UAE's IQ Robotics sets up Saudi HQ to launch robotic fulfillment operations

IQ Robotics is moving from selling warehouse robots in Saudi Arabia to running fulfillment here itself. The UAE-founded automation company set up a Saudi headquarters this month and is preparing to launch robotic fulfillment operations in the city, founder and CEO Fadi Amoudi tells EnterpriseAM. The operations will include storing, picking, packing, and delivering orders for e-commerce companies. “We’re here on the ground with a team that will also transform other warehouses by providing them [with] robotics solutions,” Amoudi says.

The Saudi buildout: The Riyadh headquarters is still in its early stages. Amoudi says the local team could initially grow to 20 people and later to 50, out of around 150 staff company-wide. IQ Robotics already serves Saudi clients in Riyadh, Jeddah, and the Eastern Province, and has deployed more than 1k robots across the region, around 400 of which are in Riyadh.

The company will also sell its warehouse-management software, which handles inventory, orders, and deliveries, and install robots and automation systems for companies running their own facilities. The software is developed in-house, while the physical hardware is sourced from overseas suppliers. Its sister business, IQ Fulfillment, launched what the company says was the MENA region’s first robotics fulfillment hub in Dubai in 2019.

The automation side reaches well beyond e-commerce into automotive and spare parts, oil and gas, fashion, retail, pharma, and local manufacturing. “If you have an asset and an infrastructure and a warehouse, we come in and transform that warehouse,” Amoudi says.

“Saudi is the biggest logistics hub currently in the region that is undergoing a tremendous transformation,” Amoudi says, and “can also be the pathway and the gateway in order to expand into other markets from here.” The company was founded in the UAE around the turn of 2020, but was doing business in Saudi Arabia from the start, and has since expanded to Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain. It ships to more than 150 countries.

Growth is holding up, even as it comes in below target: IQ Robotics had been projecting around 2.2x growth this year, but Amoudi says current market challenges have weighed on that target. “We’re still maintaining a positive 40 to 45% growth, which is very optimistic and very good in regards to what’s happening,” he tells us.

Where the money comes from: IQ Robotics is self-funded but has previously taken strategic investment, Amoudi says, declining to disclose how much capital has been invested in the business. The company could consider bringing in additional outside investment in the future, he says.