Dubai-based cybersecurity AI startup, SpiderSilk, announced it secured a US$9 million funding round led by Wa’ed Ventures, aiming to expand its cyber defense tech to the kingdom, according to a company statement.

Wa’ed Ventures is Aramco’s $500 million Kingdom-based venture capital fund; the round has seen participation from STV and Global Ventures.

SpiderSilk is providing it’s AI-enabled cyber security platform that allows companies to decrease their operational cost and upgrade their cybersecurity measures.

The startup was launched by El Malak and Mossab Hussein in 2019.

Rami El Malak, co-founder, and CEO at SpiderSilk, said in a statement, “While the GCC is a key technology market, there is hardly any IP being built in the region for the region and beyond,

“We believe that it is increasingly important to achieve self-reliance in this sector for the benefit of the public and private organizations

“This investment is a watershed moment for the regional tech ecosystem, and we hope that it will open doors for more entrepreneurs to innovate in our space,” he said.

“As an emerging market, achieving self-reliance when it comes to cybersecurity depends heavily on our ability to back regional pioneers the likes of SpiderSilk who not only understand the criticality of data breaches affecting our market but whose mission is to also educate clients and regulators on the cyber threats they themselves might be missing,” Fahad Alidi, Managing Director at Wa’ed Ventures, said in the statement.

SpiderSilk signed its first 5-year agreements with global big companies such as Unisys to provide autonomous cyber defense capabilities.

Venture Capital investors have shown high interest in investing in cybersecurity based on AI estimated at $1.9 billion raised globally across 153 deals last quarter alone (Q3, 2023), according to TechCrunch.