The UAE has become one of the most active legal technology markets in the Gulf, driven by government-led digital transformation, growing regulatory complexity, and rising demand for faster legal services.
Courts, government agencies, and law firms are increasingly adopting AI-powered tools for legal research, contract review, document management, and compliance workflows.
Yet most global legal AI platforms were originally built for English-language jurisdictions such as the United States and the United Kingdom. Legal work in the Gulf presents a different challenge. Lawyers often work across Arabic and English documents, local regulations, government decrees, court judgments, and jurisdiction-specific legal frameworks.
This is the opportunity Khaled Al Rashed identified after more than 14 years in the legal profession. Rather than adapting a foreign legal AI product for the Gulf, he set out to build Oqood as an Arabic-first legal workspace designed around GCC laws, bilingual legal workflows, and verifiable legal research.
The Origin of Oqood
Founded in 2024, Oqood is an AI-powered legal workspace built for law firms, in-house legal teams, and legal professionals across the GCC region.
The platform combines legal research, contract drafting, document review, workflow management, and legal knowledge retrieval into a single bilingual environment designed for both Arabic and English legal work. Unlike many global legal AI tools that primarily focus on Western jurisdictions, Oqood is built around GCC laws, regulations, court decisions, and legal workflows.
The idea for Oqood did not begin as a startup. According to founder Khaled Al Rashed, it started as a digital transformation class assignment focused on rethinking legal processes, improving operational efficiency, and creating better performance metrics for legal teams.
The turning point came when the early version of the platform gained traction much faster than expected. Khaled revealed that the MVP attracted more than 3,000 users within a short period after launch. The strong response validated that there was a real demand for a legal AI platform designed specifically for the MENA market.
The Founder Who Saw the Gap in Legal Technology
Oqood was founded by Khaled Al Rashed, a legal professional with more than 14 years of experience as both an in-house counsel and practicing lawyer. In 2017, he launched his own law firm and grew the team from just 5 lawyers to 32 legal professionals by 2022.
During this period, he experienced firsthand the operational challenges that legal teams face, from legal research and document drafting to managing growing workloads.
As his interest in legal innovation grew, Khaled completed an 18-month LegalTech program at MIT. The experience helped shift his focus from traditional legal practice to technology-driven solutions.
Through his work with lawyers and legal departments across the region, he realized that many legal AI tools were built for Western markets and later adapted through translation. Khaled believed the GCC needed purpose-built legal technology designed around local regulations, bilingual workflows, and the way lawyers in the region actually work. That insight ultimately became the foundation for Oqood.
Early Traction, Funding, and Market Validation
Oqood’s early adoption provided strong evidence that legal professionals were looking for AI tools designed specifically for their workflows. According to the company, the first version of the platform generated more than 8,000 search queries and attracted over 200 registered users within just two months of launch.
As usage increased, the team focused on improving reliability and reducing AI hallucinations. By integrating Vectara’s retrieval technology, Oqood reported achieving an accuracy rate of more than 97%, helping build trust among legal professionals who require verifiable and source-backed information.
The fundraising journey was far from easy. In an interview with Arageek, founder Khaled Al Rashed revealed that he pitched more than 50 investors before securing the company’s first investment. The persistence eventually paid off when Oqood raised a $1 million seed round in 2025, a milestone that Khaled described as both validation of the company’s vision and a responsibility to continue delivering value to customers and investors.
Beyond customer growth and funding, Oqood also received recognition from the innovation ecosystem. Khaled highlighted that the company was selected among the top 10 innovative projects from a pool of 50 applicants for an AI program in Silicon Valley organized by the Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity.
The selection provided additional validation that Oqood’s approach to legal AI was gaining attention beyond the GCC region.
Building the Future of Legal AI in the GCC
Oqood’s journey shows how founders with deep industry experience can build successful technology companies by solving highly specific problems. Instead of creating another general-purpose AI tool, Khaled Al Rashed focused on challenges he experienced firsthand during his years in legal practice. That focus helped Oqood develop a product designed around the needs of lawyers, legal teams, and organizations operating across the GCC.
With growing user adoption, a $1 million seed round, and continued investment in Arabic-first legal AI, Oqood is steadily moving toward becoming one of the region’s leading legal technology platforms. As legal teams increasingly adopt AI-powered workflows, the company is well positioned to play a key role in the digital transformation of legal services across the Middle East.
