Jamie Lane

Jamie Lane is the co-founder of FWDstart, a Gulf/MENA-focused tech and venture publication aiming to be the region’s referential source for rigorous analysis and original reporting. Based in Abu Dhabi, Jamie’s coverage spans AI, fintech, and the evolving capital stack in MENA. He also hosts the VC React podcast. Before FWDstart, he led digital strategy at a pan-European B2B publishing house, overseeing editorial, subscriptions, and commercial operations.

MENA generates 60% of Delivery Hero's EBITDA, Talabat braces for Keeta in Egypt

Comfi raises $65M pre-Series A to scale B2B BNPL across MENA, Gulf sovereigns to own 38.5% of merged Paramount-WBD in close to $24B investment, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up

May 1, 2026

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6 min read

At Delivery Hero, MENA is doing most of the heavy lifting

The Berlin-listed group's Gulf operations now generate roughly 60% of its EBITDA from 30% of its GMV. A regulator-mandated divestment of its largest shareholder will test what that engine is worth.

Apr 30, 2026

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4 min read

Inside Tamara's Books

What 40 pages of audited financial statements reveal about how Saudi's first homegrown fintech unicorn rebuilt its revenue model, underwrites a lending book it didn't have twelve months ago, funds it all at rates its nearest competitor can't match, and prepares for what comes next.

Apr 29, 2026

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20 min read

Saudi's BRKZ lands investment from SIDF's investment arm as supply chain platform eyes cloud manufacturing

The investment will accelerate BRKZ's evolution from a procurement digitisation platform into what the company calls cloud manufacturing.

Apr 29, 2026

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1 min read

Bahrain's Rain acquires Saudi financial media company Digital Ma'arefa in bid to reach one million Arabic-speaking crypto followers

Digital Ma'arefa is a Saudi-based financial media company behind The Finance Memo, Crypto Memo, AI Memo and a broader newsletter and podcast network reaching more than one million followers and over 100,000 newsletter subscribers.

Apr 28, 2026

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2 min read

Dubai's Comfi raises $65M pre-Series A in equity and debt to scale B2B buy now, pay later across MENA

The company offers a B2B buy now, pay later product that allows SME suppliers to provide up to 90-day payment terms to their business customers while receiving payment themselves within 24 hours.

Apr 27, 2026

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1 min read

Bahrain's Lola raises $3M seed to bring cake production in-house as custom orders scale across GCC

Founded in September 2023 by Othman Janahi, Lola enables users to design and order fully customised cakes through a mobile app in under a minute, choosing from thousands of designs, colours and combinations.

Apr 27, 2026

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1 min read

$200M Saudi grocery darling Nana cracks, Speedinvest launches MEA fund

Cerebras refiles for IPO at $23B with 86% of revenue still from Abu Dhabi, Uber raises Delivery Hero stake to 7% as questions mount over Gulf food delivery empire, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up

Apr 24, 2026

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6 min read

SVC backs new $200M Growth Catalyst Fund targeting mid-market companies

The Riyadh-based private equity firm was founded in 2025 by Turki Al-Dayel, who chaired SVC's own Investment Committee from 2023 to 2025 before stepping down to launch the vehicle.

Apr 24, 2026

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1 min read

Jordan's Tamatem acquires Istanbul's Playable Factory, discloses $10M funding round

The acquisition integrates ad tech into what was previously a content, distribution and payments business, moving Tamatem toward controlling the full stack from game localisation through to player acquisition and monetisation.

Apr 24, 2026

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2 min read

Uber raises Delivery Hero stake to 7% as questions mount over the German group's Gulf food delivery empire

The transaction takes Prosus's stake from 26.3% to 21.8%, but the company must reach single digits by August 2026, meaning substantially more Delivery Hero stock will need to find buyers in the coming months.

Apr 24, 2026

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2 min read

Cerebras refiles for IPO at $23B valuation after clearing G42 security review, but 86% of its revenue still comes from Abu Dhabi

The AI chipmaker whose first IPO attempt stalled in late 2024 amid a US national security review, filed a fresh S-1 with the SEC on 17 April targeting a Nasdaq listing at approximately $23 billion.

