News
Fintech
+2
Mar 20, 2026
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4 min read
Ramp, the $32B fintech co-founded by Lebanese entrepreneur Karim Atiyeh, acquires Billhop to expand into UK and Europe
Ramp, which combines corporate cards, expense management, vendor payments, procurement, travel booking and automated bookkeeping into a single platform, currently processes over $100 billion in purchases annually and serves more than 50,000 businesses.
Jordan
+3
Mar 20, 2026
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4 min read
Endeavor Jordan selects Replit founders Amjad Masad and Haya Odeh, marking the network's 100th unicorn globally
The selection comes weeks after Replit closed a $400 million Series D at a $9 billion valuation led by Georgian, with participation from QIA, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Craft Ventures and Y Combinator, among others.
Morocco
+3
Mar 20, 2026
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5 min read
Speedinvest launches dedicated Africa fund with €40m EIB anchor for fintech and mobile-first startups
The EIB's commitment is structured against a maximum fund size of €200 million under the bank's project terms, though Speedinvest has not disclosed a final fundraising target for the vehicle.
Fintech
+3
Mar 16, 2026
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5 min read
Exclusive: Kudwa closes $1.1M for AI-powered finance platform with backing from MENA, US and UK investors
The round, backed by 1818 Venture Capital, F6 Ventures, and Sparked VC, will fund product development and multi-geography GTM expansion.
News
+2
Mar 13, 2026
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2 min read
Egyptian martech startup Converted acquires fashion e-commerce platform Mitcha
Mitcha's network of more than 300 local fashion designers will be integrated into Converted's AI-powered advertising platform, which serves thousands of merchants across Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is launching a new product that ties ad spend directly to verified sales rather than clicks.
Morocco
+4
Mar 13, 2026
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3 min read
inDrive acquires Pakistan's Krave Mart as the ride-hailing app pushes deeper into quick commerce
The all-stock deal, first agreed last year, has been approved by Pakistan's Competition Commission. inDrive is already the most downloaded ride-hailing app in Pakistan, Egypt, and Morocco, and has been scaling grocery delivery in the country since January through a partnership with Krave Mart.
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.
Fintech
+2
Mar 2, 2026
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4 min read
AWS data centre in the UAE struck by "objects," taking fintech startups offline as Iranian missiles hit the Gulf
Unidentified objects struck an Amazon Web Services facility in the UAE on Sunday, triggering a fire and a cascading outage across at least 38 cloud services. Sarwa, Stake, Liv by Emirates NBD, and ADCB all reported disruptions.
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
+2
Feb 27, 2026
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8 min read
Peak XV raises $1.3B amid partner exodus while quietly deepening its MENA portfolio
The firm formerly known as Sequoia India closed its first independent fundraise after three senior partners departed over a profit-sharing dispute on a 52x return. Meanwhile, GV Ravishankar has been quietly building from Dubai, sitting on the boards of Tabby, Huspy, and Lean Technologies, and leading four MENA deals in the past year.
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.
Startups
+3
Feb 17, 2026
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3 min read
Dubai's Stake raises oversubscribed $31M Series B led by Emirates NBD to scale fractional real estate investing globally
Mubadala's MENA Venture Capital Fund, MEVP, Property Finder, STV, Wa'ed Ventures, GFH Partners, and Ellington Properties also participated in the oversubscribed round.
Startups
+4
Feb 16, 2026
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3 min read
Egypt's Breadfast raises $50M pre-Series C backed by Mubadala, Saudi's Olayan family, Y Combinator, and IFC
Founded nine years ago as a fresh bread delivery service in Cairo, Breadfast was valued at approximately $382 million as of mid-2025 and plans to follow this round with a larger Series C in the first half of 2026.
Jordan
+2
Feb 16, 2026
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2 min read
Jordan's Oasis500 launches $20M+ fourth fund to back early-stage tech startups
Founded in 2010 through the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, Oasis500 has invested in 193 startups to date, which have collectively raised over $135 million and generated nearly 5,000 jobs across 22 countries.
Fintech
+4
Feb 16, 2026
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2 min read
Saudi energy fintech Cashin raises $16M Series A led by Impact46 to digitise fuel station operations
Founded in 2021 by Omar Al-Rumh, Abdulkarim Zureik, and Obay Al-Madhi, Cashin previously raised a $1.6M seed round led by Mine Investor with participation from BIM Ventures.
Startups
+3
Feb 14, 2026
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3 min read
Dubai's AlgoDriven acquired by Emergence in all-cash deal after scaling revenue 5x since Series A
Founded in 2017 by Glenn Harwood and Jaron Crossland, the automotive AI and data platform counts Oman Technology Fund, Global Ventures, 500 Global, Automotive Ventures, and Oraseya Capital among exiting investors.
