Popcorn Studio AI Raises $1 Million to Scale AI Filmmaking Platform

Dubai-based Popcorn AI Studio has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding to scale its AI-powered filmmaking platform, with the round led by Emirati entrepreneur and investor Mohammed Bin Bouta Alharsoosi.

The company, founded in 2026 by Egyptian entrepreneurs Shady Essam and Mohamed Hedar, is building an integrated platform that takes video production from idea to finished film inside a single workflow. Popcorn Studio covers scripting, character development, scene generation, voiceovers, lip-syncing, and post-production, targeting filmmakers, content creators, advertising agencies, and brands.

The funding will go toward developing the company’s AI technology, growing its user base across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and building partnerships to take its filmmaking tools to creators internationally.

An Arabic-first approach

Popcorn’s sharpest edge is language. While most global AI video platforms treat Arabic as a single language, Popcorn built its technology around the region’s linguistic diversity, with native Arabic lip-sync and support for regional dialects including Hijazi, Najdi, and Riyadhi in Saudi Arabia, Cairene, Alexandrian, and Upper Egyptian dialects in Egypt, plus Moroccan Arabic and Amazigh.

That focus addresses a genuine gap. Brands across the Middle East have long struggled to produce video content that feels local, and Popcorn’s bet is that culturally authentic AI output will win where generic models fall flat.

Early traction

The company is not starting from zero. When Popcorn opened its platform earlier this year, it attracted more than 2,800 users in its first 15 days, and now offers over 200 AI-powered virtual personas built for Gulf and MENA audiences.

Popcorn has also moved to embed itself in the region’s film industry. The company is an official partner of the El Gouna Film Festival and the Cairo International Film Festival, and has announced an AI filmmaking competition connected to El Gouna with a $70,000 prize pool.

Founders with operating history

Shady Essam, the company’s co-founder and CEO, previously founded DMENTA, an influencer marketing company later acquired by ArabyAds Group. His co-founder Mohamed Hedar brings experience from senior leadership roles in digital growth and retail.

“Technology has always changed how stories are told,” said Essam. “Our ambition isn’t to replace filmmakers. It’s to remove the barriers between imagination and execution.”

For Alharsoosi, the investment is a bet on the region.

“Popcorn AI Studio represents exactly the kind of bold, regionally rooted technology I look for,” he said. “Shady and Mohamed have the vision, the execution capability and a product that’s already resonating. I am proud to back them at this stage.”

What comes next

The pre-seed round gives Popcorn runway to deepen its technology and push beyond its home market. The company plans to expand its product suite, scale users across its three priority markets, and develop the partnerships that will carry AI-powered filmmaking to creators worldwide.

The timing works in its favor. Generative AI has already changed the economics of video production, and the region’s creators are adopting these tools fast. Popcorn’s wager is that the winners in MENA will be the platforms that speak the region’s languages, literally.