Journify Expands into Saudi Market

Journify, a fast-growing AI-powered customer data platform, has officially expanded into Saudi Arabia through a strategic collaboration with AstroLabs, a Gulf-based market entry partner. The company, which operates from headquarters in the United States and the UAE, has established a new office in Riyadh to support local clients more effectively and to accelerate adoption of its first-party data activation tools.

Founded in 2023, Journify offers tools that help brands collect, unify, and activate their first-party data across key advertising platforms like Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat. Unlike traditional marketing platforms, Journify works server-side, ensuring privacy compliance, higher data accuracy, and real-time campaign optimization.

The decision to expand into Saudi Arabia follows a strong commercial performance. Earlier in 2025, Journify raised a 4 million dollar seed round led by Silicon Badia, joined by other investors such as RZM Investment, Shorooq Partners, Bunat Ventures, and Plug and Play. This funding supported the company’s rapid growth across the Gulf and helped build its AI roadmap, including agent-based automation and predictive marketing tools.

In less than nine months after its March 2024 launch, Journify achieved 1 million dollars in annual recurring revenue. Its platform has already been used by regional brands to reach more than 30 million users across the MENA region. According to company statements, this rapid adoption reflects rising demand for privacy-first, performance-driven marketing solutions (The Fintech Times).

The company’s flagship product, AdBooster, enables advertisers to upload, process, and activate their first-party customer data on major ad platforms. This includes campaign execution without relying on third-party cookies, which are being phased out globally. Journify’s technology helps marketers achieve significantly higher match rates, reduced customer acquisition costs, and improved return on ad spend (ROAS) (Zawya).

Journify has already delivered strong results for Saudi-based companies. Jarir Bookstore, a leading regional retailer, used the platform to activate first-party data across Meta platforms, achieving a 182 percent improvement in ROAS and a 51 percent decrease in cost per acquisition. Similarly, Baytonia, a home goods brand, saw an 80 percent lift in performance on TikTok with a 44 percent cost reduction, all powered through Journify’s integrations (Zawya).

Taoufik El Jamali, co-founder and CEO of Journify, stated that Saudi Arabia is one of the fastest-growing digital economies in the world. He explained that the company’s new presence in Riyadh is designed to bring it closer to its customer base and to build local capacity, especially as demand rises for compliant, intelligent marketing infrastructure (The Fintech Times).

Alex Nicholls, Director of Expansion at AstroLabs, emphasized that the Kingdom’s businesses are looking for enterprise-grade tools that combine AI, privacy compliance, and real-time activation. Journify’s platform, he noted, fits the need for brands that want to unify customer data and measure the impact of their marketing spend more effectively (The Fintech Times).

Journify’s expansion supports Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which places digital transformation at the center of national economic growth. The Kingdom has made significant investments in its digital infrastructure, e-commerce ecosystem, and marketing technology sectors. Journify aims to support local brands operating in industries such as retail, finance, and logistics—sectors that are rapidly scaling digital operations.

Beyond customer-facing campaigns, the company is also enhancing its product offering to support marketers with AI agents capable of optimizing campaigns without manual intervention. These include predictive bidding models, creative testing automation, and attribution modeling tools. The engineering and product teams are being expanded, with a focus on hiring locally in Saudi Arabia and across the GCC.

To accommodate growing interest, Journify is investing in customer success operations and localized support. The Riyadh office will serve as both a commercial and technical hub, providing training, onboarding, and performance optimization for regional partners and agencies.

As third-party cookies become obsolete, advertisers are shifting toward solutions that allow them to maintain audience targeting, campaign attribution, and regulatory compliance. Journify’s focus on server-side data handling and privacy-first architecture positions it strongly in a landscape where compliance and performance go hand in hand.

Data from the Middle East and North Africa e-commerce market indicates continued growth. In 2024, digital ad spending across the region surpassed 7 billion dollars, a 20 percent increase from the previous year. As more brands move marketing budgets toward measurable, high-ROI solutions, demand for platforms like Journify is expected to grow sharply.

In addition to Saudi Arabia, the company plans further expansion across the GCC, including deeper operations in the UAE and planned market entries in Kuwait and Bahrain. Journify also continues to build relationships with global advertising platforms such as TikTok, Amazon Ads, and Google Cloud to ensure regional compatibility and maximum integration support.

Journify’s entry into Saudi Arabia signals a broader trend in the Gulf: the convergence of marketing, AI, and data governance. With its product, team, and funding foundation in place, Journify is aiming to become one of the leading martech platforms in the Middle East.