Local entity, in-country hosting and Arabic-language AI with SESTEK position the Group for public-sector tenders across the GCC
- Through its newly established subsidiary, Toku Technology L.L.C., Toku can now contract, invoice, hire and pursue government and semi-government tenders directly in the UAE and across the GCC
- SESTEK, the Company’s first strategic technology partner in the region, brings native Gulf-dialect speech capability which, combined with Toku’s locally hosted deployment options, addresses the language and data-residency requirements of banks, government bodies and telecommunications operators
- Talabat, one of the region’s leading on-demand delivery platforms and Toku’s first customer in the Middle East, is live across all eight of its markets, with more than 8,000 users on the platform, providing early commercial validation of regional demand
SINGAPORE, Sept. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Toku Ltd (SGX: TKU) (“Toku” or the “Company“, and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group“), a Singapore-incorporated AI-powered customer experience (CX) platform, today announced the incorporation of Toku Technology L.L.C., its first in-country entity in the Middle East, marking the next phase of a regional expansion that began in December 2025. The wholly owned subsidiary anchors a footprint that has grown from two to eight markets since then, and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in June 2026 with SESTEK, a conversational AI provider specialising in Arabic-language solutions.
Toku Technology L.L.C. was incorporated on 24 August 2026 as the Group’s in-country operating entity for the Middle East. The subsidiary allows Toku to contract, invoice and receive payment locally, giving enterprise buyers across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) a straightforward way to procure directly from a partner on the ground. It also allows the Group to hire and sponsor local talent and to participate in government and semi-government tenders in the UAE and the wider GCC, where procurement increasingly favours locally incorporated providers able to combine regulatory compliance with in-country infrastructure. The Group is currently participating in a number of tenders in the region, working alongside a regional partner.
Thomas Laboulle, Founder and CEO of Toku, said: “The Middle East has developed ahead of our expectations since our first deployments there last year. The regional disruption earlier this year has durably changed how governments and enterprises assess cloud concentration and data residency, and demand for customer engagement platforms that can run on locally hosted, sovereign or hybrid infrastructure has increased markedly. Our UAE subsidiary gives that demand a local foundation: it lets us contract, invoice, and hire in-country, brings us closer to our customers and partners, and positions Toku to participate fully in the region’s digital transformation. Our partnership with SESTEK follows the principle of composability that runs through our platform: specialist Arabic-language models run behind Toku’s orchestration layer, so organisations across the GCC get the accuracy they need without compromising on the deployment and data requirements that matter most to them.”
SESTEK: First Strategic Technology Partner in the Region
The Group signed a MOU with SESTEK in June 2026, which was disclosed alongside the Group’s 1H2026 results in July 2026. The MOU sets out a framework for SESTEK’s Agentic CX Suite to be integrated into Toku’s offering, adding Arabic-language conversational AI to the Group’s capabilities. Integration work between the two product teams is under way. The partnership will initially focus on opportunities across the Middle East and the GCC, with the potential to expand to additional regions over time by mutual agreement.
“Toku’s entry into the Middle East reflects exactly the kind of ambition this market rewards: combining serious communications infrastructure with a genuine commitment to local relevance. Language is where most voice-AI deployments succeed or fail in this region, and our two decades of work in Arabic, Turkish and multilingual speech technology are built for precisely the dialect diversity and code-switching that GCC organisations deal with every day. We see strong complementarity between SESTEK’s Agentic CX Suite and Toku’s customer experience capabilities, and we look forward to bringing that combination to banks, telecom operators and government bodies across the region as the partnership develops,” Ahmet Subaşı, Managing Director, MEAPAC, SESTEK.
The collaboration addresses a practical challenge facing GCC organisations as they seek to move AI from experimentation to wider deployment. According to a 2025 survey by McKinsey, the level of AI adoption had risen from 62 percent in 2023 to 84 percent in 2025. However, only 31 percent reported their organisations had scaled or fully deployed AI across its operations.
