SafaQat: The Family SaaS Startup Digitizing Oman's Tenders

Four brothers from Nizwa spent COVID-19 lockdowns trading price quotes over messaging apps to help local suppliers find buyers. That informal habit has grown into SafaQat, a digital procurement platform now used by nearly 2,500 registered users and backed by two of Oman's most prominent investment vehicles.

🔑 Key Takeaways

• SafaQat is an Omani SaaS platform that digitizes tendering, bidding, and supplier matching for SMEs and institutional buyers.
• Founded in 2020 by brothers Majed, Sulaiman, Ibrahim, and Al Moatasem Al Saifi from the Wilayat of Nizwa.
• The platform has recorded 2,486 registered users, 1,260 published tenders, and 2,784 registered suppliers and companies.
• It recently secured strategic investment from the Future Fund of Oman (FFO) and Idrak Group, following operation under the supervision of Riyada, Oman's SME Development Authority.
• Plans include AI-powered bid analysis and price forecasting tools, plus expansion into Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

💡 What SafaQat Actually Does

SafaQat, whose Arabic name roughly translates to "deals," is a web and mobile platform that replaces the paperwork-heavy, phone-call-driven world of tendering with a digital marketplace. Buyers, ranging from government entities to private companies, post procurement needs and tenders on the platform, while registered suppliers submit competitive bids through structured digital forms rather than scattered emails or WhatsApp messages.

According to Times of Oman, the platform includes interactive dashboards, automated alert systems, bid-sorting algorithms, and real-time reporting so buyers can compare offers transparently and suppliers can track their standing. The company is now developing AI-powered tools for bid analysis and price forecasting to sharpen that comparison further, as Oman Observer reported.

🎯 Who It's Built For

SafaQat serves two overlapping groups: institutional and government buyers who need a transparent, auditable way to solicit competitive quotes, and small and medium suppliers who often lack the sales infrastructure to chase down tender opportunities on their own. The platform's supervision by Riyada, Oman's Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development, underlines its focus on giving local SMEs a fairer shot at winning public and private contracts, according to Muscat Daily.

The company also runs free onboarding and training programs, including a youth training initiative that prepares jobseekers to work as sales representatives connecting suppliers to opportunities on the platform, per Muscat Daily's reporting.

💰 Pricing and Business Model

SafaQat has not published a public pricing sheet, and none of the available coverage discloses subscription tiers or transaction fees. The available research describes the site as a "smart e-commerce platform" operating a business-to-consumer style model connecting buyers and suppliers, but exact pricing details are not disclosed publicly. Readers interested in specific plans should contact SafaQat directly through its website.

🏗️ From Family WhatsApp Group to National Platform

The idea began almost by accident. As co-founder Al Moatasem Al Saifi explained to Times of Oman, "the idea originated from a simple experience of sharing price quotes via messaging apps, which confirmed the market's readiness" for a more structured solution. That grassroots insight, developed during the COVID-19 lockdowns of 2020, turned into a formal venture led by four brothers, sons of Mohammed bin Majid Al Saifi, each overseeing a different area of the business based on their professional background, according to Muscat Daily.

Since then, the platform has picked up a string of recognitions: second place in the Omani Startup Accelerator's live pitch competition, a Best Growing Company award, high rankings among Omani e-commerce platforms, and the top spot in the "Jadarah 2024" initiative, according to Times of Oman. SafaQat has also represented Oman at regional events including Comex 2024, Biban 24 in Riyadh, Web Summit in Doha, and LEAP 25 in Saudi Arabia.

📈 The Latest Funding Round

In July 2025, SafaQat closed a strategic funding round backed by the Future Fund of Oman and Idrak Group, though the exact amount was not disclosed in any of the available reporting, per Zawya's coverage. Al Moatasem told Muscat Daily the partners "believe in investing in the national economy and in empowering Omani youth." The company said the capital will strengthen its technical infrastructure, improve user experience, fund local talent recruitment, and support expansion into government procurement as well as regional markets including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

⚙️ Tech Stack and USP

Public technical details are limited, as is common for early-stage Gulf startups that have not open-sourced their architecture. What is known is that SafaQat runs on real-time dashboards, automated bidding algorithms, and alert systems, with AI-driven bid analysis and price forecasting features in active development, according to Oman Observer and Times of Oman reporting.

SafaQat's core differentiator against global procurement software giants and even regional e-tendering portals is its hyper-local focus: it was purpose-built around the realities of Omani SMEs, many of which previously relied on informal channels like phone calls and messaging apps to find procurement opportunities. That grassroots-to-government trajectory, plus its backing from Riyada and now the Future Fund of Oman, gives it institutional credibility that a generic international SaaS tool would struggle to replicate locally.

👥 Team and Reach

SafaQat is led by its four founding brothers, Majed, Sulaiman, Ibrahim, and Al Moatasem Al Saifi, with each managing a distinct functional area of the company. Public reporting does not disclose a specific total headcount, but the platform's scale, over 2,486 users, 1,260 tenders, and 2,784 registered suppliers, suggests a team large enough to support onboarding, training, and account management across the Sultanate. SafaQat maintains a LinkedIn company page and a website at safaqat.om.

🇴🇲 Fit With Vision 2040

SafaQat sits squarely inside Oman Vision 2040's push to diversify the economy, digitize public services, and grow the private sector's contribution to GDP. By digitizing tendering, a process traditionally dominated by paperwork and personal networks, the platform helps level the playing field for SMEs competing for government and institutional contracts, directly supporting the Vision's SME empowerment goals. Its supervision by Riyada and fresh backing from the Future Fund of Oman also reflect the state's broader strategy of channeling sovereign capital into homegrown digital infrastructure rather than importing foreign procurement software.

SafaQat's trajectory, from a family messaging-app experiment to a nationally-recognized platform expanding regionally, mirrors a pattern seen elsewhere in Oman's SaaS scene, including the restaurant technology platform profiled in AI in Oman's coverage of Fascano's $10 million raise, where locally-built software scaled from a Muscat idea into regional infrastructure.

Why This Matters for Oman

Procurement is one of the least glamorous but most consequential parts of any economy, and digitizing it has outsized effects on transparency and SME access to opportunity. SafaQat's growth from an informal WhatsApp workaround to a state-backed national platform shows that some of Oman's most useful digital infrastructure is being built by young, homegrown teams solving problems they lived through firsthand. As the Sultanate continues investing sovereign capital into local SaaS ventures, SafaQat's regional expansion plans could position Omani-built procurement technology as an export in its own right, not just a domestic convenience.