Deep-dives
Analysis
+3
Mar 18, 2026
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22 min read
AI is eating legal work, so why aren't MENA startups queuing up?
Harvey is worth $8 billion, and Anthropic just sent LexisNexis to its worst day since 1988. Legal AI is the hottest vertical in tech, and the GCC is almost entirely absent from it. We spoke to the founders of the region's only funded legal AI startup to understand the structural reasons why, what they're building in response, and whether there's a path through.
Analysis
+1
Mar 6, 2026
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14 min read
Inside the AWS outage that took down UAE fintechs
Drone strikes knocked out two of AWS's three UAE data centres, taking Sarwa, Abhi, and a dozen other platforms offline. FWDstart spoke to the CEOs steering two of those companies through the crisis to find out what it actually looked like from inside the building.
Analysis
+2
Mar 4, 2026
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11 min read
How GCC Founders and Investors Are Navigating The Strikes
On missiles, fintechs going dark, and the strange normalcy in between.
Data
+2
Feb 18, 2026
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5 min read
The Careem Mafia Database
Tracking 44 ex-Careem founders, $1.6B+ raised, 13 countries, and 16 sectors. The region's most consequential startup diaspora, mapped.
Analysis
+2
Feb 11, 2026
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20 min read
Robotaxis, Chinese Competition, and What Happens To The Gulf's Drivers
What it actually costs to run an AV, how Cruise's collapse handed the UAE to Beijing, and how all of this might affect Careem, Uber, Yango and Bolt.
Analysis
+1
Jan 28, 2026
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15 min read
Where are the calls for a MENA Inc?
Last week at Davos, Europe unified its corporate structure for startups. Could MENA do the same?
Startups
+3
Jan 14, 2026
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19 min read
MENA tech predictions for 2026
Why the IPO dam is finally about to break, the rise of "agentic" AI in the boring back-office, and why the Gulf’s next sovereign race could be all about longevity.
Analysis
+2
Dec 11, 2025
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34 min read
The Rise of Egypt’s Semiconductor Industry (Part I)
Egypt’s semiconductor ecosystem has transformed from a quiet cluster in Heliopolis into a world-class engineering powerhouse, built slowly, deliberately, and mostly out of sight.
Data
+2
Nov 26, 2025
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6 min read
The MENA Tech IPO Tracker
Here's our list of likely prospects, target exchanges, the last known valuations, the appointed banks, and the key quotes from leadership. We'll update it regularly, tracking companies' plans and progress.
Data
+5
Oct 29, 2025
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29 min read
The MENA Diaspora 50
Meet 50 of the world’s highest-potential tech startups led by MENA diaspora founders.
Fintech
+3
Sep 24, 2025
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12 min read
Stitching together financial infrastructure from the Gulf to the world
The Gulf is on the cusp of a cashless economy, yet new products can still take a year to launch. Saudi-based Stitch argues the region doesn’t just need better vendors. It needs a unified stack, built locally from the ledger up, so financial institutions across the globe can launch quickly without compromising compliance.
Analysis
+2
Sep 17, 2025
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4 min read
Advice for the solo (for now) founder
If you are still searching for the right co-founder, or weighing up whether to go it alone, know that you are far from the only one.
Analysis
+2
Sep 17, 2025
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7 min read
How to choose a co-founder with complementary skills
Finding a complementary co-founder is about balance. Know what you need and what you don’t have – then find someone you respect enough to handle that realm completely.
Analysis
+3
Sep 17, 2025
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11 min read
How to find the right co-founder
Co-founders are like a marriage, the cliché goes. But beyond the saying, how do you actually choose the person (or people) you’ll build with? And how do you set that relationship up for long-term success?
Analysis
+2
Sep 17, 2025
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3 min read
How to get partnership terms right: legal and equity considerations
Spelling out the hard stuff early; equity division, vesting schedules, roles and titles, decision rights, departure clauses – can save enormous pain down the road.
Analysis
+2
Sep 17, 2025
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4 min read
How to manage co-founder conflict
Even the “perfect” co-founder pairing will run into friction. In fact, you should expect it. A bit of creative tension is often the hallmark of a strong founding team. The difference lies in how you handle it.
Analysis
+2
Sep 17, 2025
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4 min read
How to test for co-founder compatibility and alignment
A variety of approaches, from gut-feel heuristics to deliberate trial periods, to vet a co-founder match.
Fintech
+4
Sep 15, 2025
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10 min read
How Lean Technologies builds around the merchant’s hierarchy of needs
Lean’s Mehdi Tazi on why revenue in Saudi still skews to data while the UAE is driven by payments, how the firm applies Maslow’s hierarchy to merchant needs, and what A/B testing reveals about consumer trust.
