Search
Logo
Sign Up
Login
Go premium →
Home
Interviews
Region
Region

🇦🇪 UAE

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia

🇪🇬 Egypt

🇯🇴 Jordan

🇶🇦 Qatar

🇧🇭 Bahrain

🇴🇲 Oman

🇮🇶 Iraq

🇹🇳 Tunisia

🇲🇦 Morocco

Sector
Sector

💰 Fintech

🤖 AI

🏠 Proptech

🛒 Quick commerce

🛵 Food delivery

🕹️ Gaming

Playbooks
Playbooks

💸 MENA VC Playbook

📘 MENA Founder Playbook

Analysis
Data
Podcast
🔒 Premium Content
Logo

Startups

Fintech

+3

Ziina secures UAE approvals for merchant payments and international transfers

Oct 26, 2026

•

1 min read

Ziina secures UAE approvals for merchant payments and international transfers

The fintech says it processes more than $1.5 billion in annualised payments as it expands beyond its digital wallet into a broader financial platform.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Interview

+5

EXCLUSIVE: Inside Huspy’s playbook for taking on Europe's property market

Oct 21, 2026

•

5 min read

EXCLUSIVE: Inside Huspy’s playbook for taking on Europe's property market

Huspy thinks it's cracked the code for expanding across Europe's fragmented property market. Not everyone is pleased. In Spain, the Dubai-born upstart says incumbents have tried to block its rise.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

CapQuest raises $1M pre-seed to help startups manage ownership and employee equity

Oct 20, 2026

•

1 min read

CapQuest raises $1M pre-seed to help startups manage ownership and employee equity

Oraseya Capital and AMKM Family Office led the round for the Dubai-based company, whose customers span 11 countries.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

Saudi fintech Vrtx raises $3.6M pre-seed to help businesses launch wallets and cards

Oct 20, 2026

•

1 min read

Saudi fintech Vrtx raises $3.6M pre-seed to help businesses launch wallets and cards

Founded by former Tweeq colleagues, the fintech has backing from Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures and preliminary SAMA approval for an electronic money licence.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+3

UAE’s CNTXT AI expands into Silicon Valley with $300M in committed revenue

Oct 20, 2026

•

2 min read

UAE’s CNTXT AI expands into Silicon Valley with $300M in committed revenue

The company, which raised $60 million from AI71 and BlueFive Capital in June, is building a US commercial team to sell Arabic voice technology and robotics training data.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

Nabta Health adds PVP backing to $3M pre-Series A as it expands into employer healthcare

Oct 19, 2026

•

2 min read

Nabta Health adds PVP backing to $3M pre-Series A as it expands into employer healthcare

Phoenix Venture Partners led the second close of the UAE healthcare company’s ongoing $3 million pre-Series A, combining fresh funding with purchases of existing shares.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Agritech

+3

Moroccan agritech YoLa Fresh shuts down after failing to secure fresh funding

Oct 16, 2026

•

2 min read

Moroccan agritech YoLa Fresh shuts down after failing to secure fresh funding

The produce distributor had raised $9 million in disclosed funding from investors including Al Mada Ventures, Algebra Ventures and FMO.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

SaaS

+4

Saudi auto-parts platform Autobia raises $12M Series A led by Artal Capital

Oct 11, 2026

•

1 min read

Saudi auto-parts platform Autobia raises $12M Series A led by Artal Capital

The company connects spare-parts retailers and repair shops with wholesalers, and has added instalment products covering both merchants’ stock purchases and their customers’ payments.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+5

Abu Dhabi’s Phoenix Venture Partners backs COFE Tech through secondary deal as it prepares for Saudi IPO

Oct 9, 2026

•

1 min read

Abu Dhabi’s Phoenix Venture Partners backs COFE Tech through secondary deal as it prepares for Saudi IPO

The purchase preceded COFE’s $43 million pre-IPO round, with PVP founder Steve Khayat joining the board.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Pakistan

+4

After Careem’s exit, Pakistan’s ride-hailing market is confronting the price of trust

Oct 7, 2026

•

16 min read

After Careem’s exit, Pakistan’s ride-hailing market is confronting the price of trust

Careem helped make private mobility viable for a generation of Pakistani women. When the company suspended its Pakistan ride-hailing service in July 2025, CEO Mudassir Sheikha said the economics had become increasingly difficult to justify, exposing a harder question over whether the market can reproduce the service women came to trust at a price most can afford.

Anmol Irfan
Anmol Irfan

Startups

+4

Saudi AI company Echelon targets enterprise deployments with backing from RAED Ventures, Avra and Ben Horowitz

Oct 6, 2026

•

2 min read

Saudi AI company Echelon targets enterprise deployments with backing from RAED Ventures, Avra and Ben Horowitz

Founded by Prince Khalid Bin Bader Al Saud, the Riyadh business is pairing technology partnerships with engineers embedded in customer operations, with training and defence divisions also planned.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+6

Replit acquires AI analytics startup Atta

Oct 2, 2026

•

1 min read

Replit acquires AI analytics startup Atta

Omar Shaik cold-emailed Amjad Masad two years ago asking him to invest. Masad and CTO Michele Catasta saw a demo and wrote a cheque the same day.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

