AI is changing how we shop online, making our experiences more personalized. Smart assistants recommend products, negotiate deals, and even handle customer service. Big retailers and smaller businesses are using AI to improve search, supply chains, and checkout. 

If AI companies (and their investors) have their way, shopping will soon be focused on chatting with an assistant, with businesses automating everything behind the scenes.

Dubai-based Qeen.ai (stylized as qeen.ai) is working to make this a reality in the Middle East and beyond. The startup has raised $10 million to scale its platform, which provides autonomous AI agents for e-commerce businesses.

Prosus Ventures, a major e-commerce investor, led the seed round, which is not only one of the largest in the Middle East’s AI industry but in MENA overall. The VC believes Qeen.ai is well-positioned to bring AI-driven automation to merchants as AI agents reshape online marketplaces.

Founders Morteza Ibrahimi (CEO), Ahmad Khwlieh (CTO), and Dina Alsamhan (CBO) started Qeen after years of working on AI at Google and DeepMind. 

Ibrahimi, in an interview with TechCrunch, said that they honed in on e-commerce in part opportunistically: all three had worked at Google Ads in various roles during their time with the search giant, and they and saw first-hand how other alums built highly successful e-commerce businesses. On top of their AI expertise, the trio knew how to run ads and optimize SEO exceptionally well and thought it could be a strong combination.

E-commerce has been steadily growing for years, but apart from certain spikes (particularly during holiday periods) it still accounts for between 15% and 20% of retail sales (even in a mature market like the U.S. it was only just over 16% at of the last quarter, per the U.S. Census Bureau).

Qeen’s thesis is that this could grow if the e-commerce processes were run better. Success in e-commerce, they believed, should be about great products and operational efficiency — not just who can game the ad system best. That insight led them to build a platform that helps e-commerce sellers grow without relying on ads as their primary driver.

The global e-commerce market is expanding fast, driven by changing consumer behavior, digital payments, and better logistics. In MENA, the market is expected to hit $50 billion by 2025, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE leading the growth.

Qeen.ai is tapping into this boom by developing AI-powered marketing agents designed for e-commerce businesses across MENA. These fully automated agents handle content creation, marketing, and conversational sales, allowing small and mid-sized merchants to compete without relying on expensive agencies or deep ad expertise.

Unlike traditional solutions, Qeen’s AI continuously learns from consumer interactions using its proprietary RL-UI technology, refining marketing strategies in real-time for better results.

While AI-powered sales and customer service tools often struggle with high churn rates, as businesses frequently switch platforms, Qeen.ai claims to see stronger retention in e-commerce and marketing. Ibrahimi attributes this to how deeply Qeen’s AI agents integrate into merchants’ workflows, making them a core part of daily operations rather than a replaceable tool.

A key feature driving engagement is dynamic text personalization, which adjusts content based on user behavior and device type. For example, an iPhone user might see product details in bullet points for quick reading, while a laptop user gets a detailed paragraph.

Since launching its Dynamic Content agent in Q2 2024, Qeen.ai has served over 15 million users, generated 1 million SKU descriptions, and helped merchants increase sales by 30%, according to the company.

“We worked with a client to optimize their content and SEO. After using our AI plugins, their search volume increased by 40%, and their Google ranking improved from 22 to 18—all with zero manual effort. The entire process was fully autonomous,” said Ibrahimi, giving another instance where Qeen’s AI capabilities have shone. 

Qeen employs a subscription-based pricing model and incorporates value-based pricing, a growing trend in AI services. Currently, qeen generates revenue through two subscription models: content automation, where businesses pay per active SKU, typically $0.10 to $0.20 per SKU per month. Then its AI marketing agent whose pricing is based on per-interaction volume. 

Ibrahimi declined to disclose the number of businesses using qeen, as well as revenue growth metrics. Notable clients include Dubai Store, 6th Street, and Jumia.

Ibrahimi left DeepMind in early 2023 to co-found the startup. That same year, the company raised a $2 million pre-seed round before launching its product in June 2024. With its recent $10 million seed round, qeen has raised a total of $12 million in under a year.

During this time, AI-powered marketing agents have gained traction worldwide, with several startups, particularly in the U.S. and Europe, entering the space. Competitors like YC-backed Unusual and Rankai are tackling similar challenges, so how does Qeen stand out?

Well, for one, most of these AI startups focus on developed markets, while Qeen instead is prioritizing the Middle East first—a region largely underserved by AI-driven marketing automation tools. According to Ibrahimi, Qeen will serve small businesses across MENA, establish a strong foothold, and then expand globally.

Deep tech expertise and a strong talent pool give Qeen an edge over new entrants, the chief executive added. Two of its co-founders earned PhDs in AI over a decade ago, long before AI became mainstream. Ibrahimi himself previously led a DeepMind research team specializing in self-learning, goal-driven AI agents—the same technology that now powers Qeen.

“One of the most exciting things we’ve seen is the quality of AI talent here,” Ibrahimi said. “We’ve attracted great talent both locally and internationally—people have left the Bay Area, Europe, and the UK to come here and build with us.”

Qeen.ai currently employs over 25 people across the UAE and Jordan.

The seed funding will support qeen’s growth strategy by expanding its AI platform, scaling its team, and attracting more customers, it said. Wamda Capital, 10X Founders Fund, and Dara Holdings are among the other investors in this round.