AI Startup Tactful Nabs Game-Changing Investment from Telecoms Veteran
Egypt-based AI startup Tactful AI has secured an investment from former e& Group CEO Hatem Dowidar, extending its pre-Series A funding. This investment supports the launch of its next-generation agentic AI platform, designed to revolutionize customer experience workflows for enterprises. The company, which has seen significant growth in revenue and customer conversations, is preparing for a Series A round in 2027.
Egypt-based AI startup Tactful AI has successfully secured an undisclosed investment from Hatem Dowidar, the former Group CEO of e&. This strategic funding serves to extend its pre-Series A round, which was initially announced in February 2026 and co-led by Foras AI and M Empire. The capital injection is set to bolster Tactful AI's preparations for a significant technology launch and its upcoming Series A funding round, anticipated in 2027.
Founded in 2016 by Mohamed Elmasry and Mohamed Hassan, Tactful AI specializes in developing an advanced agentic AI-powered customer experience (CX) platform. This innovative platform empowers businesses to efficiently manage customer interactions, automate complex workflows, and meticulously analyze conversations across a multitude of channels. A key differentiator for Tactful AI is its impending introduction of next-generation agentic AI technology, which will enable enterprises to construct and modify end-to-end CX workflows in a matter of hours, a dramatic reduction from the months typically required, all while maintaining crucial human oversight. This capability addresses a critical enterprise challenge by moving beyond routine query answering to comprehensive workflow management.
Tactful AI has demonstrated remarkable growth, with its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) soaring 11.7 times since January 2025. Over the same period, the platform has processed an astonishing 32 times more monthly customer conversations, underscoring its proven infrastructure and strong market traction. Its diverse client portfolio includes prominent names such as Elaraby Group, Raneen, 2B, Lucky One, Erada Finance, and Simplex. This recent extension builds upon an initial pre-Series A round that previously raised US$1 million.
Hatem Dowidar's investment is particularly significant due to his extensive experience, spanning over 25 years in the telecommunications and technology sectors, including high-profile leadership roles at e& and Vodafone. His involvement provides not only essential capital but also invaluable strategic guidance and market credibility. Both Mohamed Elmasry, Co-founder and CEO, and Dowidar himself highlighted the importance of his deep understanding of enterprise needs for deploying new customer-facing technologies safely and at scale. Dowidar's insights are crucial as Tactful AI gears up for its advanced platform launch and future funding efforts.
An interesting development in the company's trajectory was its reacquisition by its founders in July 2025, following a period under European communications company Dstny, which had acquired it in 2022. This strategic move allowed the founders to regain control, independently steer the company's innovation, and chart its future growth trajectory. With teams operating in Cairo, Egypt, and Cambridge, UK, Tactful AI plans to reveal further technical details about its groundbreaking agentic AI technology in the coming months, ahead of its planned Series A funding round in 2027. This backing positions Tactful AI to potentially establish a new industry benchmark for agentic AI-driven customer experience.