BuzzAR co-founder Bell Beh
Singapore-based mixed reality and AI company BuzzAR has secured US$1.16 million in funding from the HSBC New Economy Fund.
The firm is using the money raised to expand its presence in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly Saudi Arabia, where it has partnered with the tourism department.
Also Read: 100 million inbound travelers in Saudi Arabia to access ChatGPT in Arabic via BuzzAR
Founded in 2018 by Bell Beh and Ken Lim, BuzzAR specialises in experiential engagements that bridge the gap between offline and online spaces for its clients. In April of this year, the startup launched the AI travel companion BAE (Buzz AI Experience), which is trained to relate to each user’s emotions to be a digital tour guide. Beyond offering storytelling and personalised content discovery for travellers, it has built-in booking and payment functionalities to handle transactions for travellers on the go seamlessly.
BuzzAR saw the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as potential prime tourist destinations and began expanding into the region in 2022. It is now working to digitalise Saudi’s hospitality industry by integrating its AI tour guide, BAE, with the Saudi Tourism Authority.
The Kingdom targets 100 million tourists by 2030 but faces a shortage of registered tour guides. With BAE, tour guides can handle bigger groups, target a wider audience, and free up their bandwidth to further personalise services and enhance the tourist experience.
Together with the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), BuzzAR projects that BAE’s refinement and deeper integration can bring in one million travellers and US$3.2 billion in tourism dollars by 2026.
Also Read: Introducing BAE: The world’s first AI travel companion by BuzzAR
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) Vision 2030 aims to diversify the economy. Its US$64b investment plan is geared toward helping the entertainment sector contribute more than US$23b, or 3 per cent of GDP, by 2030.
In 2022, BuzzAR raised US$3.8 million.
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