In this edition of Founder’s Hustle, we sat down with Mansour Al Thani, founder and CEO of MoonTech, to unpack his journey from early e-commerce experiments to building an innovative influencer marketing platform. After years of trial, pivoting, and hands-on experience, Mansour saw the gaps in how brands and creators work together—and set out to rebuild the system using data, automation, and AI.

The Early Years and First Ventures

Mansour’s journey into the world of tech and entrepreneurship began with a passion for computer science, inspired by his brother, a software engineer. This led him to pursue computer science at Sharjah University, but by his second year, Mansour’s focus shifted towards business.

This newfound interest inspired him to launch his own e-commerce brand while still at university. But he soon hit a wall, he realized he lacked the marketing expertise needed to grow the business. Frustrated yet determined, he began seeking opportunities beyond the classroom. That search led him to an internship through a student exchange program with MakoLab, a Poland-based organization. For two months, he worked on e-marketing initiatives, focusing specifically on SEO in Arabic. “It was a steep learning curve, but also an incredibly eye-opening experience.”

After returning from Poland, he took another bold step into entrepreneurship, this time partnering with his cousin Abdullah Al Thani to launch a small marketing agency. But within six months, reality set in. “I spent most of the money I had on licensing, office space, and salaries,” he admits. It quickly became clear that he wasn’t yet ready to run a business full-time. “That realization was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he reflects. Recognizing the need to build experience first, Mansour decided to pivot. “I told my cousin, ‘I’ll join a company for now, and then I’ll come back and see what we can build,’” he recalls.

An Introduction to Affiliate Marketing 

As Mansour immersed himself in the world of e-commerce and digital marketing he discovered two key players in the region: Namshi and Souq.com. At the time, both were rapidly growing, and retail giants were also entering the e-commerce space. “I applied to multiple places, one of them being Chalhoub Group and the other being Namshi”. Although Namshi offered him a lower salary, something about the opportunity stood out and he decided to take the plunge. 

His previous experiences had already helped him build relationships with influencers and YouTubers, but it was his time at Namshi that truly broadened his perspective on what was possible in e-commerce. It was there that he began working closely with Amr Aboelinin, his manager, who not only taught him everything he knows about digital marketing but has remained a mentor ever since. “I learned so much from them, they were organized, fast, and incredibly efficient,” Mansour recalls. The experience also introduced him to the mechanics of affiliate marketing, where commissions are paid to websites for driving referrals. “They showed me how to run an affiliate marketing channel the right way,” he says.

Always eager to innovate, Mansour pitched a bold new idea: “Instead of paying commissions to websites, why not reward influencers directly?” The suggestion resonated with both his manager, Amr, and Namshi co-founder, Hossam Arab, who backed the initiative. The impact was immediate and remarkable; Namshi’s daily order volume surged from 1,000 to 2,000, then 5,000, eventually hitting 10,000 orders a day.

During his time at Namshi, Mansour had the privilege of working alongside some of the most influential entrepreneurs in the region’s e-commerce industry including Hossam Arab, Faraz Khalid, and Hisham Zarka. The relationships he built during this time, along with his deepening knowledge of the industry, set the stage for the next big step in his entrepreneurial journey: the creation of Itcan.

The Birth of Itcan

After a year and a half at Namshi, Mansour felt the pull of entrepreneurship once again. He took the leap, started a performance marketing agency—and took Namshi as his first client. 

From day one, Itcan was built on three foundational values: knowledge, innovation, and strong relationships. These guiding principles fueled its evolution into a powerhouse marketing agency, trusted by some of the region’s most prominent names, including Chalhoub Group, Landmark Group, and Jamjoom Group. Over the span of nine years, Itcan expanded to a team of over 100 professionals, operating across multiple offices.

Building MoonTech

Despite Itcan’s success, Mansour began to notice growing inefficiencies in the influencer marketing space. “About a year and a half ago, we started seeing real friction between agencies and brands,” he explains. “E-commerce companies could advertise on TikTok, Snapchat, or Meta directly and programmatically, but influencer marketing was still stuck in the past. Brands had to go through agencies, send emails, wait days for replies—all based on gut feeling rather than data.”

The result? Wasted budgets and missed opportunities.

Meanwhile, AI was evolving at breakneck speed. Mansour saw a clear opportunity: to build an engine that could match influencers with brands more intelligently than any human ever could. “With advances in social listening, it became easier than ever to understand an influencer’s content, audience, and trending topics,” he says. “We finally had the tools to connect brands and creators through data—not just opinion.”

This vision laid the groundwork for the next chapter, the creation of MoonTech, a step toward building a tech platform to automate and optimize influencer marketing through AI.

The Power of AI

One of MoonTech’s standout innovations is its dynamic pricing algorithm, a core piece of its AI engine. “Dynamic pricing allows us to measure the value of each influencer's post in real time.”

