The problem
Coffee drinkers queued every morning with no way to order ahead, and independent coffee houses had no digital storefront — while behind the counter, F&B businesses ran purchasing and stock on manual, fragmented routines.
How it works
The COFE App marketplace lets customers order and pay for customised drinks from local and international coffee vendors, choosing fast delivery, counter pickup, or car pickup. Rebranded as COFE Tech, the company now layers Agentic Procurement and Agentic Commerce on top: AI agents that watch business activity, anticipate needs, and execute procurement, commerce, and inventory workflows — “one core with two engines,” in CTO Shahood Siddiqui’s description.
Pain points
Lost mornings in line, vendors unable to reach customers beyond foot traffic, and enterprise software that passively records operations instead of actively running them.
Business model
Consumer order flow through thousands of partner outlets, extended into enterprise contracts as Gulf businesses pay for AI-run procurement and commerce workflows.
Challenges
The pivot from coffee marketplace to horizontal enterprise platform must still prove commercial value outlet by outlet; global software giants want the same enterprise budgets; and the road to a Saudi listing requires governance a consumer app never needed.
Funding
- Raised: $3.2M Pre-Series A led by KISP Ventures (MENAbytes); later a round including $10M from Al Imtiaz; $15M Series B led by WAED Ventures with eWTP Arabia Capital, Al Imtiaz ($1M top-up, $11M total), KISP Ventures, and Rasameel (Comunicaffe, Mar 2023).
- Valuation: $178M pre-IPO valuation (Startup Muslim, Sep 2026).
Latest — September 2026
On 4 September 2026 COFE Tech closed a pre-IPO round at a $178 million valuation, confirming its shift from consumer coffee marketplace to AI-powered enterprise platform serving 1,000+ clients across 3,000 outlets in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE — with preparations underway for a potential Saudi listing targeted for 2029.