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Startups

+3

The MENA Diaspora 50

Oct 29, 2025

•

29 min read

The MENA Diaspora 50

Meet 50 of the world’s highest-potential tech startups led by MENA diaspora founders.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+4

Saudi Data Embassies And The New Geopolitics Of Compute

Oct 8, 2025

•

5 min read

Saudi Data Embassies And The New Geopolitics Of Compute

The Kingdom’s compute triple advantage, its forthcoming Global AI Hub Law, the emergence of one of the world’s largest inference clusters in Dammam, and the looming prospect of a “compute OPEC.”

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Analysis

+3

How to find the right co-founder

Sep 17, 2025

•

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?

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Interview

+3

Inside the shifting landscape of debt financing in the Gulf

Aug 27, 2025

•

10 min read

Inside the shifting landscape of debt financing in the Gulf

Armineh Baghoomian, Managing Director and EMEA Head at PFG, reflects on the $300M they’ve deployed across MENA, the region’s debt literacy evolution, why Tabby was an obvious bet, the typical ranges in the Gulf for spreads, fees, warrants, and covenants, the green (and red) flags they watch for when founders come knocking, and what excites her most about RNPL and B2B BNPL.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Analysis

+3

The rise and rise of venture debt across the Gulf

Jul 30, 2025

•

7 min read

The rise and rise of venture debt across the Gulf

What's behind the increase in new venture debt funds launching across the Gulf, promising “founder-first,” non-dilutive capital? Who are the players rewriting the playbook? And what does all of this mean for founders, investors, and LPs?

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Food Delivery

+5

What led to Ebrahim Al-Jassim’s exit from HungerStation in 2019

Jul 4, 2025

•

4 min read

What led to Ebrahim Al-Jassim’s exit from HungerStation in 2019

A detailed look at HungerStation’s 2019 leadership transition, the legal dispute between Delivery Hero and Ebrahim Al-Jassim, and the rise of Ninja as one of Saudi Arabia’s first q-commerce unicorns.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+6

Valu and the Discipline Engine

Jun 25, 2025

•

9 min read

Valu and the Discipline Engine

Inside Valu’s EGX debut: With Amazon now on the cap table, we unpack the model behind Egypt’s most disciplined fintech, covering product strategy, underwriting logic, unit economics, investor dynamics, and the operators running the machine.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Saudi Arabia

+3

Tamara turned a profit, but the real story is how

Jun 4, 2025

•

3 min read

Tamara turned a profit, but the real story is how

Saudi Arabia’s fintech crown jewel is now profitable. But its Q1 financials come with caveats, and reveal a seemingly quiet re-architecture of its business model.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Interview

+2

Arabic healthcare: for us, by us

May 28, 2025

•

9 min read

Arabic healthcare: for us, by us

Why obesity in the GCC isn’t just medical, how GLP-1s could be the iPhone of health, why D2C is a necessary (but temporary) proving ground, and what asynchronous care gets right about shame and scale.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Deep-dives

+2

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers

May 14, 2025

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13 min read

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENA’s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data – and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane
Zoe O Dwyer
Jamie Lane, +1

Interview

+2

Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

Apr 24, 2025

•

9 min read

Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

What it means to build in a market where volatility isn’t a risk – it’s a cyclical certainty, why going top-down beats direct-to-MSME, and how you build real moats in enterprise fintech — not with UX, but with trust, switching friction, and time.

Jamie Lane
Zoe O Dwyer
Jamie Lane, +1

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