Omani Startup Revolutionizes Food Supply Chain with AI: What Regional Expansion Means for Investors and Entrepreneurs
MUSCAT – Oman’s food and beverage (F&B) sector is welcoming an innovative new player that merges technology with sustainability. ZabonEx, a Muscat-based startup leveraging predictive analytics to help businesses “sell more and waste less,” aims to establish itself as a leading force across the region.
In an exclusive interview with Oman Observer, co-founder Hatim Moosa al Abri revealed that the company is swiftly advancing following a successful $100,000 pre-seed funding round led by Future Fund Oman and ITHCA Group. This investment, secured last month, not only provides crucial financial backing but also validates ZabonEx’s mission to tackle the pressing issue of food waste in the region.
“We will use this capital to accelerate growth while maintaining discipline,” Hatim said. “Technologically, we are enhancing prediction accuracy, adding plug-and-play integrations with popular POS and ERP systems, and automating model updates so clients won’t require additional IT resources. On the market front, we are transforming successful pilot projects in Oman into scalable models for expansion across the GCC.”
Founded by Hatim and co-founder Almuhannad al Balushi, ZabonEx offers a SaaS platform tailored for food and beverage producers, distributors, and retailers. The system integrates with customers’ sales and inventory data to forecast demand at product and outlet levels, delivering clear, actionable order recommendations.
Unlike many forecasting tools that focus on broad trends, ZabonEx provides detailed daily insights, factoring in product shelf life, minimum delivery volumes, and logistics routes. Users benefit from a straightforward dashboard where they can adjust assumptions and seamlessly sync data back into their internal systems.
“What sets us apart is our ability to provide daily, actionable insights with fast deployment,” Hatim noted. “We also incorporate human-in-the-loop controls and offer an optional computer-vision feature to improve shelf and expiry data accuracy. Our goal is to make technology practical and accessible, not complex.”
Following proof of concept success in Oman, ZabonEx is preparing regional expansion, targeting Saudi Arabia and the UAE initially, followed by Qatar and Bahrain. These markets share similar retail frameworks and strong national commitments to enhancing food security.
“The opportunities are substantial, especially with multi-brand distributors and government initiatives aimed at reducing food waste,” Hatim explained. “Challenges include change management, data variability, and extended sales cycles. We tackle these with short, impactful pilots, bilingual product support in Arabic and English, and robust local partnerships.”
ZabonEx aligns with GCC directives for data sovereignty by ensuring its cloud-based platform complies with local data residency regulations, reinforcing its position as a trusted partner within a regulated environment.
Central to ZabonEx’s mission is not just operational efficiency but also environmental and social impact. With the UN estimating that one-third of all food produced is wasted globally, reducing food waste in the GCC—where food imports predominate—is critical for national food security.
By enabling businesses to place more precise orders, ZabonEx helps cut down on product expiries, minimize returns, and improve shelf availability. These incremental improvements collectively create significant, lasting effects throughout the supply chain.
“This directly supports Oman Vision 2040 and wider regional priorities on food security and sustainable consumption,” Hatim emphasized. “For ZabonEx, success means generating less waste and more sales. This funding accelerates our ability to deliver these benefits across the region while building robust data systems for sustained impact.”
With solid investor support, a growing team, and a scalable platform, ZabonEx aspires to become the “intelligence backbone” of the Middle East’s food supply chain.
Its clear strategic path includes deepening roots in Oman, expanding into neighboring markets, and continuously refining its predictive technology to enable smarter business decisions for F&B companies of all sizes.
As Oman advances its focus on entrepreneurship and digital innovation under Vision 2040, startups like ZabonEx demonstrate the power of local solutions to address global challenges while fostering regional growth.
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ZabonEx’s innovative use of predictive analytics to reduce food waste presents a compelling opportunity for Omani F&B businesses to boost efficiency and profitability while aligning with Oman Vision 2040’s sustainability goals. For investors and entrepreneurs, backing such tech-driven, scalable solutions not only addresses pressing regional challenges but also positions them at the forefront of the GCC’s evolving food security and digital transformation landscape. Embracing this trend early can unlock competitive advantages and long-term impact in a market hungry for smart, sustainable innovation.
