STARTUP WATCH-

Personal-care-industry platform Naeem has closed a pre-seed round led by Lunment and a group of angel investors. The company, founded in 2002 by Abdullah Al Mansour (CEO) and Saleh Al Butti (technical director, did not say how much money it has raised.

What does Naeem do? The company offers a full digital platform for salons, barber shops, spas, and other personal services providers to manage bookings, their finances, and operations.

RELOCATION-

N3XT Sports is coming to Riyadh:Barcelona-based sports consulting firm N3xt Sports will open an office in Riyadh next year under its expansion plans into the MENA region, it said in a statement. The expansion will be led by the company’s Chief Operating Officer, Hisham Shehabi, who will be based in Riyadh, it said.

And CBRE is expanding: The real estate consultancy, which has been in Saudi for 15 years, opened its second office in the Kingdom yesterday at Riyadh’s Al-Faisaliah Tower.

REMEMBER- Companies face a 1 January 2024 deadline to move their regional HQ’s to Saudi or run the risk of losing out on government contracts. At least 200 foreign companies have so far established HQs here, according to Investment Minister Khaled Al-Falih.

SAUDIZATION-

Ins. sales jobs will go only to Saudi citizens effective 15 April 2024, the Ins. Authority ruled yesterday. And there’s no back door: The authority also ordered that execs who are not in sales function will not be allowed to take commissions related to sales activity

AVIATION-

Riyadh Air is going live with Swiss Aviation Software’s AMOS: The kingdom’s newest carrier, Riyadh Air, said it is deploying aviation maintenance and engineering software from Switzerland’s Swiss Aviation Software (Swiss-AS).

Not the first: Budget airliner flynas went live with Swiss-AS’ AMOS product over the summer after a 14-month implementation period.

LEGISLATION-

An easier way to obtain commercial licenses is in the works: The Municipal, Rural and Housing Ministry is currently finalizing procedures related to commercial licenses, Al Madina reported yesterday. It said municipalities should issue licenses within 10 working days from the date of submission of applications through an online portal. Civil Defense and other relevant authorities should approve added activities to the commercial license when necessary, the amendments showed.

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