Latest
Analysis
+1
Aug 12, 2026
•
20 min read
A terrible business, but an amazing Trojan horse
As SILQ closes $100 million for its embedded finance arm Fina, the survivors of the B2B marketplace crash are out to parlay their order data into fintech empires.
Fintech
+2
Aug 11, 2026
•
3 min read
Tamara’s Saudi Q2 revenue more than doubles as new lending book closes in on BNPL
Q2 revenue more than doubled to SAR 707 million as consumer-financing receivables reached SAR 3.14 billion, just behind the SAR 3.36 billion held in pay-in-instalments.
Funding
+3
Aug 11, 2026
•
1 min read
UAE customer intelligence startup Cobi raises $1M pre-seed led by Lunara Partners
The new capital will be used to expand enterprise deployments across the Middle East and internationally, and to further develop Cobi’s recommendation and decisioning capabilities.
Fintech
+2
Aug 10, 2026
•
3 min read
Tabby's Saudi unit Q2 profit falls 54% as revenue grows 21% year on year
The Riyadh-headquartered BNPL lender's repayments outpaced new lending by roughly SAR 360 million between April and June, as its new SAMA licence opens a push into longer-term consumer and SME lending.
Analysis
+1
Aug 5, 2026
•
24 min read
Digging into Travis Kalanick’s $2B Gulf food computer
Inside the cloud-kitchen infrastructure bet once headed for Tadawul, which survived the bust, expanded across the Gulf and now sits beneath Kalanick’s $1.7B a16z-backed Atoms comeback.
VC
+2
Aug 5, 2026
•
2 min read
Moove raises $250M at $2.1B led by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala to build the depot layer for robotaxis
The Dubai-headquartered company's valuation is 2.8x the $750 million it commanded in its $100 million round Uber led in 2024.
Startups
+3
Aug 4, 2026
•
1 min read
Saudi's Rime raises $2M+ seed to run AI agents on-site for retail chains
Seedra Ventures led again after backing the pre-Seed, in a round joined by Athlah Investment and Unity Invest Partners, behind a platform that runs decisions on-site through edge computing rather than sending footage to remote data centres.
Jordan
+2
Jul 31, 2026
•
2 min read
Brookfield to buy Aypa Power for $7B, the battery storage platform built by Jordan's Moe Hajabed
The Amman-raised founder started the business in Canada as a behind-the-meter storage developer, sold it to Blackstone in 2020 when it had around 200 MWh contracted, and has grown it into North America's largest standalone battery platform at 6.5 GW, with a pipeline above 20 GW.
Fintech
+2
Jul 31, 2026
•
2 min read
UAE credit reports to include Tabby and Tamara accounts from July
Al Etihad Credit Bureau will add BNPL data from both providers, covering existing and new customers and historical transactions.
Analysis
+1
Jul 29, 2026
•
27 min read
The rise and fall of the B2B e-commerce marketplace
Across Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, B2B marketplaces like Wasoko, Sary and MaxAB raised hundreds of millions to digitise informal retail, backed by aggressive growth capital from kingmakers like Tiger Global. But when subsidised expansion collided with razor-thin margins, the category unravelled. Inside the boom, the bust, and the quiet pivot of the survivors.
News
+2
Jul 27, 2026
•
1 min read
Egypt's Fincart raises $2.8M seed to take its e-commerce operations platform across MENA and Africa
The oversubscribed round is co-led by Launch Africa and Antler MENAP, backing a platform that connects merchants to more than 40 couriers and lends against their sales data.
