AI
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.
News
+2
Oct 10, 2025
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2 min read
Cerebras withdraws IPO filing after $1B raise amid G42 scrutiny
G42 accounted for 87% of the company’s revenue in the first half of 2024, a customer concentration flagged as a material risk in its IPO filings.
News
+2
Oct 10, 2025
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3 min read
US clears billions in NVIDIA chip exports to UAE under Trump AI pact
The deal is tied to a landmark AI agreement signed in May that pairs US chip shipments with reciprocal Emirati investment.
Startups
+4
Oct 1, 2025
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2 min read
Rebellions raises $250M at $1.4B valuation, expands AI chip push into Saudi Arabia
The raise comes just over a year after Saudi Arabia’s Wa’ed Ventures, the VC arm of Aramco, led a $15 million Series B extension in July 2024.
Startups
+3
Sep 25, 2025
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2 min read
Cairo-born Instabug rebrands as Luciq, bets big on agentic mobile observability
The new positioning reflects the company’s ambition to build AI systems that can move engineering teams from reactive debugging to predictive and autonomous issue resolution.
Startups
+4
Sep 23, 2025
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2 min read
Presight and Shorooq launch $100M global AI fund to accelerate innovation
The vehicle will target AI and analytics startups across multiple stages, with an investment focus spanning smart cities, energy, fintech, AI/ML, AR/VR, gaming, Industry 4.0, and deep tech.
