Weekly round-up

Nubank setting up in Abu Dhabi, YC's first Algerian female founder

Apr 10, 2026

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13 min read

Nubank setting up in Abu Dhabi, YC's first Algerian female founder

Egypt's Lucky raises $23m Series B, Abu Dhabi owns a stake in $90B venture firm Insight Partners, Kingdom Holding acquires stake in Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Tabby profitable in Saudi, MGX co-leads OpenAI's $122B round

Apr 3, 2026

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14 min read

Tabby profitable in Saudi, MGX co-leads OpenAI's $122B round

SpaceX files for a record IPO with Gulf sovereigns on the cap table, Tunisian founders get into YC, Egyptian-American founder Will Ahmed's Whoop raises $575M at $10.1B, plus this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Bezos pitches Gulf for $100B fund, Lean gets SAMA sign-off

Mar 27, 2026

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15 min read

Bezos pitches Gulf for $100B fund, Lean gets SAMA sign-off

Lebanese founder Tarek Mansour's Kalshi valued at $22B, Delivery Hero's strategic review raises questions for Talabat and HungerStation, Ninja still pursuing 2026 Tadawul IPO, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Speedinvest launches new fund, Replit becomes Endeavor's 100th unicorn

Mar 20, 2026

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12 min read

Speedinvest launches new fund, Replit becomes Endeavor's 100th unicorn

Ramp's Karim Atiyeh acquires Billhop to expand into Europe, STV deploys in Africa for the first time with Kenyan startup MoPhones, Tether leads a $7.5M seed in Abu Dhabi, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Amjad Masad becomes a billionaire, Shorooq joins $1.03B seed round

Mar 13, 2026

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12 min read

Amjad Masad becomes a billionaire, Shorooq joins $1.03B seed round

Jordanian-founded Replit triples valuation to $9B, inDrive acquires Pakistan's Krave Mart, Oman's SWF leads a $131.5M round in Uzbekistan fintech, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Iran strikes knock out AWS, CBUAE grants emergency cloud waivers

Mar 6, 2026

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12 min read

Iran strikes knock out AWS, CBUAE grants emergency cloud waivers

How Sarwa and Abhi got their platforms back online, the UAE Central Bank grants emergency waivers for overseas data centres, TruDoc Healthcare secures $15M pre-Series B, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Peak XV's $1.3B raise, Bosta lines up Egypt IPO

Feb 27, 2026

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12 min read

Peak XV's $1.3B raise, Bosta lines up Egypt IPO

Deliveroo exits Qatar, Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, Brookfield acquires Wa'ed Ventures-backed Ori Industries, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Breadfast's $50M round, Talabat shares down 54% from IPO

Feb 20, 2026

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13 min read

Breadfast's $50M round, Talabat shares down 54% from IPO

HUMAIN's $3B xAI bet becomes SpaceX shares, Stake raises oversubscribed $31M Series B, UAE startup AlgoDriven acquired in all-cash deal, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

A record Saudi Seed round, MGX and QIA bet big on Anthropic at $380B

Feb 13, 2026

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12 min read

A record Saudi Seed round, MGX and QIA bet big on Anthropic at $380B

Libyan-born founder Abdel Mahmoud's Anterior raises $40M, Smart Bricks raises $5M pre-seed led by a16z, UAE legaltech startup Clara acquired, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Qatar's $3B venture push, Shorooq's $200M growth fund

Feb 6, 2026

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14 min read

Qatar's $3B venture push, Shorooq's $200M growth fund

Qatar's fund-of-funds backs five new global VC firms, UAE's Qureos raises $5m seed round to cut hiring timelines, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

TikTok’s US future is part-Abu Dhabi, Property Finder’s $170M mega-round

Jan 30, 2026

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14 min read

TikTok’s US future is part-Abu Dhabi, Property Finder’s $170M mega-round

Over $212M in MENA funding this week alone, UAE's Stargate project costs balloon to over $30 billion, cross-border M&A activity surges, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Altman meets Abu Dhabi funds ahead of $50B raise, Mubadala backs Applied AI

Jan 23, 2026

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14 min read

Altman meets Abu Dhabi funds ahead of $50B raise, Mubadala backs Applied AI

Open raises $7M co-led by YC, G42 pitches foreign governments on digital embassies, QIA pumping the brakes on AI hype, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

