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.

UAE credit files add Tabby and Tamara, Abhi eyes Karachi listing

Brookfield buys Jordanian founder Moe Hajabed's Aypa Power for $7B, SILQ secures $75M debt facility from Fasanara, Abhi plans $11M Karachi listing, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up

Jul 31, 2026

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7 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.

Jul 31, 2026

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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.

Jul 31, 2026

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2 min read

Abhi Microfinance Bank plans $11M Karachi listing, offering 14% in new shares

The lender, formerly FINCA Microfinance Bank, was acquired by Pakistani fintech group Abhi 18 months ago and swung from a Rs1.75 billion ($6.3 million) annual loss to its most profitable year on record.

Jul 31, 2026

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2 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.

Jul 29, 2026

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27 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.

Jul 27, 2026

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1 min read

Notion acquires ZeroEntropy, the AI search startup co-founded by Moroccan CEO Ghita Houir Alami

The whole team joins Notion, with Houir Alami taking over its Model Research group, roughly a year after the YC-backed company raised a $4.2 million Seed.

Jul 25, 2026

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1 min read

Uber gets Delivery Hero, Tabby pushes beyond BNPL

Vercel acquires Egyptian-born DevOps agent startup Stakpak, Revolut wins in-principle crypto approval from Dubai's VARA, Saudi AI infrastructure startup Think raises $8M pre-Seed, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jul 17, 2026

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5 min read

Revolut wins in-principle approval from Dubai's VARA to offer crypto services in the UAE

The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority approval covers broker-dealer, exchange, and management and investment services, and lands a month after Revolut completed its Central Bank licensing for payments, stacking a second regulatory pillar under a UAE launch that has yet to be given a date.

Jul 17, 2026

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1 min read

Vercel acquires Stakpak, the Egyptian-born DevOps agent startup, as it builds out agentic infrastructure

The deal takes a team that bootstrapped out of Cairo for two years, built one of the most popular open-source DevOps agents, and raised a $500K pre-seed just last year into the $9.3 billion company behind Next.js and v0.

Jul 16, 2026

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1 min read

Uber agrees €13B takeover of Delivery Hero, taking Talabat and HungerStation

Delivery Hero's boards unanimously back the offer and Prosus has irrevocably committed to tender, lifting Uber's economic interest to around 53%, while every Middle East asset, Talabat's eight markets and Saudi Arabia's HungerStation, goes to Uber.

Jul 16, 2026

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3 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.

Jul 13, 2026

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2 min read

Inside the AI services boom

After nearly a decade leading Deliveroo’s Middle East operation, Anis Harb left to help business make AI work at scale. We sit down with the Algebra AI founder, fresh from a $7M raise, to talk managed AI services, leaner teams and the gap between a promising demo and measurable results.

Jul 13, 2026

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5 min read

BlueFive backs Kling AI's $3B round, Amazon Now enters Egypt

Keyper raises $11M Series A led by Speedinvest, Jordan's ISSF brings STV's Google-backed AI Fund, edtech Noon Academy acquires Almakhf, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up

Jul 10, 2026

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5 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.

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.

Jul 10, 2026

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2 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.

Jul 10, 2026

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1 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.

Jul 10, 2026

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2 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.

Jul 9, 2026

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1 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.

Jul 8, 2026

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13 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.

Jul 5, 2026

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4 min read

OSN moves to take Anghami private, Tabby lands SAMA licences

1001 raises $30M Series A led by Lux Capital, Catalyst Fund reaches $30M for debut pan-African climate fund, Beehive acquires Saudi debt crowdfunding platform Themar, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jul 3, 2026

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5 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.

Jul 3, 2026

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2 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.

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.

Jul 3, 2026

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1 min read