OBSRVR

Malls price billions
in leases on data they can't trust.

Rents are set, tenants renewed, and zones benchmarked on sensor counts that double-count, can't read demographics, and can't prove who actually walked the floor. OBSRVR turns existing CCTV into leasing-grade footfall intelligence.

True footfall accuracy via computer vision
No images stored · PDPL/DDPL compliant
Seed Round · Confidential · June 2026
02
The Problem

Mall operators make billion-dirham leasing calls blind

Leasing is the single biggest lever in a mall's P&L, yet it runs on the one number operators can't actually trust: footfall.

  • Rents and renewals priced on static square-footage, not traffic-weighted, demographic-informed demand
  • High-footfall zones and premium tenant-audience matches go unmonetized
  • Operators can't substantiate footfall quality to tenants or landlords
  • Sensor providers (RetailNext, Sensormatic) double-count and require ripping out cameras

Retail brands have the mirror-image problem: no idea who walks in, how long they stay, or what converts.

$180B+
GCC retail market, growing 6–8% annually. Vision 2030 accelerating KSA.
215
mall properties across the UAE & KSA today, with 100+ more coming under Vision 2030
0%
of existing CCTV footage used for leasing or merchandising intelligence
03
The Solution

Turn every camera into a leasing-grade sensor

No new hardware. On-device inference at the edge, so raw footage never leaves the store and there are no cloud-GPU costs. The demographic engine is facial-recognition-grade, but stores no images and no PII. PDPL/DDPL compliant by design.

Existing CCTV
Connects to any IP camera already installed
On-Prem Edge
CV + FR inference on-site. Footage never leaves the store
Encrypted VPN
Only anonymized metadata travels, over AES-256
Dashboard
Store, mall & portfolio intelligence in one view

Advanced Facial Recognition

NIST-tested FR engine infers age, gender, sentiment and group type in real time, without storing a single face image.

Journey & Dwell

Entry points, dwell zones, conversion paths and exit patterns: the full picture of how visitors move through a space.

Marco Polo

Agentic AI layer that triages and resolves routine ops at machine speed: Tier-1/2 support built into the platform.

04
Why We Win

Accuracy is the qualifier. Intelligence is the moat.

Footfall accuracy is what gets us in the door. It's the requirement to win a leasing deal at all. The platform on top of it is what makes us impossible to rip out.

Capability OBSRVR RetailNext Sensormatic
Uses existing CCTV Yes No No
Mounts on shopfronts & open corridors Yes ✗ needs ceiling ✗ needs ceiling
No images / PII stored Yes No Partial
GCC compliance (PDPL/DDPL/ADGM) Yes No No
Zero hardware CAPEX for client Yes ✗ 6-figure ✗ 6-figure
Demographics, journey & dwell Yes Limited No
Deployment speed Days Weeks–months Weeks–months

Proven head-to-head. In a live stress test, OBSRVR counted 12 of 12 people in frame; the incumbent's 3D sensor counted 6. Their hardware can't even mount on a shopfront or open corridor without a ceiling. OBSRVR runs on the camera that's already there.

05
The Moat

Every deployment gets smarter

A feedback loop turns each store into training data. Sensor competitors are static the day they're installed. We compound.

1

Detect

OBSRVR flags events (entries, demographics, groups, dwell) across every camera.

2

Grade

The client's team grades accuracy directly in the dashboard, on their own floor.

3

Recalibrate

The model retrains on those corrections. Accuracy climbs week over week.

"In 90 days, we're more accurate than RetailNext will ever be in your store, because your team trained us."
06
Traction

$918K contracted. Five signed. Cash in the bank.

Real revenue from blue-chip operators and brands, on 3–5 year terms, with year-one fees collected upfront.

$194K Closed ARR signed contracts, recurring
$918K Closed TCV five signed deals
$195K Cash in bank upfront contract collections
5 Signed contracts Flormar a 3× repeat buyer
Closed & live
Galleria · Aldar Flormar Alaïa Panerai

Closed = five signed contracts. Richemont (in progress) and Flormar's pending PO add ~$138K TCV; MAF, Festival City and GM are active POCs. Per-client figures are in the data room.

07
Pipeline

The next leg is already in motion

Expansion committed (signed clients)

ALDAR

Galleria → four malls

Guaranteed rollout to Yas Mall (Abu Dhabi), Jimi Mall (Al Ain) and Al Hamra Mall (RAK), roughly 4× current run-rate.

FLORMAR

13 → 18 stores

Three-time repeat buyer; a PO for five more branches is pending, with Turkey and GCC expansion in the pipeline.

In progress & active POCs

RICHEMONT

Piaget, Chloé, Montblanc

Ten branches in progress; positioned to replace the incumbent footfall analytics as that contract expires.

MAJID AL FUTTAIM

Mall of the Emirates POC

Live proof-of-concept at the Fashion Dome; full-mall rollout (~4×) is the conversion target.

AL FUTTAIM

Dubai Festival City Mall

POC scoped, with gradual UAE & GCC rollout to follow.