Apr 24, 2026

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2 min read

Inside Speedinvest's new Middle East and Africa Fund

The inside scoop from the lead partners of Speedinvest's new dedicated Middle East and Africa fund on raising from QIA, EIB, and Mubadala, and the ups and downs of fundraising from regional LPs.

Apr 22, 2026

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5 min read

Speedinvest launches flagship Middle East and Africa fund backed by Mubadala, QIA and EIB Global

The fund is led by partners Deepali Nangia and Rana Abdel Latif and will invest across fintech, embedded finance, health, climate, AI, consumer and digital infrastructure in markets spanning MENAPT and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Apr 20, 2026

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2 min read

Saudi grocery delivery platform Nana enters financial reorganisation after raising over $200M from Kingdom Holding, STV and others

The financial reorganisation comes as Saudi Arabia's delivery and quick commerce market has become one of the most competitive in the world.

Apr 20, 2026

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2 min read

Signit raises $15m Series A to build AI-powered contract management for Saudi government and enterprise

Founded in 2021 by Mohamed El Abbouri, the company built its initial business around a digital signature platform designed specifically for the Saudi market.

Apr 20, 2026

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1 min read

Tamara turns a profit, Egypt's cybersecurity moment

Saudi fashion startup raises $7M Series A drawing PIF's Sanabil, Tabby expanding into spending accounts, cards, and money management tools in UAE, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Apr 17, 2026

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5 min read

Egyptian cybersecurity startup Raspire joins Y Combinator with no-code runtime protection platform

Raspire's platform allows engineering teams to add runtime protection to their applications without requiring complex integrations, specialised security teams or changes that slow down release cycles.

Apr 17, 2026

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1 min read

UAE's Homegrown Ventures closes $22.8m debut fund as MENA's first VC firm dedicated to consumer brands

The fund is founded by Nader Amiri and Ahmad Shamieh, who between them have spent more than 30 years inside the CPG industry at Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kraft/Mondelez, Danone, Nokia and Microsoft.

Apr 17, 2026

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2 min read

Saudi fashion startup Aya raises $7m Series A led by RAED Ventures as demand-driven abaya model draws PIF's Sanabil

Aya was founded in 2024 by Munira Al Kadi (CEO) and Abdulrahman Al Ammar, who both previously worked together at Soum, the Saudi second-hand electronics and used goods marketplace.

Apr 16, 2026

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1 min read

Tabby secures UAE wallet licence, extending financial services push into its second core market

The BNPL unicorn has cleared the regulatory hurdle to hold customer funds and roll out a broader suite of financial products in the Emirates, including spending accounts, cards, and money management tools.

Apr 16, 2026

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1 min read

Tamara's Saudi arm hits first full-year profit of $51.5M on 90% revenue growth

The results mark a turning point for the Riyadh-headquartered BNPL unicorn, which is backed by PIF subsidiary Sanabil Investments, SNB Capital's fintech fund, and Checkout.com.

Apr 16, 2026

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2 min read

Rasan: A quiet toll bridge on Saudi's insurance float

The Kingdom's first true fintech IPO is now a $2.8 billion company with 38% net margins, zero debt, and $198 million in cash. A forensic breakdown of Rasan's FY2025 audited accounts.

Apr 15, 2026

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24 min read

Golden Gate Ventures backs $2B AI infrastructure firm Invisible Technologies as it targets GCC enterprise deployments

Invisible, founded in 2015, claims to have trained data and models for more than 80% of the world's leading foundation model labs and counts Microsoft, AWS and Cohere among its enterprise clients.

Apr 13, 2026

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4 min read

Building the backbone of Sovereign AI

Lebanese founder Mahdi Yahya spent eight years building Ori, an AI infrastructure company backed by Wa'ed Ventures that most investors initially didn't understand. Ori has now been acquired by Brookfield Asset Management and merged into Radiant, a vertically integrated AI company combining power, land, capital, and compute to build sovereign and hyperscale infrastructure across Europe, North America, and the Middle East.

Apr 13, 2026

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6 min read