The story of Unifonic: is Unifonic the next Saudi startup worth a billion?
The story of Unifonic and brothers Ahmed and Hassan Hamdan: from a bulk-messaging site at King Fahd University in 2006, to 12 years without an investor, to a $125 million round led by SoftBank and Sanabil, and a platform that more than 10 billion transactions a year pass through.
Full film transcript
In 2006, a student at King Fahd University couldn't message all the students at once.
So his brother built him a bulk-messaging site.
That site is today Unifonic: a platform that more than 10 billion transactions pass through every year.
The brothers: Ahmed and Hassan Hamdan.
Ahmed studied software engineering at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
The site was called Resalaty. And the first big customer: Toyota Saudi Arabia, in 2010.
And after that, it was renamed Unifonic.
And the surprise: 12 years without a single investor. And it had been profitable for years.
In 2018, the first round: $21 million, led by STV.
And in 2021, 125 million, led by SoftBank and Sanabil.
And it was SoftBank's first direct investment in a Saudi company.
Today Unifonic isn't just messages: WhatsApp, calls, verification codes, and AI agents.
And it serves banks, companies, and major organizations in the Kingdom.
And it acquired two Turkish companies: Sestek in 2022, and Segmentify in 2026.
And its valuation? Not announced. But its CEO said the goal: unicorn, before going public within two years.
The lesson for you as a founder: a small problem at a university can become the infrastructure for an entire market.
Follow us at Saudi Founders.
Detailed figures and sources are in the Unifonic profile in the directory.
