From left: Co-founder of BforeAI Luciano Allegro; Executive Director of the Office of Innovation and Industrial Relations at HBKU, Dr. Nadir Yildirim; and Chief Technology Officer at BforeAI Sebastian Cesario.
Doha, Qatar: From a week-long initiative at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) in Doha to a fast-growing international cybersecurity firm, BforeAI’s journey is being highlighted at Web Summit Qatar 2026 as an example of Qatar-based research reaching global markets.
In 2019, HBKU’s Research to Startup programme brought international entrepreneurs to Qatar to explore technologies developed at the university and identify opportunities to commercialise them. The goal was to connect research with market-ready talent and build globally competitive companies rooted in Qatari innovation.
Among the participants was the founding team of BforeAI, which went on to license technology developed at the Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI). From those early discussions, the company expanded first into France and then the United States. Today, BforeAI employs more than 65 people across 24 countries and has a valuation exceeding $100m, creating global impact from technology developed in Qatar.
At Web Summit Qatar 2026, the BforeAI team including Founder and CEO Luigi Lenguito, Co-founder Luciano Allegro, and Chief Technology Officer Sebastian Cesario, is showcasing the company’s pioneering cybersecurity solutions while engaging with local stakeholders, potential partners, and the academic community.
“At Web Summit Qatar, our priority is to strengthen relationships with Qatari companies and the university,” Allegro told The Peninsula. “We are in discussions to license additional patents and continue collaborating with researchers. We see significant opportunities for research-driven growth in Qatar and aim to take Qatari-developed technologies to global markets.”
BforeAI operates as a fully distributed company, a structure shaped by its international origins and the realities of global collaboration. “It has been remote from its inception. Among two of the founders one is based in Argentina, one in France, and the company structure was intentionally designed this way, influenced by the pandemic and global collaboration needs,” said Allegro.
The partnership that led to BforeAI was itself the result of chance and collaboration. Allegro, who is from Argentina, and Lenguito, an Italian living in France, met for the first time during the Research to Startup programme.
“Before the programme, we didn’t know each other,” Allegro said. “During that week, we not only identified an exciting technology, but also built a strong friendship and a productive working relationship.”
After returning home from the programme in October 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic began. It was during this period that they reconnected around an idea first sparked in Doha.
Lenguito focused on the idea of predicting cyberattacks, a radical shift in an industry that was largely reactive at the time. “Cybersecurity usually responded only after an attack had already started,” Allegro said.
“Being able to anticipate attacks and act before they happen represented a fundamental change.”
That vision reshaped the company’s direction. Lenguito often referenced the concept of “precrime” from the film Minority Report, an idea that became central to BforeAI’s mission. “The presentation Luigi gave in Qatar reflected the same vision we still hold today,” Allegro said.
The founders applied for an evaluation licence from HBKU to further explore the QCRI technology. Together with CTO Sebastian Cesario, they committed six months to developing a minimum viable product. “At the end of those six months, we had a working MVP and our first customer ready to sign,” Allegro said. “We then officially founded the company and signed the licensing agreement.”
He described the process as efficient and supportive, noting that HBKU’s legal team helped move the agreement forward smoothly.
Since then, BforeAI has raised two funding rounds from European and US investors and continued to refine its technology. The company now predicts cyberattacks through large-scale internet observation, using behavioural analytics and machine learning to detect threats, particularly phishing and impersonation attacks — up to three weeks in advance.
“We serve major US-based clients, including Bloomberg, Meta, and Fidelity,” Allegro said. “They rely on us to identify and take down threats before they materialise.”
Executive Director of the Office of Innovation and Industrial Relations at HBKU, Dr. Nadir Yildirim said the company’s success reflects the university’s broader mission.
“HBKU is an impact-driven, research-focused graduate university with strengths in computational sciences, biomedical sciences, energy, and the environment,” he said. “We strongly believe in university-based innovation and in supporting high-risk, early-stage technologies through to global success.”
At Web Summit Qatar, HBKU is showcasing four technologies, more than eight startups, over 15 sessions, and 200 participants. As Qatar advances toward its National Vision 2030, Dr. Yildirim said AI and information technology remain key priorities.
“HBKU aims to lead in supporting this vision,” he said, “not only through technological advancement but also by addressing the ethical and societal implications of AI through research, education, and collaboration.”
