Latest
Fintech
+2
Jul 13, 2026
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2 min read
Tabby launches Tabby Cash, its first product on the UAE wallet licence, as it pushes beyond BNPL
The fee-free spending account, offering up to 3% cashback and free local transfers, and arrives alongside a rebrand positioning the $4.5 billion company as an everyday money management platform rather than a BNPL provider.
Startups
+3
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Amazon brings 20-minute delivery to Egypt, opening a new front in the country's quick commerce race
Amazon Now has gone live in select areas of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and the North Coast, making Egypt the third market in the region to get the service after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
China
+4
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Abu Dhabi's BlueFive co-leads $3B round for China's Kling AI, the largest raise ever for a video model company
The round values Kuaishou's spun-out video-generation unit at $18B ahead of a planned Hong Kong listing, and puts the Abu Dhabi asset manager alongside Tencent, CITIC Securities and CPE as the only Middle East-based name among the co-leads of a record Chinese AI financing.
Jordan
+4
Jul 10, 2026
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1 min read
Jordan's ISSF partners with STV to bring the Google-backed AI Fund to Jordanian founders
The tie-up marks ISSF's second fund partnership in a month after its $7 million commitment to Endeavor Catalyst V opened the Kingdom's second investment phase.
Funding
+3
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Azraq raises oversubscribed pre-seed to price the risk behind the Gulf's data centre boom
The Abu Dhabi-based platform replaces the static, up-to-$1-million consultant reports underwriting data centre finance with continuous, lender-grade risk intelligence, and marks the first publicised graduate of the Utopia platform's co-build studio model.
Startups
+3
Jul 9, 2026
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1 min read
Keyper raises $11M Series A to expand monthly rent payments in the UAE
Led by Speedinvest with Mashreq's NeoVentures, Dubai Future District Fund, Property Finder and Arab National Bank participating, the platform has financed more than $44 million in rent since launch.
Analysis
+1
Jul 8, 2026
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13 min read
The year debt out-deployed equity in the Gulf
From Capifly to Stride Ventures to Jefferies, GCC startups climbed a three-tier debt ladder in 2025, as global desks including Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan moved in behind the region's own funds.
Fintech
+1
Jul 5, 2026
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4 min read
Building the AWS for Middle East Fintech
Lean has raised more than $100M to build the region’s fintech infrastructure layer. We sat down with CPO Tewfik Cassis on the eve of the company’s biggest product launch to date, to talk Pay by Bank, open finance, stablecoins, agentic commerce and why Lean’s ambitions now stretch far beyond open banking.
News
+2
Jul 3, 2026
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2 min read
OSN proposes taking Anghami private two years after buying control
The streaming group, which owns around 67% of the Nasdaq-listed Arab music platform, has offered $3.39 a share in cash for the rest, the stock's three-month volume-weighted average rather than a premium, and has told the board it will not sell its stake to a third party, effectively ruling out a rival bid.
Fintech
+3
Jul 3, 2026
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1 min read
Beehive completes majority acquisition of Saudi debt crowdfunding platform Themar
The deal makes the Dubai-born SME lender the first digital SME financing platform regulated across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia, converting a Saudi presence run through banking partnerships since 2020 into a fully regulated operation. Terms were not disclosed.
Agritech
+3
Jul 3, 2026
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1 min read
Maalexi raises $2.8M led by Saudi insurer Tawuniya as it builds a tokenised agricultural exchange
The oversubscribed round brings the Tadawul-listed insurer onto the cap table of the UAE agri-fintech alongside returning lead Global Ventures, as Maalexi positions for a Series A and layers a regulated real-world asset exchange on top of its trade-verification platform.
Analysis
+2
Jul 1, 2026
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14 min read
Tokenmaxxing and renting the frontier
How are founders and operators building across MENA thinking about token-spending caps, frontier versus open source model usage, and export controls?
Fintech
+3
Jun 30, 2026
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2 min read
Tabby secures consumer and SME finance licences from SAMA, opening up larger purchases and working capital
The two SAMA licences let Tabby offer Saudi customers longer instalment plans of up to SAR 50,000 on bigger-ticket purchases alongside its existing four-payment product, and extend working capital to the retailers on its platform.
Startups
+3
Jun 30, 2026
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3 min read
1001 raises $30M Series A led by Lux Capital to build sovereign AI for Gulf critical infrastructure
Eight months after its $9 million seed, 1001 has more than tripled its raise, backing its pitch to build AI that helps operators run critical infrastructure like airports, ports and energy grids.
