The ballroom at Riyadh’s King Abdulaziz International Conference Center was buzzing with global investors, policymakers and innovators who had converged for the Future Investment Initiative (FII) — Saudi Arabia’s annual “Davos in the Desert.” This year’s summit left little doubt: artificial intelligence has become the Kingdom’s defining investment theme.
One thing became clear, especially to the real estate and construction industry, which the kingdom has heavily favoured in the past years: Saudi Arabia’s next construction boom won’t be built on concrete alone — it’ll be powered by algorithms.
Over three days, the Kingdom unveiled a wave of AI-driven initiatives and deals, signaling a shift from financing physical infrastructure to investing in the intelligence that powers it. The Public Investment Fund announced backing for HUMAIN, a Saudi AI company focused on sovereign data systems, while other government agencies revealed new partnerships with Google Cloud and OpenAI. AI is no longer a sideshow in Vision 2030, it’s being positioned to become the operating system of Saudi Arabia’s economy.
This shift means instead of simply funding new projects, investors are now backing AI tools that can design, monitor, and optimize how cities are built.
Among the biggest announcements, UAE’s Al-Futtaim Group pledged 10 billion Saudi riyals ($2.6 billion) to expand into real estate, retail, finance, and automotive — sectors now converging around data-driven growth. At the same event, Arabian Dyar signed a $100 million deal with Google to bring AI and big-data analytics into real estate — using predictive models, digital twins, and energy-optimization tools to streamline construction and management.
Globally, the AI in PropTech market (startups using AI to modernize real estate and construction) is projected to grow from $20.5 billion in 2023 to $159.9 billion by 2033, expanding nearly 23% annually. For Saudi Arabia, where giga-projects like NEOM and Diriyah define its future, AI isn’t replacing real estate, it’s supercharging it.
That’s where NeoCity comes in: a venture platform attracting and scaling AI companies solving real estate and construction problems in the Kingdom. Our inaugural cohort of 10 companies, from the U.S., U.K., and Singapore, have raised $10 million and are already partnering with leading Saudi developers. More than funding, NeoCity offers a clear path to market integration, connecting startups to regulators, investors, and builders.
Saudi Arabia isn’t moving away from real estate but investing in the intelligence that will build it better. NeoCity is built around that same vision.
