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Saudi fintech Lendo signs $53M Murabaha deal with Jadwa to boost SME financing

Saudi fintech Lendo signs $53M Murabaha deal with Jadwa to boost SME financing

The Murabaha deal follows a $690 million warehouse facility secured earlier this year from JP Morgan to scale SME financing in Saudi Arabia

Sep 19, 2025

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2 min read

Agentic AI startup Clarity raises $12M to expand CX platform globally

Agentic AI startup Clarity raises $12M to expand CX platform globally

Founded by Abed Kasaji and Pavel Kochetkov, both part of the “Careem mafia”, Clarity rebranded this year from its former name Anecdote.

Sep 17, 2025

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2 min read

HALA raises $157M Series B from TPG’s Rise Fund, Sanabil and others

HALA raises $157M Series B from TPG’s Rise Fund, Sanabil and others

Founded in 2018 by Esam Alnahdi and Maher Loubieh, HALA provides SME banking and freelancer solutions designed to simplify how small businesses start, run, and grow.

Sep 15, 2025

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2 min read

Tamara to secure at least $1.4B in debt financing from Goldman, Citi, Apollo; deal could reach $2.4B

Tamara to secure at least $1.4B in debt financing from Goldman, Citi, Apollo; deal could reach $2.4B

The facility, among the largest of its kind in the Middle East, refinances and expands a prior Goldman-arranged debt package, with commitments potentially rising to $2.4 billion.

Sep 13, 2025

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2 min read

Jordanian founder Amjad Masad’s Replit raises $250M at $3B valuation, launches Agent 3

Jordanian founder Amjad Masad’s Replit raises $250M at $3B valuation, launches Agent 3

Replit was founded in 2016 by Amjad Masad, a Jordanian-born engineer, alongside Faris Masad and Haya Odeh, and has now raised around $478 million to date.

Sep 11, 2025

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2 min read

Permira, Blackstone back Dubai’s Property Finder with $525M investment

Permira, Blackstone back Dubai’s Property Finder with $525M investment

The vehicle will back firms at the growth and pre-IPO stage through a mix of equity and secondary transactions, prioritising businesses with scalable platforms and alignment to Saudi Vision 2030’s digital transformation agenda.

Sep 10, 2025

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2 min read

Revolut secures in-principle approval for UAE payments licence

Revolut secures in-principle approval for UAE payments licence

The move positions the London-based fintech, which now serves over 60 million customers worldwide, to roll out its full product suite to UAE users.

Sep 9, 2025

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2 min read

Ora Technologies acquires Cathedis to bring last-mile delivery in-house

Ora Technologies acquires Cathedis to bring last-mile delivery in-house

Founded in 2023 by Omar Alami, Ora’s super-app bundles P2P payments, an e-commerce marketplace, on-demand services, chat, and social networking into a single platform.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

Saudi contech startup Fitting raises $500K pre-seed to digitise building materials supply chain

Saudi contech startup Fitting raises $500K pre-seed to digitise building materials supply chain

Founded in 2024 by Ahmed Rian and Abdulaziz Almubayad, the startup addresses inefficiencies in the Kingdom’s fragmented construction supply chain by creating a digital marketplace that links wholesale suppliers of building materials with retailers and real estate developers.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

Noon eyes dual IPO listing in Saudi Arabia and UAE within two years

Noon eyes dual IPO listing in Saudi Arabia and UAE within two years

The vehicle will back firms at the growth and pre-IPO stage through a mix of equity and secondary transactions, prioritising businesses with scalable platforms and alignment to Saudi Vision 2030’s digital transformation agenda.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

UAE proptech PRYPCO raises undisclosed pre-Series A led by General Catalyst

UAE proptech PRYPCO raises undisclosed pre-Series A led by General Catalyst

The vehicle will back firms at the growth and pre-IPO stage through a mix of equity and secondary transactions, prioritising businesses with scalable platforms and alignment to Saudi Vision 2030’s digital transformation agenda.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

anb Capital and Lexham Partners launch $200M growth fund targeting MENA tech startups

anb Capital and Lexham Partners launch $200M growth fund targeting MENA tech startups

The vehicle will back firms at the growth and pre-IPO stage through a mix of equity and secondary transactions, prioritising businesses with scalable platforms and alignment to Saudi Vision 2030’s digital transformation agenda.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

Orbii raises $3.6M seed round to scale embedded SME lending across MENA

Orbii raises $3.6M seed round to scale embedded SME lending across MENA

Founded in 2024 by Nauman Ali, Nasara Mughal, and Guillaume Kieffer, Orbii develops an AI-powered embedded lending platform that enables banks, fintechs, and B2B ecosystems to launch and scale SME credit products.

Sep 8, 2025

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2 min read

Qatar’s QIA backs Anthropic’s record $13B round at $183B valuation

Qatar’s QIA backs Anthropic’s record $13B round at $183B valuation

The raise, led by Iconiq Capital with co-leads Fidelity Management & Research Company and Lightspeed Venture Partners, nearly triples Anthropic’s valuation from just six months ago.

