification and new business growth by investing in high-growth technology startups across multiple sectors. Founded in 2013, Wa’ed Ventures manages a portfolio of over 90 startups and provides them with end-to-end support, from raising capital to providing access to partner resources. The company is located in Dhahran city, Saudi Arabia. For more information, please visit www.waed.com.
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nicola van lilde
Email: nicolas.vanlierde@waed.com
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