MENA's biggest ever Seed round, Replit teams up with Arabic.AI

Jan 16, 2026

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14 min read

MENA's biggest ever Seed round, Replit teams up with Arabic.AI

Saudi's PIF considering a wave of share sales and IPOs, Lean and Ziina complete the UAE’s first live Open Finance payment, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Revolut's hiring spree, Saudi opens its stock market

Jan 9, 2026

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14 min read

Revolut's hiring spree, Saudi opens its stock market

MEVP’s annual letter discloses unannounced funding rounds, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi-based MGX anchor Musk's xAI $20B Series E, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Noon moves toward IPO, Kalanick walks back Gulf dual-listing

Dec 19, 2025

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14 min read

Noon moves toward IPO, Kalanick walks back Gulf dual-listing

The Gulf's Hollywood gambit unravels, Egypt’s Nawah Scientific raises $23M Series A, Algerian traveltech VOLZ raises $5m Series A, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Qatar's new AI giant, Gulf funds team up to take on Netflix

Dec 12, 2025

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15 min read

Qatar's new AI giant, Gulf funds team up to take on Netflix

Qatar sets up Qai as state backed AI firm, CoinMENA acquired by Paribu in up to $240M deal, QIA brings another VC to Doha via $1B fund-of-funds, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Lebanese founder’s Kalshi hits $11B valuation, Tabby revenue jumps in Q3

Dec 5, 2025

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13 min read

Lebanese founder’s Kalshi hits $11B valuation, Tabby revenue jumps in Q3

Saudi cybersecurity startup raises $9.2M Series A, Plus VC to fund 30+ startups and double deployment to $10M in 2026, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Founders Fund in KSA, Saudi real estate opens up

Nov 28, 2025

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16 min read

Founders Fund in KSA, Saudi real estate opens up

erad secures $125M facility to scale SME finance across the GCC, Propeller launches $50M Fund III, Egypt's chip startup Infinlink acquired by global giant, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Nov 21, 2025

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12 min read

Elon Musk and HUMAIN team-up

Musk announces 500MW xAI data centre in Saudi, Middle East Series A valuations outpace other EMs, HUMAIN leads Luma AI’s $900M Series C, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Tamara posts Q3 profit, Instashop struggles to keep pace

Nov 14, 2025

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15 min read

Tamara posts Q3 profit, Instashop struggles to keep pace

DataCamp acquires UAE’s Optima in a more than $15 million deal, Kamco Invest and TechInvest plan a $150 million JEDI Opportunity Fund, Lean eyes new bets ahead of a potential IPO, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Nov 7, 2025

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17 min read

13 SVC companies eye IPOs, M&A heats up

$4M Seed to automate recurring payments for MENA businesses, Dubai based VC closes 2nd fund, Zid makes acquisition to enter Egypt, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Tabby hits $4.5BN, HUMAIN shows no signs of slowing

Oct 31, 2025

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15 min read

Tabby hits $4.5BN, HUMAIN shows no signs of slowing

BRKZ secures $30M growth debt from Stride Ventures, new $250M Saudi biotech growth fund, first casualty in Saudi food-delivery price wars, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Dubizzle pulls IPO, Property Finder presses ahead

Oct 24, 2025

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16 min read

Dubizzle pulls IPO, Property Finder presses ahead

Property Finder secures $250M in debt financing; backs Stake, Cercli raises $12M Series A to build AI-native HR stack for MENA, 1001 AI raises $9M to build sovereign AI, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

Talabat's new CEO, Tabby launches AI push with NVIDIA

Oct 17, 2025

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14 min read

Talabat's new CEO, Tabby launches AI push with NVIDIA

Chari raises Morocco's largest-ever Series A, Dubizzle kicks off $2B Dubai IPO process, Investcorp closes $750M Golden Horizon Fund, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane

Weekly round-up

US approves NVIDIA sales to UAE, Revolut’s CEO relocates to Dubai

Oct 10, 2025

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12 min read

US approves NVIDIA sales to UAE, Revolut’s CEO relocates to Dubai

Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick granted Saudi citizenship, Cerebras withdraws IPO filing after $1B raise amid G42 scrutiny, Egypt-based agtech Tagaddod raises $26.3M Series A, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Zoe O Dwyer, +1