AI in Oman

In Muscat's fast-growing hospitality sector, a quiet revolution has been underway since 2021. Fascano, an Omani cloud platform built for restaurants, cafés, and hotels, closed a $10 million third funding round in April 2026, backed by the Oman Investment Authority. It is now one of the most well-funded hospitality tech startups to emerge from the Gulf outside Saudi Arabia.

🍽️ What Fascano Does (In Plain English)

Running a restaurant is harder than it looks. Most operators juggle five or six disconnected tools: one for ordering, another for inventory, a third for loyalty cards, and a separate system for the kitchen. Fascano replaces that patchwork with a single cloud platform, built from the ground up for MENA operators.

The company's tagline says it plainly: Fast. Scan. Order. Diners scan a QR code, browse a digital menu, and pay without waiting for a waiter. Behind the scenes, the restaurant gets a real-time view of every order, every inventory item, and every branch, all in one dashboard.

The platform covers:

• Point of Sale (POS) for dine-in and counter service
• Multi-channel online ordering via QR codes, web storefronts, and delivery platform integrations
• Kitchen Display System (KDS) to coordinate back-of-house operations in real time
• Real-time inventory tracking with automated cost analysis
• CRM and loyalty programs so restaurants own their customer data directly, without a third-party middleman
• Analytics dashboards for branch-by-branch performance comparison
• Secure payment processing with local payment gateway integrations across MENA

Target customers span the full hospitality spectrum: full-service restaurants, cafés, food trucks, food courts, hotels, cinemas, event venues, and kiosks. Offline functionality is built in, which matters in areas with unreliable connectivity.

🏆 How Fascano Stacks Up Against Regional Competitors

The MENA hospitality tech market is not empty. Saudi Arabia's Foodics serves more than 22,000 restaurants across 17 countries. Dubai-based Syrve MENA claims 45,000+ F&B clients worldwide. Both have significant head starts in terms of customer count and geographic breadth. So where does Fascano fit?

The sharpest edge is the commission-free ordering model. Delivery aggregators like Talabat and Careem charge restaurants a cut of every order, typically between 15% and 30%. Fascano's direct-ordering channels let restaurants own their customer relationships and retain more revenue per transaction. As CEO Al Kharusi described the philosophy, the goal was to build "a platform that reflects the realities of our market: deeply integrated tools that work together as one ecosystem, with pricing that is accessible for small and mid-sized businesses."

📅 The Journey: From a Muscat Startup to a MENA Contender

Ahmed Al Kharusi and Murak Al Muairki co-founded Fascano in 2021. The timing was deliberate. The global hospitality industry had just been forced to accelerate contactless payments and QR-code menus out of pandemic-era necessity, and MENA operators were actively looking for tools built for their specific context, not adapted from US or European markets.

The founders spent their earliest years building a deep understanding of Omani operator pain points before expanding. That disciplined focus paid off: by November 2024, the Oman Future Fund, backed by the Oman Investment Authority, led a second undisclosed round, signalling institutional confidence in Fascano's retention metrics and product quality.

By April 2026, Fascano had surpassed 70 million orders processed across 2,000+ customers in six countries. Its third and largest round, a $10 million close, brought in Cyfr Capital and HH Sayyid Dr. Kamil bin Fahd Al Said alongside continued OIA support, as Oman Observer reported. A parallel report from Arab Founders described the platform as "designed to eliminate operational friction" for hospitality businesses across MENA.

The 12-to-18-month plan, according to Al Kharusi, prioritises deepening the vendor base in existing markets before entering new regional territories with strong digital demand.

💰 Funding Timeline

🔗 Find Fascano Online

• Website: fascano.com
• Company LinkedIn: Fascano on LinkedIn
• CEO and Co-founder: Ahmed Al Kharusi on LinkedIn
• Co-founder: Murak Al Muairki on LinkedIn

Note: Fascano does not publicly list pricing tiers. Businesses are directed to book a demo for a custom quote. Team headcount and exact tech stack details are not publicly disclosed as of June 2026.

🇴🇲 Why This Matters for Oman

Fascano's story illustrates three things Oman's startup ecosystem is getting right.

First, sovereign capital is now playing a genuine multi-stage role. The Oman Investment Authority's Future Fund has backed Fascano across at least two consecutive rounds, demonstrating patience and conviction rather than a one-time seed cheque. That kind of institutional depth is what Vision 2040's private-sector development agenda is designed to create.

Second, Fascano is building in Oman and expanding outward. Many regional tech startups treat Muscat as a proof-of-concept stop before relocating to Dubai or Riyadh. Al Kharusi is explicit about rejecting that path: Oman remains the central hub for innovation, operations, and talent. That commitment matters for the local ecosystem because every hire Fascano makes, and every supplier it works with, stays in Oman.

