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Weekly round-up

Iran strikes knock out AWS, CBUAE grants emergency cloud waivers

Mar 6, 2026

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12 min read

Iran strikes knock out AWS, CBUAE grants emergency cloud waivers

How Sarwa and Abhi got their platforms back online, the UAE Central Bank grants emergency waivers for overseas data centres, TruDoc Healthcare secures $15M pre-Series B, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Analysis

Inside the AWS outage that took down UAE fintechs

Mar 6, 2026

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14 min read

Inside the AWS outage that took down UAE fintechs

Drone strikes knocked out two of AWS's three UAE data centres, taking Sarwa, Abhi, and a dozen other platforms offline. FWDstart spoke to the CEOs steering two of those companies through the crisis to find out what it actually looked like from inside the building.

Analysis

How GCC Founders and Investors Are Navigating The Strikes

Mar 4, 2026

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11 min read

How GCC Founders and Investors Are Navigating The Strikes

On missiles, fintechs going dark, and the strange normalcy in between.

Food Delivery

Careem confirms full service restoration after overnight AWS migration

Mar 3, 2026

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2 min read

Careem confirms full service restoration after overnight AWS migration

The super app's rides, Hala, and payments services went down with Sunday's AWS outage.

Fintech

Mar 2, 2026

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4 min read

AWS data centre in the UAE struck by "objects," taking fintech startups offline as Iranian missiles hit the Gulf

Unidentified objects struck an Amazon Web Services facility in the UAE on Sunday, triggering a fire and a cascading outage across at least 38 cloud services. Sarwa, Stake, Liv by Emirates NBD, and ADCB all reported disruptions.

Weekly round-up

Peak XV's $1.3B raise, Bosta lines up Egypt IPO

Feb 27, 2026

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12 min read

Peak XV's $1.3B raise, Bosta lines up Egypt IPO

Deliveroo exits Qatar, Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, Brookfield acquires Wa'ed Ventures-backed Ori Industries, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

News

G42 opens job applications for AI agents, joining a global race to put bots on the org chart

Feb 27, 2026

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4 min read

G42 opens job applications for AI agents, joining a global race to put bots on the org chart

The Abu Dhabi technology group, which last year led a $55 million round in Applied AI and is building chip safeguards to satisfy Washington, has begun recruiting AI agents into structured enterprise roles.

Public Markets

Bosta lines up Egypt's first tech logistics IPO in a deal worth up to $170 million

Feb 27, 2026

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5 min read

Bosta lines up Egypt's first tech logistics IPO in a deal worth up to $170 million

The Cairo-based delivery startup is preparing to float 20% to 30% of its shares on the Egyptian Exchange by the end of 2026, with EFG Hermes managing an offering that would raise roughly $170 million and mark the EGX's first listed parcel-delivery company.

News

Peak XV raises $1.3B amid partner exodus while quietly deepening its MENA portfolio

Feb 27, 2026

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8 min read

Peak XV raises $1.3B amid partner exodus while quietly deepening its MENA portfolio

The firm formerly known as Sequoia India closed its first independent fundraise after three senior partners departed over a profit-sharing dispute on a 52x return. Meanwhile, GV Ravishankar has been quietly building from Dubai, sitting on the boards of Tabby, Huspy, and Lean Technologies, and leading four MENA deals in the past year.

VC Playbook

Feb 25, 2026

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22 min read

Fundraising 101 for MENA VCs

Eight of the region's top VCs on the mechanics of raising a fund in MENA: where the LP capital actually sits, finding anchors, pitching sovereigns, and what it takes to survive a fundraise that will almost certainly take twice as long as you think.

VC Playbook

Feb 25, 2026

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13 min read

How can MENA VC firms grow the LP base

MENA's GPs are all chasing the same fifteen LPs. The ones who'll win the next decade are those who grow the pie – converting corporates, unlocking university endowments, and selling the region to international capital that doesn't yet know it should be here.

VC Playbook

How to navigate MENA LP mandates strategic capital, and the fine print

Feb 25, 2026

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13 min read

How to navigate MENA LP mandates strategic capital, and the fine print

In MENA, almost every LP cheque comes with strings attached – sovereign mandates, strategic deal flow expectations, geographic constraints. The GPs who thrive are the ones who know which strings to accept, which to negotiate, and which to walk away from entirely.

VC Playbook

Guide to navigating MENA VC fundraising timelines

Feb 25, 2026

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14 min read

Guide to navigating MENA VC fundraising timelines

VC Playbook

Feb 25, 2026

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10 min read

How to pitch your fund to MENA LPs

LPs have heard the MENA macro pitch a hundred times. The best GPs know when to lead with deals, when to sell the story, and when to do both – plus why the deck that looks like everyone else's is already dead on arrival.

VC Playbook

Feb 25, 2026

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10 min read

How to find your anchor LP in MENA

Every fund needs a first believer. In the GCC, that believer is usually a wealthy family; everywhere else, it's a harder conversation. From sovereign concentration traps to the champions model, how MENA GPs secure their anchor LP – and why getting it wrong can haunt you all the way to Fund II.

Saudi Arabia

Brookfield acquires Wa'ed Ventures-backed Ori Industries, folds company into $100B AI infrastructure play

Feb 25, 2026

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4 min read

Brookfield acquires Wa'ed Ventures-backed Ori Industries, folds company into $100B AI infrastructure play

The UK cloud startup, backed by Saudi Aramco's venture arm, becomes the compute engine of Brookfield's $100 billion AI infrastructure programme. Wa'ed Ventures is expected to retain its stake.

Podcast

Aydi's Hassan Fayed on Building AI for Every Farmer on Earth

Feb 24, 2026

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6 min read

Aydi's Hassan Fayed on Building AI for Every Farmer on Earth

Hassan Fayed grew up on a farm in Egypt. Now he's raised $7.5M from COTU, Nuwa Capital, and Daltex to build an AI agronomist called Orth for the 95% of farms that have never been visited by one.

News

Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, backing startups from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco

Feb 24, 2026

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5 min read

Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, backing startups from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco

The fund, a partnership between G42's Presight and Abu Dhabi VC Shorooq, has invested in NodeShift, Candid, Hebbia, Blue, and Crunched after screening over 1,000 companies in its first 120 days.