AI Giants Humain and G42 Eye New Funding to Support Global Growth
Saudi Arabia’s Humain is taking further steps toward a potential stock market listing by recruiting a preparation team, as some of the Gulf’s largest state-backed technology companies increasingly turn to capital markets to fund their ambitions.
Majority-owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, Humain spans data centers, computing infrastructure, software, and consumer products. CEO Tareq Amin issued a public appeal for talent in a LinkedIn post Sunday, saying he’s looking for candidates with top-tier management consulting experience, strong financial and strategic depth, and background in investor-facing strategy and IPO preparation. “This is not a conventional strategy role,” he said, adding that applicants would need to understand complex businesses and financials, challenge existing strategy, and help build a compelling investment narrative. No timeline for a public listing has been announced.
The move comes amid a broader surge of activity in the region’s tech sector. More than $15 billion worth of technology investments, product launches, and partnerships were announced at the Leap conference in Riyadh last week. While not all of this represented foreign direct investment, the scale underscored the significant capital flowing into the space.
Abu Dhabi-based technology group G42, backed by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala, is also reportedly considering bringing in outside investors. Vijay Valecha, chief investment officer at Dubai-based Century Financial, said the developments at both Humain and G42 are meaningful, though both companies’ plans remain at an early stage. “The starting gun on Gulf AI listings might have been loaded, rather than fully fired,” he told AGBI. Valecha added that a public listing could help Humain diversify its funding sources as it shifts from building infrastructure toward generating commercial returns. Humain declined to comment on whether it has appointed investment banks or other external advisers.
G42, meanwhile, was the subject of two separate reports last week regarding potential changes to its funding and ownership structure. Bloomberg first reported that the company had held exploratory talks to raise billions of dollars from outside investors. Two days later, the news agency reported that G42 was also weighing the sale of a majority stake to American companies, a move partly aimed at safeguarding continued access to advanced US-made chips. According to Bloomberg, both discussions remain in early stages, with no final decisions made. AGBI has reached out to G42 for comment.
Valecha noted that both companies have relied heavily on sovereign backing to build infrastructure and secure technology partnerships. “As those businesses move towards commercial deployment, the next logical step may be to bring in external capital,” he said. “That also lets the Gulf states multiply deployed capital without proportionally increasing their sovereign exposure.” He cautioned that public-market investors would expect clear evidence of sustainable revenue, earnings, and returns, adding that companies unable to demonstrate a clear path to profitability might instead be valued more like capital-intensive infrastructure businesses.
Chiro Ghosh, group head of research at Bahrain-based investment bank Sico, said the operating models behind next-generation technology companies are inherently capital intensive, requiring substantial long-term funding. “We believe sovereign wealth funds are seeking to capitalise on the heightened investor interest in the sector, while simultaneously unlocking capital and supporting the continued expansion of their AI ambitions,” he told AGBI.
In October 2025, Amin told the Future Investment Initiative conference that Humain was planning a public listing within three to four years, with consideration being given to a dual listing in both Saudi Arabia and the US. Separately, news outlet Semafor reported in January that the Public Investment Fund had identified as many as eight companies as potential listing candidates this year, alongside possible partial sales of some existing listed holdings — though none of the companies named in that report have gone public so far this year.
Humain launched in May 2025 during President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia and has since expanded rapidly across infrastructure, software, and hardware. At the Leap conference, Humain unveiled Horizon Ultra, an agentic laptop developed in partnership with US chip designer Qualcomm, and announced a partnership with US vehicle software company Applied Intuition to introduce thousands of autonomous trucks across Saudi Arabia by 2030.
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