Startups
Fintech
+4
Sep 21, 2026
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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.
Fintech
+4
Sep 17, 2026
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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.
Fintech
+5
Sep 14, 2026
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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.
Fintech
+4
Sep 14, 2026
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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.
SaaS
+5
Sep 10, 2026
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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.
Fintech
+5
Sep 7, 2026
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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.
Fintech
+3
Sep 4, 2026
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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.
Startups
+4
Sep 3, 2026
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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.
Startups
+4
Sep 3, 2026
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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.
Startups
+4
Sep 2, 2026
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2 min read
Adam Neumann’s Flow enters UAE with DIFC licence, targets first openings in early 2027
a16z-backed residential operator plans communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as its portfolio grows to 8,500 homes under management or development.
SaaS
+4
Sep 2, 2026
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1 min read
Usman Gul’s Metal raises $4.5M seed backed by a16z, YC and Phaze Ventures
Round follows an earlier investment from Oman’s Phaze Ventures, with the fundraising software startup saying paying customers have raised more than $500M through its platform this year.
SaaS
+4
Sep 2, 2026
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2 min read
Dubai's Enhance raises $18.2M from Global Ventures and Stride Ventures to expand personal training OS in the US
Fitness software company, which bootstrapped before raising a $3m Series A in 2021, will use the equity and venture debt financing to expand across the world’s largest gym market.
Startups
+4
Aug 28, 2026
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4 min read
Builder.ai founder Sachin Dev Duggal launches Dubai-based SeKondBrain after unicorn collapse
New venture marks the return of the Builder.ai founder 15 months after the QIA-backed startup entered insolvency, with an initial product designed to carry memory between competing AI models
Fintech
+6
Aug 24, 2026
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1 min read
Dubai-based Fasset raises $68M Series C at $1B valuation, only 3 months after previous round
Annualised transaction volume has passed $40 billion across 125 countries, according to Fasset, up from $32 billion when it announced its Series B in May.
Startups
+3
Aug 4, 2026
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1 min read
Saudi's Rime raises $2M+ seed to run AI agents on-site for retail chains
Seedra Ventures led again after backing the pre-Seed, in a round joined by Athlah Investment and Unity Invest Partners, behind a platform that runs decisions on-site through edge computing rather than sending footage to remote data centres.
Fintech
+4
Jul 17, 2026
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1 min read
Revolut wins in-principle approval from Dubai's VARA to offer crypto services in the UAE
The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority approval covers broker-dealer, exchange, and management and investment services, and lands a month after Revolut completed its Central Bank licensing for payments, stacking a second regulatory pillar under a UAE launch that has yet to be given a date.
Startups
+3
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Amazon brings 20-minute delivery to Egypt, opening a new front in the country's quick commerce race
Amazon Now has gone live in select areas of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and the North Coast, making Egypt the third market in the region to get the service after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
China
+4
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Abu Dhabi's BlueFive co-leads $3B round for China's Kling AI, the largest raise ever for a video model company
The round values Kuaishou's spun-out video-generation unit at $18B ahead of a planned Hong Kong listing, and puts the Abu Dhabi asset manager alongside Tencent, CITIC Securities and CPE as the only Middle East-based name among the co-leads of a record Chinese AI financing.
Startups
+3
Jul 9, 2026
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1 min read
Keyper raises $11M Series A to expand monthly rent payments in the UAE
Led by Speedinvest with Mashreq's NeoVentures, Dubai Future District Fund, Property Finder and Arab National Bank participating, the platform has financed more than $44 million in rent since launch.
Agritech
+3
Jul 3, 2026
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1 min read
Maalexi raises $2.8M led by Saudi insurer Tawuniya as it builds a tokenised agricultural exchange
The oversubscribed round brings the Tadawul-listed insurer onto the cap table of the UAE agri-fintech alongside returning lead Global Ventures, as Maalexi positions for a Series A and layers a regulated real-world asset exchange on top of its trade-verification platform.
Fintech
+3
Jun 30, 2026
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2 min read
Tabby secures consumer and SME finance licences from SAMA, opening up larger purchases and working capital
The two SAMA licences let Tabby offer Saudi customers longer instalment plans of up to SAR 50,000 on bigger-ticket purchases alongside its existing four-payment product, and extend working capital to the retailers on its platform.
Startups
+3
Jun 30, 2026
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3 min read
1001 raises $30M Series A led by Lux Capital to build sovereign AI for Gulf critical infrastructure
Eight months after its $9 million seed, 1001 has more than tripled its raise, backing its pitch to build AI that helps operators run critical infrastructure like airports, ports and energy grids.
Oman
+4
Jun 23, 2026
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2 min read
Oman's Phaze Ventures backs Metal, the AI fundraising startup from Airlift founder Usman Gul
Metal sells software to help founders run the fundraising process, built by Usman Gul, whose previous company, the grocery-delivery startup Airlift, raised Pakistan's largest-ever round before collapsing in 2022.
