Podcast
AI
+1
Jul 13, 2026
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5 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.
Fintech
+1
Jul 5, 2026
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4 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.
Fintech
+1
Jun 15, 2026
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4 min read
How Comfi raised $65M to build B2B BNPL for MENA's SMEs
The inside scoop on raising a $65 million pre-Series A from Iliad Partners, Yango, and Shorooq, and how Comfi underwrites a business in hours rather than weeks.
Fintech
+1
Apr 22, 2026
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5 min read
Speedinvest's Rana Abdel Latif & Deepali Nangia on Raising from QIA, EIB, and Mubadala
We sit down with Deepali Nangia and Rana Abdel Latif, the partners leading Speedinvest's first dedicated Middle East and Africa fund, a flagship vehicle for the Vienna-based firm that's been quietly investing across emerging markets since 2013, backing the likes of the likes of Moove, FairMoney, Khazna, Abhi, Flow48 and Pemo.
Contech
+2
Dec 15, 2025
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1 min read
From Careem $3.1 exit to disrupting Saudi construction
Ibrahim Manna, who led Careem’s expansion across 11 of its 15 markets, joins the podcast. He is now the Founder and CEO of BRKZ, a Saudi-based construction tech company that has raised over $50 million to tackle inefficiencies in construction procurement.
News
+1
Dec 8, 2025
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1 min read
GCC Food Security, India’s Venture Depth & Agritech Investing
Mark Kahn, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Omnivore, India’s leading agritech and climate-tech venture capital firm with more than $300M AUM, joins the podcast.
News
+1
Oct 15, 2025
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2 min read
VC React Podcast (Episode #54)
This week on VC React, we unpack BECO’s $370M twin funds and what it signals for full-stack venture in MENA, dig into aydi's $7.5M seed to bring AI to agritech, debate the PIF–Silver Lake $55B take-private of EA, and track the fintech migration as Revolut’s CEO relocates to Dubai.
News
+1
Sep 22, 2025
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2 min read
VC React Podcast (Episode #52)
This week on VC React, we unpack Tamara’s $1.4B debt facility, debate Hala’s $157M Series B and its Square-style ambitions, and ask if Robinhood’s plan to democratise startup investing is visionary or risky.
News
+2
Aug 26, 2025
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2 min read
VC React Podcast (Episode #48)
This week on VC React, we unpack Robinhood’s push into the GCC, ask whether global unicorns upend MENA’s copycat playbook or force founders to compete head-on, dissect Impact46’s gaming spree, probe Merak’s full-stack capital model, and debate whether Saudi developers should lead with local stories or go global first.