Third, the hospitality sector is a direct Vision 2040 priority. Oman's tourism diversification targets are ambitious, and technology that helps hotels and restaurants operate efficiently underpins the whole strategy. Government programs like the Sas for Excellence initiative, which channels RO 1 million into Omani tech firms, exist precisely to back companies at earlier stages of exactly this kind of trajectory.

For founders watching from the sidelines, Fascano is a useful proof of concept: an operational software problem that most people overlook, solved locally, scaled regionally, and now funded by some of the Gulf's most credible institutions.

Oman's AI and tech job market is running hot this June. More than 240 IT vacancies are listed on Naukrigulf alone, LinkedIn shows 24 active AI roles and 72 data science postings, and homegrown AI consultancies are simultaneously hiring across multiple roles. Here are 11 positions you can apply for right now.

📊 The Market at a Glance

As of June 2026, Oman's technology hiring environment is more active than at any recent point. According to LinkedIn Jobs Oman, there are over 24 active AI listings and 72 data science postings visible on the platform. Glassdoor independently counts 81 data science roles and 36 data engineer openings. Naukrigulf lists over 240 IT and software vacancies across the country.

Demand cuts across sectors: oil and gas (Baker Hughes, GE Vernova), banking (Bank Muscat, Oman Arab Bank), telecoms (Omantel), and a growing layer of homegrown AI startups with regional ambitions. Hybrid arrangements are increasingly common, especially at startup-stage employers.

💼 Active Job Listings — June 2026

🤖 PhazeRo: Oman's Most Active AI Employer This Month

PhazeRo stands out as the single most active domestic AI employer in this month's scan. The Muscat-based consultancy is simultaneously advertising three roles spanning data science, machine learning engineering, and AI engineering. The company delivers solutions across energy, finance, telecom, and biotech, and is headquartered at Al Rudha, Muscat's premier co-working facility. All three roles are listed as hybrid arrangements, open to all nationalities.

The breadth of PhazeRo's current hiring suggests the company is scaling capacity to meet client demand, consistent with the broader growth of Oman's AI ecosystem. If you are building the foundations to compete for roles like these, the nine active accelerator and startup programs currently running in Oman offer mentorship, project experience, and direct exposure to the companies now doing the most hiring.

🐧 Canonical: Global Open-Source Jobs, Based in Muscat

Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Linux distribution and a major player in cloud and IoT infrastructure, maintains active hiring in Muscat. Its Field Software Engineer role combines Python development, cloud virtualisation (KVM, libvirt), and customer consulting, with up to 50% international travel. For Omani engineers seeking global exposure while keeping a Muscat base, this is one of the more unusual opportunities on the market. Full listings are at canonical.com/careers.

🔐 Cybersecurity: 22 Open Roles in Muscat Alone

As of June 2026, Glassdoor lists 22 active cybersecurity positions in Muscat, with Oman Arab Bank and Bank Muscat among the most visible employers. The most sought-after profiles combine cloud-native security skills (Azure Defender, AWS IAM/GuardDuty) with identity and access management (PAM) experience, reflecting the shift to cloud-first banking infrastructure reshaping GCC technology hiring.

💰 Salary Benchmarks — Muscat, 2026

Published data offers a rough framework for negotiating. A key local advantage: Oman levies no personal income tax, so gross salary equals take-home pay.

Note: Glassdoor's AI engineer figure is based on a limited number of self-reported salaries in Muscat. Leadership and specialist roles at oil-and-gas majors (Baker Hughes, GE Vernova) typically carry higher packages. Always negotiate; Oman employers are accustomed to it.

🔍 Where to Keep Searching

This article covers a snapshot from early June 2026. The market moves daily and new roles appear constantly. The highest-volume platforms for Oman tech hiring are:

• LinkedIn Jobs Oman: 24+ AI roles, 72+ data science roles, 1,000+ total listings
• Glassdoor: 81 data science, 36 data engineer, 22 cybersecurity (Muscat)
• Naukrigulf: 240+ IT and software roles across Oman
• Bayt.com: Strong coverage of mid-market Omani employers and startups
• Indeed Oman: 16+ AI roles in Muscat specifically; 14 active DevOps listings

🇴🇲 Why This Matters for Oman

The diversity of employers in this list tells a meaningful story. Oman's tech job market is no longer defined by a single sector or employer type. Oil-and-gas companies, banks, global open-source firms, and homegrown AI startups are competing for the same talent pool. That competition is pushing salaries upward, expanding hybrid work norms, and creating career pathways that simply did not exist five years ago. Every one of the positions above is, in a small way, an expression of Vision 2040's ambition to build a knowledge economy. The roles are real, they are hiring now, and they are in Oman.