Growing vegetables in the Saudi desert

Hi, friends 👋

Over the past year, we’ve explored a wide range of challenges that regional founders are addressing—from banking the unbanked to bridging the gap between the Arabic-speaking world and advancements in AI, and tackling mental health challenges across MENA.

We’ve approached these topics from a bird’s-eye perspective, surveying entire sectors, identifying key players, understanding the root of the problems, and zooming in on how specific startups are working to solve them.

While this has been an effective way to familiarise ourselves with sometimes unfamiliar spaces, it often comes at the expense of depth, nuance, and firsthand insights from those directly engaged in solving these challenges on the ground.

That’s why we’re launching a new interview series: The Bigger Picture.

This series aims to address the gap by inviting founders to walk us through the problems they’re solving—providing context, sharing how they arrived at the challenge, their solution, the intricacies they face, their business models, the funding landscape, and their outlook for the future.

For our first interview, we’ll dig into Saudi Arabia’s food security issue through the lens of Lawrence Ong, CEO and co-founder of the hydroponics startup Arable, which recently announced a $2.55 million Seed round.

In this interview, we’ll cover:

• 🥬 Saudi Arabia’s reliance on food imports (90% of fresh produce) and its impact on price and quality

• 💧 How hydroponics can transform agriculture in arid climates

• ⚙️ Why traditional hydroponic models, imported from Western markets, have struggled to adapt

• 💡 How Arable is avoiding the mistakes of previous high-profile hydroponics failures

• ⏱️ Arable’s approach to reducing hydroponic facility build times from 12–18 months to just 3 months

• 🌍 The feasibility of Saudi Arabia becoming a regional hub for fresh, sustainable produce and its broader implications for food security in the GCC

Actionable insights 🧠 🛠️

If you only have a few minutes to spare, here's what investors, operators, and founders should know about Arable and the hydroponics opportunity in the GCC.

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Okay, let’s dig into it 👇

Food security challenges in Saudi Arabia have been systemic for decades, driven by an arid climate that creates unique obstacles for agriculture. What specific gaps in the local market inspired you to launch Arable?

The issue we identified isn’t just in Saudi—it’s prevalent across the GCC. Essentially, 90% of fresh produce, like fruits and vegetables, is still being imported into the region. This is despite hydroponics having been here for about a decade. Clearly, the market has been trying to find a solution, but it hasn’t been as effective as expected.

The problem with imports, particularly with vegetables, is the extreme price fluctuation—up to four times the cost—because they’re seasonal. For instance, in winter, you might import lettuce from Egypt, but in summer, you’re flying it in from the US, which is absolutely crazy. Beyond the price volatility, there’s also inconsistent quality because you’re dealing with multiple global suppliers, and not all of them have reliable or robust supply chains.

This inconsistency means that quality suffers. You’re competing in the global market for the best produce but often getting outbid by other countries and regions with stronger purchasing power or supply chains. What we’re trying to solve is this heavy reliance on imports. By reducing this dependency, we can stabilise the market, improve food security, and create a more sustainable system for the country and the broader region. 

Before we move any further, would you mind explaining exactly what hydroponics is?

Put simply, hydroponics is a method of growing fruits and vegetables without soil—that’s the basic concept. One technique we use is called the nutrient film technique. Essentially, imagine a pipe with small holes cut along it. You plant, for instance, lettuce in those holes, and the plant grows in what looks like a small sponge. The sponge gives the roots structure while allowing them to grow freely.

This makes the process much more efficient for the plant. The nutrients are always delivered exactly when the plant needs them, in the right amounts. Think of it like a sushi conveyor belt—water flows through the pipe, carrying all the nutrients, while the plant sits on top, with its roots absorbing everything they need. That’s the simplified version.

There are lots of different hydroponic systems, but this is a very effective one. Hydroponics has actually been around for about 100 years, and it works especially well in regions where controlling the outside environment is difficult—like here, where the conditions can be pretty harsh.

How did two founders from the UK and Lebanon, arriving in Riyadh for the first time in 2023, decide they were best suited to growing food in the desert?

We came to the region and joined Antler MENAP, which had just launched its fund in the Middle East. Christina is from Lebanon, and I was new to Saudi. During the program, we saw a massive gap in the market—Saudi has the largest population in the GCC, rapid growth, and plenty of funding opportunities.

We also had a personal connection to the problem. At supermarkets, we kept asking ourselves, Why are we paying double or triple what we’d normally pay back home for produce that’s lower in quality and has half the shelf life? That sparked the idea, and we ran with it.

My background is in startups—I’ve been launching businesses since university, where I tried everything from selling fridges out of my dorm room to running a pancake shop on Uber Eats (That one didn’t work out because I didn’t get a health and safety license).

Eventually, I joined MELD, a fintech blockchain company, where we raised around $30 million at a $100 million valuation, and I grew from a junior position to becoming COO. While I’m not an agricultural expert, my experience in solving complex problems and adapting quickly has been invaluable.

Christina, on the other hand, brings strong technical expertise. She’s worked on food security programs in the Middle East and has an academic background in hydroponics. We’re a great team—she focuses on production and technical operations, while I handle business strategy, hiring, and scaling. It’s been a great match, and it works really well.

Did you draw inspiration from vertical farming models in other Western or emerging markets that could be adapted to fit the Saudi context?

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