GENERAL MOTORS

40-location POC

First deployment confirmed for July; 170 locations across the region in scope.

08
Go-To-Market · Channel

Our channel is a force multiplier, not a dependency

Most of our revenue today is sourced through Convergint, the region's largest security-systems integrator, the same way enterprise software rides an SAP or Oracle partner channel.

  • Convergint brings the deal and takes ~15%; OBSRVR owns the software, the data, and the client relationship
  • Instant reach into every major mall and retail integration in the GCC, with no cold enterprise sales cycle
  • SIRA certification (in progress) unlocks direct contracting, lifting margin and diversifying the channel
  • Convergint also resells OBSRVR into its own accounts as a distributor
~15%
Channel take on partner-sourced deals
vs. a full in-house enterprise sales team
100%
OBSRVR-owned IP, data & client relationship
channel is distribution, not the product
SIRA
Direct-contracting path in progress
2 engineers on company visa · ~6,000 AED
09
Business Model

SaaS built for enterprise durability

Retail leasing intelligence is the lead product and the bulk of revenue. Brand analytics and the future data marketplace layer on top of the same platform.

  • 3–5 year contracts with auto-renewal: long-duration revenue visibility
  • Year-one fees upfront at signing; years 2–5 billed quarterly
  • Locked exit fees secure a minimum of 70% of TCV, protecting capital downside
  • Zero hardware CAPEX for the client: it's an OPEX line item, not a project
$27/cam/mo
Retail Leasing Intelligence: mall operators (primary)
zone footfall · tenant benchmarking · demographic mix
$17.50/cam/mo
Retail Analytics: brands & groups
footfall · demographics · dwell · heat maps · staff exclusion
40–60% → 85–90%
Gross margin: today → post in-house CV launch
third-party licensing collapses as proprietary stack ships
10
Market

A GCC-native market that's opening now

The Gulf has one of the highest densities of premium mall space per capita on earth, plus a regulatory tailwind that locks out PII-storing incumbents.

$400M TAM
All GCC retail & mall accounts
$157M SAM
Reachable within the 3-yr GTM
$6.4M SOM
Target by EOY 2028
215
Mall properties
1,450+
Retail brands & groups
100+
New malls under Vision 2030
4
Markets: UAE · KSA · Kuwait · Qatar
11
Why Now

A closing window

01

Regulation locks out incumbents

PDPL, DDPL and ADGM rules restrict PII storage. Competitors that store face data can't comply. Our no-image architecture is compliant by design.

02

Vision 2030 builds the demand

100+ new malls are coming online that need analytics from day one, and operators want it native, not bolted on later.

03

Edge CV got cheap

Edge inference that cost ~$500K five years ago now costs ~$2K. The unit economics behind 64–71% margins (and 85–90% post-IP) only just arrived.

12
Team

Operators who know the region

Elie Salame
CEO & Co-Founder

9 years in security tech and retail intelligence across the GCC. Led technology at Securitas UAE; Senior Solutions Engineer at RealNetworks (SAFR). Closed all current enterprise clients.

Patrick Younes
CTO & Co-Founder

Product and engineering leader in data analytics and enterprise tech; previously led engineering at VUZ (Dubai). Owns platform architecture, edge deployment and the proprietary CV roadmap.

Firas Al-Koussa
CISO

8+ years in cybersecurity, currently at a Fortune 500. Brings enterprise-grade security architecture and compliance: the governance arm behind the privacy-first design.

13
The Ask

Raising $600K to scale across the GCC

Seed capital to ship the proprietary CV stack, build the core team, and convert a pipeline that's already in motion. Funds 18 months of runway, no bridge required.

40%
40%
20%
Tech team salaries (CTO, ML, dev) $240K
Sales & business development $240K
Hardware & lab testing (in-house FR) $120K
18 mo
Runway, fully funded
$1M+
Additional ACV by EOY 2027
85–90%
Gross margin post in-house CV
Series A
Next milestone
14
Roadmap

From UAE leasing to a GCC data marketplace

Q3 '26

Consolidate UAE

Hire core ML team. Begin in-house CV (SAFR replacement). Festival City POC. MoE partial rollout.

Q4 '26 – H1 '27

Ship proprietary stack

First FR engine + NIST benchmark. Margins to 85–90%. Enter KSA (Arabian Centres, Red Sea Mall). Aldar mall expansions.

H2 '27

Scale & brand layer

$1M+ ARR, 10+ clients. Expand Convergint to full distributor network. Scale brand-side analytics.

2028

Marketplace & Series A

Kuwait & Qatar. Launch the dual-sided brand↔landlord data marketplace (Marco Polo). Series A raise.

$1M+
ARR target, 18 months
10+
Active clients
2 → 4
Markets
Marketplace
Platform end-state
15
OBSRVR

The intelligence layer
for physical spaces.

$918K signed, $1.05M booked. Blue-chip logos. Privacy-first architecture.
Leasing-led, GCC-native, ready to scale.

elie.salame@obsrvr.ae
obsrvr.ae