Tactful AI gets backing from former e& chief executive Hatem Dowidar

Egyptian agentic AI customer experience startup Tactful AI has received investment from Hatem Dowidar, the former group CEO of e&, as part of an extension of its pre-Series A funding round. Founded by Mohamed Elmasry, Mohammad Hassan, and Sherif Khairallah, Tactful AI offers a unified platform for managing customer interactions across various touchpoints. The company was acquired by Dstny in 2022 but was reacquired by its founders in July 2025.

Disrupt Africa reported in February that Tactful AI had raised US$1 million in a pre-Series A funding round co-led by Foras AI and M Empire. The latest investment from Dowidar, whose size is undisclosed, comes as Tactful AI prepares to launch a next-generation version of its technology. This new version aims to enable enterprises to build, modify, and evolve customer experience workflows in-house, significantly reducing development cycles while maintaining human oversight.

Since January 2025, Tactful AI has seen its annual recurring revenue (ARR) increase 11.7 times, and the number of monthly customer conversations processed through its platform has risen 32-fold. Clients include Elaraby Group, Raneen, 2B, Lucky One, Erada Finance, and Simplex. Dowidar, who has over 25 years of experience in telecoms and technology, believes Tactful AI is well-positioned to set industry benchmarks both regionally and globally.

Tactful AI plans to raise a Series A round in 2027.