Latest
Fintech
+2
Jun 26, 2026
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2 min read
PayPal Ventures winds down, leaving its $100M Middle East and Africa pledge in limbo
Nine months after PayPal committed $100 million to startups across the Middle East and Africa, the corporate venture arm meant to deploy much of it has paused new investments.
Fintech
+2
Jun 25, 2026
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2 min read
Lean and Ziina launch one-tap Pay by Bank top-ups, the UAE's first recurring Open Finance payment experience
Built on Lean's Deposits product, the feature lets Ziina users link a bank account once and top up their wallet with a single tap, moving Pay by Bank in the UAE past one-off transactions and into the repeat, low-friction flows that drive daily use.
Healthtech
+2
Jun 25, 2026
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1 min read
BioSapien wins Abu Dhabi regulatory approvals to begin Phase I cancer trials for its MediChip platform
The Department of Health, the Emirates Drug Establishment and an institutional review board have cleared the 3D-printed chemotherapy implant for first-in-human trials, with patient enrolment in colorectal cancer expected to begin within weeks.
Funding
+4
Jun 24, 2026
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2 min read
Abu Dhabi's MGX raises close to $50B in one of the largest AI funds ever
The firm has assembled a portfolio spanning frontier models, semiconductor infrastructure and data centres, with stakes including OpenAI and xAI.
Oman
+4
Jun 23, 2026
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2 min read
Oman's Phaze Ventures backs Metal, the AI fundraising startup from Airlift founder Usman Gul
Metal sells software to help founders run the fundraising process, built by Usman Gul, whose previous company, the grocery-delivery startup Airlift, raised Pakistan's largest-ever round before collapsing in 2022.
Foodtech
+3
Jun 22, 2026
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1 min read
Saudi's Foodics completes full acquisition of Greek AI startup Norma
The Norma team now joins a dedicated Foodics AI division, with its analytics agent and business intelligence application folded into the core product.
Fintech
+3
Jun 19, 2026
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2 min read
Lean Technologies launches Pay by Bank suite on UAE Open Finance rails
Unveiled at the company's first hosted event in Dubai on 18 June, the suite groups account-to-account payments into deposits, collections, checkouts and a low-code payment links product, and arrives with Lean reporting more than 20 billion dirhams in payments processed to date.
News
+3
Jun 19, 2026
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1 min read
Dubizzle Group invests in rental rewards startup Tern, integrating it exclusively into Bayut and dubizzle
The strategic investment embeds Tern's credit-card rent payment and loyalty product into the group's two flagship UAE property portals, and comes eight months after the classifieds operator postponed its planned $2 billion Dubai IPO.
Fintech
+4
Jun 18, 2026
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1 min read
Sovra raises $2M+ pre-seed led by Pharsalus Capital to build a self-custodial dollar account for MENA
The round drew angel cheques from the likes of Ramp founder Karim Atiyeh and Lean Technologies founder Hisham Al-Falih, backing a platform that holds user balances in USDC outside the conventional banking system.
Fintech
+2
Jun 18, 2026
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1 min read
Revolut secures full UAE central bank licences, completing its regulatory path to launch
The Stored Value Facilities and Retail Payment Services (Category II) licences from the Central Bank of the UAE complete a process that began with in-principle approval in September 2025, and clear the London-based fintech to build out its local product ahead of going live.
Fintech
+2
Jun 17, 2026
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2 min read
UAE's Alaan launches AI-native business bank account in partnership with Islamic bank ruya
The account folds corporate cards, domestic and cross-border supplier payments, invoice automation and accounting into a single platform.
Startups
+4
Jun 16, 2026
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1 min read
UAE's CNTXT AI closes $60M Series A co-led by AI71 and BlueFive Capital to scale sovereign AI infrastructure
The round is led in part by AI71, the Abu Dhabi applied-AI company that acquired founder Mohammad Abu Sheikh's previous venture and now returns as an investor, and lands weeks after CNTXT AI's acquisition of Gulf-dialect voice startup Actualize.
