{"url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-19/tactful-ai-dowidar-pre-series-a","markdown_url":"https://newsforagent.com/news/2026-10-19/tactful-ai-dowidar-pre-series-a.md","title":"Tactful AI Adds Hatem Dowidar to Pre-Series A Round","headline":"Tactful AI Secures Undisclosed Investment From Former e& CEO Hatem Dowidar","description":"Tactful AI secured an undisclosed investment from former e& CEO Hatem Dowidar as part of its Pre-Series A extension, with a Series A planned for 2027.","section":"Funding","published_at":"2026-10-19T12:18:15+00:00","modified_at":"2026-10-19T12:18:15+00:00","author":"News Desk","key_takeaways":["Tactful AI secured an undisclosed investment from Hatem Dowidar, former Group CEO of e&, as part of a Pre-Series A extension.","Tactful AI recorded an 11.7x increase in Annual Recurring Revenue since January 2025.","Tactful AI's initial Pre-Series A round was announced in February 2026 and co-led by Foras AI and M Empire."],"companies":[{"name":"Tactful","is_primary":true,"profile_url":"https://akta.pro/company-profiles/0000omu/tactful","website":"https://www.tactful.ai"},{"name":"Foras AI","is_primary":false,"profile_url":"https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000fau2/foras-ai","website":"https://foras.ai"}],"source":{"publisher":"Wamda.com","title":"Tactful AI attracts fresh investment from Hatem Dowidar ahead of 2027 Series A","url":"http://wamda.com/2026/10/tactful-ai-attracts-fresh-investment-hatem-dowidar-ahead-2027-series-a"},"other_sources":[{"publisher":"GlobeNewswire","url":"https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/13/3379778/0/en/dapta-raises-6m-to-accelerate-the-adoption-of-ai-sales-agents-to-smbs-across-the-u-s-and-latin-america.html"},{"publisher":"citybiz","url":"https://www.citybiz.co/article/915213/siena-raises-17m-series-a-to-expand-ai-platform-for-consumer-brands/"},{"publisher":"TechCrunch","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/08/cal-ais-19-year-old-founder-just-raised-10m-for-his-new-ai-startup/"},{"publisher":"citybiz","url":"https://www.citybiz.co/article/913762/upsmith-raises-10-million-series-a-to-expand-ai-platform-for-home-services/"}],"tags":["Funding","Tactful","Foras AI"],"body_markdown":"[Tactful](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/0000omu/tactful) AI has secured an undisclosed investment from Hatem Dowidar, former Group CEO of e&, as part of an extension to its Pre-Series A round, [Wamda.com](http://wamda.com/2026/10/tactful-ai-attracts-fresh-investment-hatem-dowidar-ahead-2027-series-a) reported on October 19, 2026. The Egypt-based agentic AI customer experience platform was founded in 2016 by Mohamed Elmasry and Mohamed Hassan.\n\n## Dowidar Joins Tactful AI's Investor Roster\n\nDowidar served as Group CEO of e& from 2020 through March 2026, having joined the company as Chief Operating Officer in 2015. Before e&, he spent 16 years in executive leadership roles at Vodafone, including CEO of Vodafone Egypt. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.\n\nMohamed Elmasry, Co-founder and CEO of Tactful AI, said: \"Hatem Dowidar spent over 25 years leading major tech powerhouses serving millions of customers across the Middle East and Africa. Very few leaders share his depth of understanding and strategic clarity regarding what large enterprises require before trusting new, customer-facing technologies.\"\n\nDowidar added: \"Enterprises across the region are actively seeking practical, reliable solutions to integrate AI into their customer operations safely and at scale. Tactful has successfully deployed this infrastructure in live production environments.\"\n\nTactful AI operates teams in Cairo and Cambridge, UK. The company recorded an 11.7x increase in Annual Recurring Revenue since January 2025 and a 32x surge in monthly customer conversations processed through the platform. Its client portfolio includes Elaraby Group, Raneen, 2B, Lucky One, Erada Finance, and Simplex.\n\n## Tactful AI's Funding History\n\nAccording to [akta.pro company records](https://akta.pro/company-data), Tactful AI closed a $1 million Pre-Series A round in February 2026 co-led by [Foras AI](https://akta.pro/company-profiles/000fau2/foras-ai) and M Empire Angels, with a stated goal of raising a Series A within 12 months. The same records show a 2016 convertible note of $200,000 and an undisclosed round in September 2025.\n\n| Date | Round | Amount |\n|------|-------|--------|\n| 2016-08 | Convertible note | $200,000 |\n| 2025-09 | Undisclosed | Undisclosed |\n| 2026-02 | Pre-Series A | $1 million |\n\n## Other AI Funding Rounds\n\nDapta announced $6 million in seed funding led by Chingona Ventures on October 13, 2026, according to [GlobeNewswire](https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/10/13/3379778/0/en/dapta-raises-6m-to-accelerate-the-adoption-of-ai-sales-agents-to-smbs-across-the-u-s-and-latin-america.html). Siena raised $17 million in a Series A round led by York IE on October 7, 2026, [citybiz](https://www.citybiz.co/article/915213/siena-raises-17m-series-a-to-expand-ai-platform-for-consumer-brands/) reported. UpSmith raised $10 million in Series A funding led by SemperVirens on October 5, 2026, according to [citybiz](https://www.citybiz.co/article/913762/upsmith-raises-10-million-series-a-to-expand-ai-platform-for-home-services/).\n\n## Tactful AI's 2027 Series A Plans\n\nTactful AI is preparing to introduce next-generation agentic AI technology that will allow enterprises to build and modify customer experience workflows in hours rather than months while maintaining human oversight and approval processes. The company plans to reveal further technical details in the coming months and pursue a Series A funding round in 2027.\n","publisher":{"name":"News for Agent","url":"https://newsforagent.com"}}