Deep-dives

How AI is changing software testing

Two Tunisian founders behind one of Africa’s biggest startup exits are back, and targeting the slowest part of modern software delivery. Fresh off the back of a $9M Seed round, Karim Jouini shares how Thunder Code's AI‐driven “personas” test like domain experts, why early dilution can be a superpower, and the surprising policy shift that could reverse Tunisia’s brain drain.

Aug 6, 2025

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11 min read

The rise and rise of venture debt across the Gulf

What's behind the increase in new venture debt funds launching across the Gulf, promising “founder-first,” non-dilutive capital? Who are the players rewriting the playbook? And what does all of this mean for founders, investors, and LPs?

Jul 30, 2025

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7 min read

Tabby's tightrope: inside the numbers

Unpacking Tabby’s Q1 2025 numbers in Saudi Arabia – profit surge, credit‐loss drag, break‐neck revenue growth, and the leverage‐heavy funding stack behind the Middle East’s most valuable VC‐backed fintech company.

Jul 17, 2025

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4 min read

How Adam Neumann Is Turning Riyadh into His Second Act

$350 million from a16z, $300 million from 33 Saudi families, a full Saudi launch in 60 days, and 92% of “trial guests” now tenants. Is Flow just WeLive in a thobe, or the first real brand in the Kingdom’s untapped BtR market? We unpack what Flow is, why a16z doubled down, how Neumann went local overnight, and just how big Saudi’s premium-renting gap really is.

Jul 9, 2025

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5 min read

Valu and the Discipline Engine

Inside Valu’s EGX debut: With Amazon now on the cap table, we unpack the model behind Egypt’s most disciplined fintech, covering product strategy, underwriting logic, unit economics, investor dynamics, and the operators running the machine.

Jun 25, 2025

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9 min read

Why Iraq is MENA's sleeping giant

What it takes to build a startup in Iraq, lessons from launching Careem, and why fragmentation, not TAM, is the real signal for venture-scale opportunity in frontier markets.

Jun 18, 2025

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13 min read

Tamara turned a profit, but the real story is how

Saudi Arabia’s fintech crown jewel is now profitable. But its Q1 financials come with caveats, and reveal a seemingly quiet re-architecture of its business model.

Jun 4, 2025

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3 min read

Arabic healthcare: for us, by us

Why obesity in the GCC isn’t just medical, how GLP-1s could be the iPhone of health, why D2C is a necessary (but temporary) proving ground, and what asynchronous care gets right about shame and scale.

May 28, 2025

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9 min read

Building the AI voice for global storytelling

Why localisation is the hardest problem in GenAI, how to build foundational AI in an ecosystem still playing catch-up, and why Dubai doesn’t need more capital, it needs more conviction.

May 21, 2025

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11 min read

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENA’s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data – and when to trust your gut.

May 14, 2025

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13 min read

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#2)

May 14, 2025

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2 min read

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#3)

May 14, 2025

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2 min read

AdalFi: Powering credit infrastructure across emerging markets

What it takes to digitise lending inside legacy banks without triggering resistance, how to underwrite customers with no formal credit history, and why AdalFi’s refusal to lend may be its biggest strategic moat.

May 7, 2025

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30 min read

Investing in MENA+ founders in the diaspora

The mechanics of how to build a high-performing syndicate, why values alignment is a competitive moat, and the MENA+ diasporic founders you should know.

Apr 30, 2025

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7 min read

Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

What it means to build in a market where volatility isn’t a risk – it’s a cyclical certainty, why going top-down beats direct-to-MSME, and how you build real moats in enterprise fintech — not with UX, but with trust, switching friction, and time.

Apr 24, 2025

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9 min read

Building a band-aid for cancer

Seven years, 959 rejections, and a circuitous journey from San Diego to New York to Abu Dhabi – Khatija Ali MD and BioSapien’s mission to deliver chemotherapy locally is as much about persistence as it is about innovation.

Apr 16, 2025

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8 min read

Hubpay: Building the financial backbone of MENA and beyond

The long road to fintech infrastructure in MENA, the overlooked power of remittance corridors, why stablecoins are no longer a sideshow – and what it really means to build a business from the trenches of regulatory complexity.

Apr 9, 2025

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32 min read

MNT Halan: from ride-hailing to fintech unicorn

CEO Mounir Nakhla on achieving fintech ecosystem lock-in, the company's acquisition and expansion strategy, why tailored risk models beat copy-paste approaches, and the potential path toward becoming a fully-fledged digital bank.

Mar 26, 2025

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9 min read

Rise, fall & reinvention

An honest reflection with Idriss Al Rifai on Fetchr’s hypergrowth, what went wrong, the isolation of being a founder, and the emotional cost of tying self-worth to a company, plus hard-won lessons on hiring, scaling, and the $140 billion SME financing opportunity in MENA.

Mar 19, 2025

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6 min read

Tapping into the potential of Palestinian youth

TAP’s transformation from manual job placement to AI-driven talent acceleration, how it's sustaining financial viability without compromising impact, and the realities of scaling a company in the face of relentless adversity.

Mar 12, 2025

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7 min read

Building the iTunes for spare parts

Why the next industrial revolution will be local, breaking ‘pilot purgatory’ in deeptech sales, and the biggest misconceptions about additive manufacturing.

Mar 5, 2025

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9 min read

🎯 How Tabby bootstrapped customer acquisition

Analysing how MENA's most valuable fintech company embedded itself into hearts, minds, and checkouts.

Feb 26, 2025

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7 min read

Tipping the scales in favour of restaurants

Why AI and embedded finance aren't always the answer, getting pricing strategies right in cost-sensitive markets, and why the biggest cost drivers are in the back-of-house.

Feb 19, 2025

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9 min read

A closer look at Saudi’s first e-commerce IPO

Nice One commands a 29% market share of the online beauty e-commerce landscape, but competition from giants is not far behind

Feb 12, 2025

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5 min read

Building agentic AI for Arabic dialects

Why it's so difficult, the benefits of offering LLM flexibility, and how AI is changing the enterprise pricing model.

Feb 5, 2025

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8 min read