Wa’ed Ventures Invests in Resemble AI to Shield Saudi Arabia from Deepfake Fraud

Wa’ed Ventures, the 500 million dollar venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco, has announced a strategic investment in Resemble AI to combat the escalating threat of AI-generated fraud. Based in California, Resemble AI specializes in high-fidelity voice generation and real-time detection of multimodal deepfakes. This partnership aims to deploy advanced security tools across Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf region to protect public and private interests against synthetic media manipulation.

The move comes at a time when deepfake-related scams are projected to cause 40 billion dollars in global damages by 2027. In Saudi Arabia, the urgency is particularly high following a reported 600 percent increase in deepfake incidents over the past year. Organizations are increasingly seeking reliable ways to verify content authenticity as adversarial AI tools become more accessible to cybercriminals globally.

Resemble AI offers a unique platform that allows for both cloud and on-premise deployment. This capability is vital for government and defense sectors that must comply with strict regional data sovereignty requirements. By processing sensitive audio and voice data locally, these entities can utilize AI verification without compromising secure internal servers or violating national security protocols.

The startup previously secured a 13 million dollar strategic round backed by prominent global investors including Google’s AI Future Fund and the Sony Innovation Fund. With the addition of Wa’ed Ventures, Resemble AI is well-positioned to scale its operations into the Middle East market. The company recently launched its DETECT-3B Omni model, which boasts 98 percent detection accuracy across more than 38 languages. Anas Algahtani, CEO of Wa’ed Ventures, emphasized that the fund works closely with founders to scale technologies rooted in Saudi Arabia’s priorities. He noted that as the Kingdom strengthens AI governance, solutions for digital trust directly support efforts to ensure secure and ethical AI adoption. Zohaib Ahmed, CEO of Resemble AI, added that the backing accelerates their ability to provide protection to a region facing an unprecedented surge in fraud. As Saudi Arabia advances its Vision 2030 goals, securing the digital economy remains a top priority. The Kingdom’s Anti-Cybercrime Law already provides a legal framework to penalize the spread of misinformation and fake news. Integrating Resemble AI’s detection models provides the technical infrastructure needed to enforce these regulations and maintain public trust in digital communications.