E-Commerce

+4

AÏZA parent Amaani raises $5M Series A led by BECO to expand beauty brand across the GCC

Sep 28, 2026

•

2 min read

AÏZA parent Amaani raises $5M Series A led by BECO to expand beauty brand across the GCC

The Dubai-based company says its skincare and haircare brand grew net revenue more than ninefold in the first half of 2026, with Saudi retail launches this month and Kuwait and Qatar to follow.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

erad raises $22M Series A led by MEVP as SME financing reaches $133M

Sep 28, 2026

•

2 min read

erad raises $22M Series A led by MEVP as SME financing reaches $133M

The Riyadh-based fintech has received more than $1 billion in financing requests and is expanding into logistics, manufacturing and wholesale after reporting eightfold annual growth in Saudi Arabia.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

MASNA Ventures seeks $150M fund capacity as Saudi defence investor accelerates maritime push

Sep 25, 2026

•

2 min read

MASNA Ventures seeks $150M fund capacity as Saudi defence investor accelerates maritime push

Saudi Arabia’s first defence-focused VC fund is seeking a 50% increase in capacity as it expands its focus on autonomous systems and builds out local manufacturing partnerships.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+2

Huspy enters Italy with Integra Finance acquisition, plans $86M investment

Sep 23, 2026

•

2 min read

Huspy enters Italy with Integra Finance acquisition, plans $86M investment

The Dubai-founded proptech has acquired Italian credit intermediary Integra Finance as it commits $86 million to building out its mortgage and real estate business in the country.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

Paymob raises $35M pre-Series C co-led by Mubadala and EBRD as GCC nears half of revenue

Sep 21, 2026

•

2 min read

Paymob raises $35M pre-Series C co-led by Mubadala and EBRD as GCC nears half of revenue

The Egyptian payments company has grown GCC revenue sevenfold in 18 months, with Abu Dhabi sovereign investor Mubadala joining its cap table as Paymob increasingly shifts its growth towards the Gulf.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

OCTA raises $3.5M seed led by MEVP as it expands into AI agents for accounting firms

Sep 17, 2026

•

2 min read

OCTA raises $3.5M seed led by MEVP as it expands into AI agents for accounting firms

The round brings OCTA’s total funding to $5.6M, as the startup expands from receivables and payables into AI agents that handle bookkeeping, reconciliations and month-end close.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+5

Tabby raises $233M Series F at $6.5B valuation as it pushes beyond BNPL

Sep 14, 2026

•

2 min read

Tabby raises $233M Series F at $6.5B valuation as it pushes beyond BNPL

The round comes as new Saudi lending licences and a UAE wallet licence expand it into longer-term credit, SME finance and everyday money management.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+4

Tarabut secures $50M from Saudi banks and business groups as it deepens Kingdom focus

Sep 14, 2026

•

2 min read

Tarabut secures $50M from Saudi banks and business groups as it deepens Kingdom focus

Riyad Bank, SAB Invest’s X-Tech Fund and GIB Saudi Arabia are among the backers, three years after Tarabut’s $32 million Series A was itself raised to expand in Saudi.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

SaaS

+5

Keep Converting raises $2M pre-seed led by Nuwa Capital and COTU Ventures

Sep 10, 2026

•

2 min read

Keep Converting raises $2M pre-seed led by Nuwa Capital and COTU Ventures

The UAE startup has emerged from stealth with an AI platform that generates and tests personalised product pages for individual ecommerce shoppers, claiming an average 64% conversion-rate lift across early deployments.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+5

Sav raises $3.5M pre-Series A led by Phoenix Venture Partners for Saudi expansion

Sep 7, 2026

•

2 min read

Sav raises $3.5M pre-Series A led by Phoenix Venture Partners for Saudi expansion

The UAE consumer fintech has broadened from a savings app into a regulated personal-finance platform spanning cards, investments and account aggregation, taking total funding to about $6 million.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Fintech

+3

Alaan gets in-principle UAE approval for SVF and payments licences as it pushes into business banking

Sep 4, 2026

•

1 min read

Alaan gets in-principle UAE approval for SVF and payments licences as it pushes into business banking

Final approval would allow the fintech to hold customer funds, issue corporate cards and run cross-border payments under its own CBUAE licences as it expands beyond spend management into business banking.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

Sirdab raises $10M Series A from Elm and BECO to expand Saudi logistics platform across GCC

Sep 3, 2026

•

1 min read

Sirdab raises $10M Series A from Elm and BECO to expand Saudi logistics platform across GCC

The profitable Saudi logistics startup has grown revenue 20x since Y Combinator and now connects more than 850 businesses to a network of 120+ warehouses and 60+ transport providers.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Startups

+4

ZenHR raises $6M bridge round led by Impact46 to expand AI products and EWA

Sep 3, 2026

•

2 min read

ZenHR raises $6M bridge round led by Impact46 to expand AI products and EWA

The Saudi HR software company is expanding its AI products and earned wage access offering across 11 markets in MENA, four years after raising a $10 million growth round.

Jamie Lane
Jamie Lane

Learn what matters in MENA startups and VC

Join 8,000+ founders and investors from MENA’s leading companies

QUICK LINKS

About Us

Sponsor Us

Upgrade

Login

HOME

ARCHIVE

INTERVIEWS

AUTHORS

TAGS