Traditionally, influencers raise their prices as they grow, even if their engagement starts to decline. To address this, MoonTech uses a cost-per-sale model, just like the affiliate marketing model they put in place at Namshi. Brands only pay when results are delivered, and influencers are compensated based on performance. Over time, this creates a rich pool of first-party data that enables accurate, real-time pricing decisions.

MoonTech’s AI engine continuously profiles influencers, tracking their content, engagement, and audience behavior over time. “We don’t just analyze influencers once, we constantly update their profiles to reflect how they evolve,” Mansour explains. This dynamic approach allows the platform to develop a deeper, data-driven understanding of each creator, enabling smarter, more precise matches between brands and influencers who truly resonate with their target audiences.

He gives the example of an influencer who shared her pregnancy journey, content that aligned perfectly with a brand like Mumzworld. “Their sales went through the roof. It worked because the influencer’s story matched the brand, and our system picked up on that.”

Influencers and Brands Onboarded

MoonTech’s platform caters to brands and creators across a variety of industries, with particular success in fashion, beauty, and luxury. They work with major retailers like Sephora, Faces, and Bloomingdale’s, and are also exploring partnerships with giants like Amazon and Noon.

Their philosophy is simple: Influence isn’t determined by follower count. “We look at all influencers—micro, macro, or in between,” says Mansour. “What matters is their influence score, a micro-influencer could drive more orders than a macro one. It all depends on their actual impact,” he explains.

On the brand side, MoonTech is not an agency. “Brands sign up, integrate with the platform, and use our tools to work directly with influencers,” says Mansour. Their AI ingests brand data and suggests the most effective collaboration opportunities. MoonTech’s tech-first approach also creates stickiness. If brands choose to work with influencers outside the platform, they lose access to MoonTech’s real-time data, performance tracking, and discovery of new influencers.

At its core, MoonTech is building the Google Ads of influencer marketing: fully automated and data-driven, not just an influencer marketplace. “Brands launch campaigns, and influencers receive everything—briefs, creatives, terms—in an automated way. No back-and-forth emails.”

MoonTech operates on a transaction-based model, earning a fee each time a collaboration is facilitated through the platform. While this remains their primary revenue stream for now, Mansour hints at plans to diversify as the platform continues to evolve.

“We want to help the e-commerce industry grow faster and with greater precision,” Mansour explains. “At the same time, we’re committed to empowering content creators to monetize their platforms more effectively than ever before.”

Fintech X Influencer Marketing 

Moontech also developed a Fintech infrastructure using a third-party provider, aimed at solving a challenge influencers face: delayed payments from brands.

To tackle this, MoonTech offers a solution where brands top up funds, enabling them to pay influencers promptly. Influencers receive these payments directly to a wallet linked to their MoonTech account, making it easy for them to access and use their earnings.“The ideal setup is similar to any adtech tool, where brands launch campaigns and top-up funds or pay as they go,” Mansour explains. “We’re not fully there yet, but that’s where we’re heading.”

Beyond faster payouts, MoonTech is also exploring tools to help influencers better manage their earnings. “Many influencers are new to handling large amounts of money, and they may not have the tools to save and invest effectively,” he adds.

The Path to Fundraising

“We’re now preparing for our first round of funding, it’s exciting, but it hasn’t been an easy journey.” 

Mansour reflects on the early days of product development. “Speed was definitely a challenge,” he says. “We were building the product, and figuring things out as we went, it was an intense but exciting phase.” One of the more complex parts was assembling the right team. While there’s strong agency expertise and plenty of technical talent, identifying individuals who could bridge both worlds was key. “That blend isn’t easy to find, but once you do, it makes all the difference.”

Despite these headwinds, MoonTech kept pushing forward. As they gained traction and refined their product, the team decided to apply to Sandbox, Oraseya Capital’s accelerator program. Oraseya Capital, a Dubai-based government-backed venture firm, received over a thousand applications to the program. MoonTech was one of just 23 companies selected. The accelerator offered hands-on support. “They helped us refine our data room and guided us on how to approach VCs,” Mansour explains.

Now, as MoonTech gears up for its first funding round, they’re approaching the raise with clarity and purpose. “We’re raising for three main things,” Mansour says, “first, to continue building our AI infrastructure, particularly on the data side. Second, to scale faster by acquiring more brands and influencers. And third, to bring in the right talent that can help us reach the next level.”

Expansion Plans

Mansour shares a key lesson he’s learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey: "For me, it’s all about listening to data more than opinion. Many companies are run by opinion, and that’s why they fail.”

As for MoonTech's future, the company is focused on growth within the MENA region over the next 3 to 5 years. However, Mansour has global ambitions for the future. "The platform we’re building is scalable, and after five years, we see ourselves expanding globally," he says.

In terms of expansion strategy, he believes that by forming strong partnerships and building a unified influencer marketing platform, MoonTech can create a powerful ecosystem. "I want to be part of something bigger, where we combine efforts with others in the industry to create one strong entity."

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