Sep 3, 2025

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3 min read

Justyol secures $1M to scale Moroccan e-commerce platform with Turkish roots

Justyol secures $1M to scale Moroccan e-commerce platform with Turkish roots

Founded in Morocco, Justyol connects Turkish fashion and lifestyle products with North African consumers, while recently branching into electronics and household goods.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

UAE’s WheelsOn raises $12.5M to expand deposit-free digital car rental platform

UAE’s WheelsOn raises $12.5M to expand deposit-free digital car rental platform

Founded in 2023 by Nikolay Melnichuk, Adlet Shagirov, and Maxim Olivson, WheelsOn operates a fully digital, deposit-free car rental platform designed to eliminate hidden fees, paperwork, and large upfront security deposits – pain points that continue to frustrate customers in the region’s traditional rental market.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

Tunisia’s Addvocate.AI raises strategic investment from 216 Capital to scale AI sales platform

Tunisia’s Addvocate.AI raises strategic investment from 216 Capital to scale AI sales platform

Founded in 2024 by Ridha Mami and Sofyan Chekir, the Franco-Tunisian company is building what it calls a “Sales Performance OS” – an AI-native platform that consolidates sales data, delivers behavioural nudges, and generates actionable insights to prepare teams for client meetings and unblock stalled deals.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

Saudi AI startup Intella raises $12.5M Series A to scale Arabic speech intelligence

Saudi AI startup Intella raises $12.5M Series A to scale Arabic speech intelligence

Founded in Egypt in 2021 by Nour Taher (CEO) and Omar Mansour (CTO), Intella develops AI models designed for Arabic dialects, offering enterprise transcription, analytics, and customer engagement tools across more than 25 dialects.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

Dubai’s Seraya raises $1.8M seed to scale premium serviced apartments

Dubai’s Seraya raises $1.8M seed to scale premium serviced apartments

Founded in October 2024 by Pepijn Haima and Ibrahim Shami, Seraya operates design-led, fully serviced apartments targeting the premium short-term rental segment.

Sep 2, 2025

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2 min read

YC-backed Munify raises $3M seed to build cross-border neobank for Egyptians abroad

YC-backed Munify raises $3M seed to build cross-border neobank for Egyptians abroad

Founded in 2025 by Khalid Ashmawy, Munify enables Egyptians abroad, particularly in the U.S., U.K., Europe, and the Gulf, to send money home instantly at lower cost, while offering residents in Egypt access to U.S. banking services such as accounts and cards using only a local ID.

Sep 1, 2025

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3 min read

Maalexi secures $20M shariah-compliant credit facility from Amwal Capital Partners to scale SME food trade

Maalexi secures $20M shariah-compliant credit facility from Amwal Capital Partners to scale SME food trade

Founded in 2021 by Dr. Azam Pasha and Rohit Majhi, Maalexi connects small food and agricultural SMEs to cross-border trade by offering risk-mitigated solutions—such as AI-driven risk intelligence, digital contracts, IoT traceability, and blockchain-secured documentation.

Aug 28, 2025

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2 min read

Mistral eyes $1B raise as Gulf ties deepen with Sanabil, Damac, and potential backing from Mubadala, MGX, and PIF

Mistral eyes $1B raise as Gulf ties deepen with Sanabil, Damac, and potential backing from Mubadala, MGX, and PIF

The startup’s current Gulf investors include Saudi Arabia’s Sanabil and UAE’s Damac, with reported talks underway with Mubadala, Abu Dhabi’s new AI investment vehicle MGX, and potentially Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Aug 28, 2025

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3 min read

HUMAIN sells out AI infrastructure; overseas clients drive 99% of demand

HUMAIN sells out AI infrastructure; overseas clients drive 99% of demand

The company has laid out an aggressive roadmap, targeting an expansion from 1.9 gigawatts of capacity by 2030 to 6 gigawatts by 2034.

Aug 28, 2025

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2 min read

Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN launches ALLaM 34B and HUMAIN Chat app, its first Arabic foundation model

Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN launches ALLaM 34B and HUMAIN Chat app, its first Arabic foundation model

The rollout marks the first time internet users in the Kingdom can access the latest version of ALLaM, a sovereign Arabic-centric LLM trained and fine-tuned specifically for Saudi culture, values, and language use.

Aug 27, 2025

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3 min read

VC React Podcast (Episode #48)

VC React Podcast (Episode #48)

This week on VC React, we unpack Robinhood’s push into the GCC, ask whether global unicorns upend MENA’s copycat playbook or force founders to compete head-on, dissect Impact46’s gaming spree, probe Merak’s full-stack capital model, and debate whether Saudi developers should lead with local stories or go global first.

Aug 26, 2025

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2 min read

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