COFE Tech announced the closing of a pre-IPO funding round at a valuation of $178 million, supporting the company’s transition from a consumer-focused marketplace model to a provider of enterprise-oriented infrastructure for procurement and commerce. The company did not disclose the amount raised in the round.
The round was jointly led by Wa’ed Ventures, Aramco’s venture capital arm, Aditum Investment Management, Masarrah Investment Company, and Alyasra Foods. The company disclosed plans to target a listing on the Saudi Exchange by 2029, but the source describes this as a future target, not a confirmed listing date.
From a Coffee Marketplace to an Enterprise Platform
COFE was founded in Kuwait in 2018 by Ali Al Ibrahim and was previously known as COFE App. It began as a consumer-focused online coffee marketplace before expanding its scope to include enterprise solutions based on what the company calls agentic artificial intelligence.
The enterprise platform consists of two main tracks: Agentic Procurement for enterprise procurement and Agentic Commerce for enterprise commerce operations. According to the company, the shared technical foundation allows enterprises to start with one workflow and then expand their use to other operations without moving to a new platform, while the consumer-focused marketplace continues in parallel with the enterprise business.
Usage Scope and Announced Figures
COFE Tech said it serves more than 1,000 customers across 3,000 outlets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, across sectors including cafés, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, education, aviation, and corporations. It listed Emirates, Etihad Airways, Kuwait Airways, Al-Futtaim Group, Kuwait Finance House, the Central Bank of Kuwait, stc, Aramco, and Alibaba Cloud among its customers.
The company said the round will support its continued expansion in the Middle East and North Africa, alongside the development of its technology infrastructure. In 2023, it closed a $15 million Series B round led by Wa’ed Ventures, with participation from eWTP Arabia Capital, Al Imtiaz Investment Group, KISP Ventures (KFH Capital), and Rasameel Investment Company.
Why Does This Development Matter?
The editorial significance of the deal is not limited to financing a company operating in digital commerce; it lies in testing whether a platform that began with a consumer service can transition into enterprise infrastructure serving procurement, inventory, and commerce. In practice, this means investor interest is tied to the company’s ability to unify operations that were managed through separate systems, according to the founder’s description, rather than simply adding a new sales channel.
Several points remain open, however: the actual investment amount has not been disclosed, the 2029 listing plan remains a target, and the source provides no financial data or independent details on the performance of the company’s agentic AI solutions among customers. Therefore, the round reflects a phase of expansion and institutional preparation, but it does not by itself prove the ultimate success of the listing path or the effectiveness of all the announced use cases.