Saudi Cybersecurity Firm COGNNA Gets Investment From Aramco's Wa'ed Ventures

The money will support the company's expansion and further development of its AI-driven security operations products, according to Jawlah, which reported the deal on Saturday. COGNNA is targeting customers in Gulf states and other markets.

The deal adds a strategic, state-linked backer to a young company in one of the sectors the kingdom treats as a priority. Saudi demand for managed security services has been rising as government bodies and large companies move more systems online, and local providers with national accreditation have an advantage in bidding for that work.

Founded in 2022, COGNNA sells managed detection and response. Its Nexus platform uses AI agents to detect threats, triage alerts, investigate incidents and carry out responses, with human analysts supervising the process. The company says the platform connects to more than 300 security tools, including Microsoft Defender XDR, Microsoft Sentinel and Google SecOps. It also offers governance and compliance work, risk management, security assessments, consulting and incident response, and holds licences and accreditations from the National Cybersecurity Authority and the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority.

The Wa'ed investment comes less than a year after COGNNA raised a $9.2 million Series A, announced on December 2, 2025 at Black Hat MEA in Riyadh. That round was led by Impact46, with BNVT Capital, Vision Ventures and Tali Ventures taking part. At the time, the company said it would use the funds to strengthen its AI and automation capabilities, expand in the Middle East and internationally, grow its engineering and security operations centre teams, and build infrastructure to scale. Ibrahim AlShamrani is chief executive and Ziyad AlSheri is chief technology officer.

Neither COGNNA nor Wa'ed Ventures has commented publicly on the terms. Black Hat MEA, where the company announced its last round, returns to Riyadh in December.