Sadeem Secures $2.6 Million Investment with Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures Fund

December 18, 2019 Sadeem News

Saudi-based investment funds at KAUST and Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures invest in environmental sensing systems spinout, Sadeem. Pictured from left to right (Front): Mustafa Mousa, CEO, Sadeem – Wassim Basrawi, Managing Director, Wa’ed Ventures – Kevin Cullen, VP Innovation & Economic Development, KAUST (Back): Tamer Osman, Head, Investment Fund, KAUST – Salman Jaffrey, Investment Director, Wa’ed Ventures

Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, December 17 2019 – Sadeem, a wireless environmental sensing systems spinout company from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and the world’s first multi-patented sensor solution for flood, traffic, weather and air quality monitoring, has secured USD $2.6 million of co-investment from the KAUST Innovation Fund and Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures fund .

This joint funding round will support Sadeem in pioneering crucial sensor technology that helps to solve the growing global problems of natural disasters, and specifically those with a developmental benefit to Saudi Arabia.

KAUST I&ED Vice president, Kevin Cullen, said of the partnership that, “We are thrilled to be co-investing with Wa’ed Ventures in Sadeem, one of the Kingdom’s leading deep tech startups. What started as idea between KAUST students is now a fast-growing company with a strong IP position, R&D and a talented local team. Wa’ed is a great investment partner for Sadeem and will support them as they continue expanding globally.”

Wassim Basrawi, Managing Director of Wa’ed Ventures, echoed these sentiments and shared that, “Sadeem is a great example of a diverse Saudi-based startup that is transforming collaborative research efforts into commercial solutions, and addressing environmental challenges through sensible smart-city applications.” Mr Basrawi also highlighted that, “Along with our Chief Investment Officer, Salman T. Jaffrey, we are looking forward to seeing Sadeem gain further business opportunities and support the Kingdom’s road and environmental response infrastructure.”

Sadeem wireless sensing system in action

Sadeem cofounders from left to right: Mustafa Mousa, Ahmad Dehwah, and Esteban Canepa

In the last five years, both KAUST and Wa’ed Ventures have been contributing to the emerging venture ecosystem in Saudi Arabia by actively investing in technology startups and early stage companies. The Innovation Fund is the venture capital arm of KAUST and invests in deep tech startup projects and companies working to find solutions to some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges. Wa’ed Ventures is the entrepreneurial venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco that invests in innovative and impactful, early stage startups with high growth potential to promote economic development in Saudi Arabia.

The investment from the KAUST Innovation Fund and Wa’ed Ventures will be used by Sadeem for product updates to the existing Equa and Aura sensors, development of new technologies (for monitoring ice, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes), business development and new customer acquisition.

“Early on, as doctoral students at KAUST, we realized that there was a critical lack of information about flooding and air quality – and not just in Saudi Arabia, but around the world.” said Mustafa Mousa, Co-Founder & CEO of Sadeem, “We are proud to be playing a key role in solving this global problem and excited to continue our startup journey with an investment powerhouse like Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures fund.”

Sadeem’s unique technology is non-invasive, scalable and easy to deploy. Currently, the Equa is being used in 8 cities as far away as Mexico City and the Texas in the United States. Sadeem is looking to introduce their solutions into cities in Spain, Canada, and the UK.

Sadeem is a member of the UN Disaster Management Community, ranked 13th Most Promising KSA Startup in Forbes Magazine 2016 and has been recognized with Best Global Startup from GITEX 2017 and Best IP-Based Startup KAUST 2016.

Sadeem team

About KAUST

Established in 2009, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is a graduate research university devoted to finding solutions for some of the world’s most pressing scientific and technological challenges in the areas of food, water, energy and the environment. With 19 research areas related to these themes and state of the art labs, KAUST has created a collaborative and interdisciplinary problem-solving environment, which has resulted in over 11,000 published papers to date.

together the best minds and ideas from around the world with the goal of advancing science and technology through distinctive and collaborative research. KAUST is a catalyst for innovation, economic development and social prosperity in Saudi Arabia and the world. For additional information, visit: www.Kaust.edu.sa

About Sadeem

Sadeem provides smart city solutions worldwide, saving lives and resources in real-time. Being the global leader in urban flood & traffic monitoring with a multi-patented technology that combines a sensor network, mobile applications and a visualization platform. Sadeem specializes in flood sensing systems for smart city applications. The current product portfolio includes a dual traffic/flash flood wireless sensor, a gateway system for receiving streaming data from traffic/flood sensors, and a web-based flood data visualizer.

Our objective is to develop a series of apps to protect the public and efficiently coordinate emergency response, evacuations and search and rescue operations during floods.

About Wa’ed Ventures

Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures LLC (also known as Wa’ed Ventures) is a $200 million venture capital investment fund of Saudi Aramco that invests in innovative and impactful, early stage startups with high growth potential. The fund aims to promote economic development in Saudi Arabia and enhance the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in the Kingdom.

Wa’ed Ventures is a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco Entrepreneurship Center LLC (Wa’ed), the flagship entrepreneurship program established by Saudi Aramco for SME loan financing, incubation, training and enterprise support for entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit www.waed.net .

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