AI
News
+3
Mar 12, 2026
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3 min read
Shorooq joins $1B seed round in Yann LeCun's AMI Labs, one of the largest AI seed financings ever, at a $3.5B pre-money valuation
The Abu Dhabi-based firm invested alongside Bezos Expeditions, Temasek, and NVIDIA, in the Paris-headquartered startup, which is building "world model" AI systems designed to reason about physical environments rather than just predict text.
Jordan
+4
Mar 12, 2026
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3 min read
Jordanian founder Amjad Masad's Replit triples valuation to $9B, as it targets $1B in ARR by year-end
The AI developer platform, founded in 2016 by Masad alongside Faris Masad and Haya Odeh, has raised a $400M Series D led by Georgian, with Qatar's QIA among the backers.
News
+2
Feb 27, 2026
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4 min read
G42 opens job applications for AI agents, joining a global race to put bots on the org chart
The Abu Dhabi technology group, which last year led a $55 million round in Applied AI and is building chip safeguards to satisfy Washington, has begun recruiting AI agents into structured enterprise roles.
News
+3
Feb 24, 2026
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5 min read
Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, backing startups from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco
The fund, a partnership between G42's Presight and Abu Dhabi VC Shorooq, has invested in NodeShift, Candid, Hebbia, Blue, and Crunched after screening over 1,000 companies in its first 120 days.
Startups
+3
Feb 20, 2026
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2 min read
Abu Dhabi's Origen raises $50M from Bluefive Capital to deploy AI across government services, smart homes, and manufacturing
Founded in 2025, Origen is the second major investment from former Investcorp executive Hazem Ben-Gacem's Bluefive Capital, which led Mal's record $230 million MENA seed round in January.
Startups
+4
Feb 19, 2026
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3 min read
Saudi Arabia's HUMAIN invested $3B in Musk's xAI before SpaceX acquisition, now holds SpaceX shares
The PIF-owned AI company's stake converted into SpaceX equity following the merger, making HUMAIN a significant minority shareholder in Musk's space business.
News
+3
Feb 13, 2026
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3 min read
Anthropic raises $30B Series G at $380B valuation, with Abu Dhabi's MGX co-leading and Qatar's QIA participating
Abu Dhabi's MGX, absent from Anthropic's $13 billion Series F last year, enters as a co-lead. QIA, which backed the Series F, returns as a participating investor.
News
+2
Jan 23, 2026
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3 min read
OpenAI courts Middle East investors for potential $50B mega-round as Sam Altman meets Abu Dhabi-backed funds
The talks are preliminary, but OpenAI is said to be exploring a raise of $50 billion or more at a valuation in the range of $750 billion to $830 billion.
Startups
+5
Jan 22, 2026
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3 min read
Applied AI raises pre-Series B from Mubadala and Arbor Ventures to scale enterprise workflow platform
The investment comes just months after Applied AI raised a $55 million Series A at a reported $300 million pre-money valuation in February 2025.
Jordan
+4
Jan 22, 2026
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4 min read
Breez AI raises $1.3M pre-seed to build enterprise grade voice AI infrastructure
The round was led by Wamda Capital and anchored by early supporter FENA Holdings alongside DASH Ventures, with participation from a group of strategic angel investors.
Jordan
+3
Jan 21, 2026
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3 min read
Jordanian founder Mo Gharbat’s Open raises $7M co-led by Y Combinator to scale AI-native enterprise support across the GCC
The round was led by Y Combinator and X by Unifonic, with participation from Shorooq and Sadu Capital. Open is part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2024 batch and is incorporated in Delaware.
Startups
+3
Jan 15, 2026
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3 min read
Arabic.AI partners with Amjad Masad’s Replit to launch free, fully localised Arabic coding courses across MENA
The initiative marks the first full localisation of Replit’s educational content into Arabic, giving students, engineers, and aspiring developers access to hands-on, production-ready software development courses without language barriers.
Startups
+4
Jan 14, 2026
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2 min read
Governata raises $4M seed to build Saudi Arabia’s first Arabic-first, AI-ready data governance platform
The round was led by Vision Ventures, with participation from Mashhoor Aldubayan, Mazen Aldarrab, and Abdulla Nadeem Elyas.
Fintech
+5
Jan 13, 2026
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3 min read
Abdallah Abu-Sheikh’s Mal, raises $230M in largest Seed round in MENA for AI-powered Islamic finance platform
The round was led by BlueFive Capital, which manages more than $4 billion in assets, with participation from strategic investors and family offices.
News
+2
Dec 9, 2025
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2 min read
Qatar sets up Qai as state backed AI firm, joining UAE and Saudi in regional AI push
The Qatar Investment Authority has set up a new AI company to invest in infrastructure, evaluate frontier models and build trusted systems, joining the UAE and Saudi Arabia in pushing for sovereign control over next-generation computing.
Jordan
+3
Nov 26, 2025
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2 min read
Propeller launches $50M Fund III to back AI infrastructure and AI-native software across US and MENA
Founded in 2017 by Zaid Farekh and Tambi Jalouqa, Propeller operates across Amman, Riyadh, Boston, and Silicon Valley, positioning itself as a bridge between MENA AI builders and US growth markets.
Startups
+2
Oct 29, 2025
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3 min read
HUMAIN accelerates Saudi AI play with data-centre pact, OS launch, Aramco equity move & Qualcomm tie-up
The firm, founded earlier this year by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), announced that Saudi Aramco will acquire a significant minority stake in the company while PIF retains majority ownership.
Startups
+3
Oct 21, 2025
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2 min read
1001 AI raises $9M to automate Gulf infrastructure with AI-native operating system
Founded by Bilal Abu-Ghazaleh, 1001 AI is developing an AI-native operating system designed to automate operational decision-making in aviation, logistics, construction, and oil & gas.
Startups
+3
Oct 17, 2025
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2 min read
Tabby deploys NVIDIA HGX to build sovereign AI infrastructure in GCC
The fund will focus on sectors including consumer, healthcare, logistics, and business services. It targets established companies with scale and maturity, with a clear path to IPOs or strategic exits within three to five years.
