Born in the region and built for the world, new venture studio will invest in and boost early-stage companies with global potential
Dubai, UAE & Riyadh, KSA, 20 November 2025
FAST Ventures, a marketing holding company, at the intersection of marketing, technology, and consumers has launched FAST Foundry, its investment arm and venture studio backed by a $3 million fund to boost early stage startups across the wider MENA region. FAST Foundry will invest in startups building the next wave of AdTech, Retail, Creator, AI and marketing products with global potential.
FAST Foundry is born in the region and built for the world. It combines investment with the full FAST Ventures ecosystem, giving startups access to specialist teams in product, marketing, creators and AI, plus a clear path from idea to traction.
Waseem Afzal, CEO of FAST Ventures commented, “For years, the region has relied on imported, white-labeled technology. It solved short-term gaps, but it never built a real ecosystem. We created FAST Ventures to address that – to build original, homegrown IP that understands this region deeply and can scale globally. FAST Foundry is the next chapter. We’re backing founders who want to create the tools, platforms and products that redefine how marketing and growth work – built in MENA, for the world.”
FAST Foundry will focus on four themes where technology, culture and commerce meet:
• AI native marketing agents
• Retail and commerce media infrastructure
• Creator commerce and influencer infrastructure
• Emerging Consumer Verticals: FinTech, PropTech, TravelTech and EdTech
FAST Foundry is designed around a clear challenge. Unfortunately, many young companies close when growth and revenues stall, even when the product is strong. Research shows that around 90% of MENA startups fail and close within the first few years before reaching profitability, while 43% say they struggle to increase and build repeatable demand.
Selected startups receive investment plus workspace at either FAST Ventures HQ in Internet City, Dubai, as well as FAST’s offices in Riyadh, where they will receive engineering and go to market support from various services and entities under the FAST Ventures umbrella. These include ‘Platformance’, the fastest growing growth marketing platform in the region, delivering real business outcomes; ‘Lion’, the award-winning AI-creative shop of Platformance; and ‘Calibrate’, an end-to-end digital commerce studio; as well as preferred access to cloud credits, and on call senior talent across product, creative and commercial roles.
Since 2022, the FAST Ventures system has delivered business growth outcomes across marketing, product, creators and data. The team includes seasoned veterans with over two decades of experience in building brands, scaling platforms and driving growth for clients across MENA and beyond.
FAST Ventures’ Intellectual Property consists of platforms, AI models/agents, and services, all focused on simplifying marketing operations, building commercial infrastructure and accelerating measurable growth.
For more on FAST Ventures, visit https://www.weareFAST.io/
FAST Foundry is now live. Applications are open to early-stage companies across the MENA region
who are building product led companies.
To apply: https://foundry.weareFAST.io
Today we are launching FAST Foundry: a $3 million fund and venture studio backing MENA’s next wave of AI, AdTech and creator start ups.
Over the last few years we have seen the region lean on imported and often white labelled technology. It helped in the short term. It did not always build a real ecosystem. FAST Ventures was created to change that by building original, home grown IP that understands this region deeply and can scale globally. FAST Foundry is the next chapter in that journey.
FAST Foundry invests in early stage start ups across Saudi Arabia and MENA that are building product led, growth focused businesses at the intersection of:
- AI native marketing agents
- Retail and commerce media infrastructure
- Creator commerce and influencer infrastructure
- Vertical AdTech for FinTech, PropTech, TravelTech and EdTech
Start ups that join FAST Foundry plug into capital and capability from day one:
workspace at FAST Ventures HQ in Dubai Internet City, engineering and go to market support from Platformance, Lion and Calibrate, preferred cloud credits, and on call senior talent across product, creative and commercial roles.
FAST Foundry is now open for applications.
Learn more and apply: https://foundry.weareFAST.io
After almost 3 decades in marketing, all of it on the brand side or inside big tech, one pattern became hard to ignore.
The relationship between marketers, agencies and platforms is under real strain and we are seeing this playout with the seismic movements happening in our industry.
On paper we all want the same thing: clear growth, accountable spend, work that respects the customer. In practice, the system has become complex. Every agency measures in its own way. Every platform marks its own homework. One dashboard says one thing, another says something else. It leaves marketers asking a simple question with no simple answer: who and what numbers do you trust?
Finance has balance sheets, profit and loss, cash flow statements. Everyone uses the same language and ways to measure/report. Marketing still does not.
This is one of the reasons I joined FAST Ventures.
Here, we are trying to reconnect marketing with its fundamentals and remove some of that ambiguity. We look at marketing as a full system, not a single channel. Creative, media, data and product sit inside one growth operating system, with a clear line to outcomes.
That is also why I am so excited about FAST Foundry, the $3 million venture studio we have just launched.
Waseem captured it well in today’s announcement. For years, a lot of the underlying IP in this region has been imported or white labelled. The spend comes from here, while much of the value, profit and employment sit elsewhere. FAST Ventures exists to help change that. To build original, home grown IP that understands this region and can scale globally. FAST Foundry is the next chapter in that journey.
We want to work with start ups across MENA that are building into this marketing ecosystem: AI native marketing agents, retail and commerce media infrastructure, creator commerce and influencer tools, and vertical AdTech across FinTech, PropTech, TravelTech and EdTech.
Built in the region, for the region, with the ambition to travel.
If you are building in this space and any of this resonates, take a look at what we are doing, and lets connect and speak!
🔗 https://foundry.weareFAST.io