Yara has been selected for Phase 1 of Sandbox by Oraseya Capital, the early-stage tech program operated by the corporate venture arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ). The selection grants Yara structured mentorship, regulatory facilitation across the DIEZ jurisdictions, and a defined path to follow-on capital — supporting the deployment of the Fully Autonomous Call Center across the GCC.
What Sandbox by Oraseya Capital is
Oraseya Capital is the corporate venture arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ). DIEZ is the umbrella that operates DTEC, IFZA, and Dubai CommerCity — the free zones where most of Dubai's tech founders incorporate, hire, and ship from.
Sandbox is the structured early-stage program Oraseya runs to identify, mentor, and back tech founders building defensible infrastructure for the region. Phase 1 is the entry tier: founders get access to Oraseya's network, regulatory facilitation across DIEZ, mentorship from regional operators, and a defined path to follow-on capital from Oraseya itself or from co-investors in their network.
Phase 1 is selective. The program is designed for technology with regional defensibility — categories where being built in MENA, for MENA, is the wedge. Voice AI for regulated industries is exactly that.
What this means for Yara
The reason this matters is regulatory. Yara's category — the Fully Autonomous Call Center — depends on infrastructure that satisfies UAE Personal Data Protection Law, DIFC Law No. 5 of 2020, the UAE Insurance Authority's audit cadence, and Central Bank IT and governance standards. Building inside the DIEZ ecosystem doesn't make those regulations easier; it makes the path to compliance shorter, because the relationships are already in place.
Three things change for us this quarter:
- Direct access to the DIEZ regulatory apparatus. The agencies and audit teams that regulate financial services and insurance in the UAE are inside the same ecosystem. Conversations that would otherwise take six months happen in a single quarter.
- Deeper introductions to GCC enterprise buyers. Oraseya's network spans regional operators in banking, insurance, hospitality, and government — the buyers we are built for.
- A capital path that aligns with our model. Oraseya invests in companies they have already worked with through Sandbox. That's a healthier sequencing than cold-pitching a fund — they see the work before the round.
The regulatory wedge
Yara was built for regulated industries from day one. Customer audio stays in-country. Audit logs are immutable, time-stamped, and regulator-ready by architecture, not by export. Voice biometrics, PII handling, and consent capture are first-class capabilities, not features bolted on after the contract is signed.
The Sandbox selection is recognition that this posture matters in the GCC specifically. Most voice AI vendors building today are building for the US-English buyer. We're building for the UAE Insurance Authority and the Central Bank IT auditor. The two product surfaces look superficially similar — they are not.
Being inside the Sandbox makes that wedge sharper. We get to shape the operating reality of voice AI in regulated MENA enterprise alongside the regulators themselves, not in spite of them.
What's next
Phase 1 is a structured 3 to 6-month engagement with defined milestones. Through it, Yara will deepen our regulatory posture in the UAE, expand the network of regional enterprise pilots, and prepare the ground for our seed round close later this year.
We'll keep shipping. The Fully Autonomous Call Center is live with our first three customers as of January 2026 — Hayah Insurance, Resa Mania, and the Visa Intelligent Commerce partnership for Voice-to-Payment. Sandbox doesn't slow us down; it accelerates the 18 months that come after.
If you're a regulated enterprise in MENA evaluating voice AI for your contact center, this is the right moment to talk. Yara is shipping into a category we are quietly redefining — and we are doing it from inside the regulatory ecosystem, not adjacent to it.
Frequently asked questions
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What is Sandbox by Oraseya Capital?
Sandbox is the structured early-stage program operated by Oraseya Capital, the corporate venture arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ). Phase 1 selects tech founders building defensible infrastructure for the region and provides mentorship, regulatory facilitation across DIEZ jurisdictions (DTEC, IFZA, Dubai CommerCity), and a defined path to follow-on capital.
Did Yara raise funding from Oraseya Capital as part of this selection?
Phase 1 of Sandbox is a structured engagement, not an investment round. Capital from Oraseya, where it follows, is a Phase 2 outcome and depends on milestones reached during Phase 1. Yara's seed round is being prepared separately and will be communicated when it closes.
How does this change Yara's deployment timeline?
Sandbox compresses the regulatory navigation timeline rather than the technical deployment timeline. Standard Yara deployments still run 60–90 days from contract signature to first live call. What changes is how quickly we can land the contract with regulated enterprise buyers in the UAE — the regulatory introductions inside Sandbox shorten the pre-contract phase by months.
Who else is in Phase 1?
The Phase 1 cohort is announced by Oraseya. We don't disclose other companies in our cohort — that's the program's call, not ours.
How can I get in touch about a deployment?
If you operate a contact center in regulated MENA enterprise — insurance, banking, healthcare, government, hospitality — and you're evaluating voice AI for inbound or outbound calls, the fastest path is the Book a Demo button on this site. We'll respond within one business day in Dubai time.