For banks, telecommunications operators and government agencies deploying voice AI in customer service, accuracy in everyday speech is decisive. Spoken Arabic varies considerably across regional dialects, and conversations frequently switch between Arabic and other languages; when interactions are misunderstood, more calls require human intervention and the service and efficiency gains needed to scale voice AI remains out of reach. SESTEK’s speech recognition and text-to-speech technologies are built for this environment, supporting Gulf Arabic variants including Najdi, Kuwaiti and Emirati speech as well as multilingual code-switching involving Arabic, English, French and Urdu. Combined with Toku’s communications infrastructure and customer experience platform, these capabilities allow the two companies to deliver voice-AI solutions that are locally relevant for the diverse communities the region’s organisations serve.
Toku and SESTEK have begun collaborating on active tenders and opportunities in the region, with an initial focus on the UAE. Together with the new local entity, the partnership gives the Group both the on-the-ground presence and the language capability to compete for enterprise and government contracts across the GCC, with further regional expansion under consideration as the partnership matures.
Talabat: Early Commercial Validation Across Eight Markets
Talabat, one of the region’s leading on-demand delivery platforms, is Toku’s first customer in the Middle East, providing early commercial validation of the Group’s regional expansion. Toku’s platform is now live across all eight markets in which Talabat operates, namely Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE, supporting more than 8,000 users across in-house and business process outsourcing (BPO) teams for inbound and outbound service.
Toku’s contact centre is integrated with Talabat’s various Customer Relationship Management (CRM) environments, and manages differing regulatory, infrastructure, and language requirements in each market. Following the introduction of voice alongside chat, Talabat’s customer satisfaction (CSAT) rose to approximately 80 percent, a measured uplift of more than 20 percent across the deployment.
The Talabat deployment extends Toku’s track record of supporting multi-market on-demand delivery platforms. It follows go-lives with PedidosYa in Latin America and Glovo in Europe, demonstrating the Group’s ability to deploy its platform across complex and geographically diverse environments, drawing on the same operating model first proven in Asia Pacific.
With Talabat live, a local subsidiary in place and SESTEK as its first strategic technology partner, Toku now has the customer validation, on-the-ground presence and localised technology capabilities to build further momentum across the Middle East.
Toku will showcase its platform at the Customer Experience Live Show Middle East in Dubai on 30 September and 01 October 2026, where Thomas Laboulle will deliver a keynote address.
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About Toku
Headquartered in Singapore, Toku Ltd. (SGX Catalist: TKU) is a cloud-native, AI-powered customer experience platform purpose-built for enterprises operating in complex, multi-market environments. With deep roots in the APAC region and an expanding global footprint, Toku’s modular 360° CX Platform orchestrates customer interactions across voice, chat, email and digital channels while managing regulatory, linguistic and infrastructure complexity at scale. Built on end-to-end ownership of its technology stack, from carrier-grade connectivity to AI applications, Toku delivers enterprise-grade security, reliability and deployment flexibility across commercial cloud, private data centres and hybrid environments. Its AI capabilities include transcription, summarisation, sentiment analysis, conversation analytics and governed virtual agents, designed to integrate seamlessly with enterprise systems and customer data. Trusted by leading enterprises and public-sector organisations, Toku helps organisations streamline operations, scale customer engagement and deliver consistent experiences in fragmented markets worldwide.
For more information about Toku, visit toku.co
About SESTEK
SESTEK is a global solution vendor working on AI-powered products for automation and digitalization of customer experience. Since 2000, SESTEK has been focusing on AI-powered solutions for contact centers, helping over 700 enterprise clients in 20 countries, operating mainly in banking, insurance, telecom, retail and BPO verticals. With offices in the US, UAE, and two R&D centers in Türkiye, SESTEK employs a multidisciplinary team of over 100+ engineers working on conversational AI solutions for self-service and optimization tools for contact centers.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Toku’s expansion plans and business strategy. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Toku undertakes no obligation to update these statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Sponsor’s Statement
Toku Ltd. (the “Company”) was listed on Catalist of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the “Exchange”) on 22 January 2026. The initial public offering of the Company was sponsored by PrimePartners Corporate Finance Pte. Ltd. (the “Sponsor”). This press release has been reviewed by the Sponsor. It has not been examined or approved by the Exchange and the Exchange assumes no responsibility for the contents of this press release, including the correctness of any of the statements or opinions made or reports contained in this press release. The contact person for the Sponsor is Ms. Ng Shi Qing, 16 Collyer Quay, #10-00 Collyer Quay Centre, Singapore 049318, sponsorship@ppcf.com.sg
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