Wamda

Regional

Exponential growth wasn’t built in a day [Podcast]

“Everyone has the Middle East at the bottom of their pyramid,” said Fadi Ghandour, Wamda’s executive chairman, and “that’s good for you [startups in the Arab wo...

Souq.com Namshi careem

Palestine

Alwaleed injects $62M in $500M Series E funding Careem

(Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include the new capital injection of Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and the announcement of Abraaj Capital divesting its stake in Careem). ...

news careem palestine

U.A.E

Careem and OSN partner for discount rates and enhancing customer experience

Careem and OSN announced a strategic partnership May 22. The partnership promises to deliver enhanced benefits to customers of both companies throughout the MENA. Look how happy they ar...

careem OSN Telcos

Regional

The opportunity of an inclusive sharing economy in MENA

It’s 9am. A commuter leaves home heading for her office in the local tech business hub. After 30 seconds a car has arrived to take her - perhaps with other passengers, perhaps not - to...

lebanon uae Egypt

Egypt

Is Egypt finally ready for ride-sharing?

Uber and Careem fares have become unaffordable for many Egyptians, as fuel costs continue to rise following the floatation of the currency in November last year. The quality of public tra...

Buseet Kalax Swvl

Regional

Startup Watch: lateness isn’t greatness, the history of CVCs, and Uber for yachts

The world of entrepreneurship news is a complex one, with people ever ready to give their two cents on how you should be running your business/VC fund/incubator. Here’s our wrap of...

careem CharterClick social enterprise

Egypt

Careem sacks Egypt boss

Careem’s Egypt managing director Wael El Fakharany said in a tweet today that he was sacked by the car hailing startup. Egypt newspaper Al Mal broke the news today that El Fakharany...

careem

U.A.E

NYUAD Startup Career Night 2017

startAD, the recently launched startup incubator and education platform at New York University Abu Dhabi, in partnership with the Career Development Center, are organizing the yearly Startup...

uae career job search

Egypt

On speaking terms: Egypt’s investors, entrepreneurs forging a bond [Know Your VC]

The investor-entrepreneur relationship in Egypt has been something of a rollercoaster, but both say they’re finally starting to iron out the bumps after a long learning process. A1...

investor relations A15 eventtus

Lebanon

Smart scaling: how these MENA companies got it right

The Middle East and North Africa is one of the most difficult parts of the world to grow a business, but it’s even harder to scale into the 22 countries that make up the region. New...

Scaling lebanon MarkaVIP

Regional

Wamda’s best stories of 2016

2016 was the year of trying new things and testing some ideas on you, our readers. We brought in a weekly series we called Startup Watch, a list of what we’re reading each week - w...

Wamda2016 shezlong sympaticus

Global

Startup Watch: Careem the unicorn, Nile farmers learning farming, and AI wars

This year is coming to a close but there is no ‘slowly’ in the complex world of entrepreneurship news, with people ever ready to give their two cents on which company is dying, w...

Startup Watch careem Egypt

Saudi Arabia

How will Saudi’s diversification affect startups?

Just a few days into 2016, Saudi Arabia deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman made waves when he said the kingdom was exploring a public offering of Saudi Aramco stock, the world’s m...

Wamda2016 Saudi Arabia Aramco

Saudi Arabia

Careem now a unicorn, raising $350M

Careem has become the Middle East’s second ‘unicorn’, after investment from Japan's ecommerce giant Rakuten Inc and Saudi Telecom Company (STC). The investment marks th...

careem STC Venture Capital

Global

Startup Watch: how to be a CEO, Jay Z, and China’s new Gulf bud

The world of entrepreneurship news is a complex one, with people ever ready to give their two cents on how you should be running your business/VC fund/incubator. Here’s our wrap of...

Startup Watch Jay Z Back to the Future

Jordan

Uber and Careem: a yellow cab's worst nightmare in Jordan

“We don’t need Uber or Careem, the yellow cab is the boss,” chanted yellow cab drivers protesting outside Jordan’s parliament on Wednesday. Yellow taxi drivers hav...

Uber careem Jordan

Jordan

Health tech in MENA: How do you say measles, mumps and rubella in Arabic?

“Now is the era of systems that learn. It’s like [sending] a child to school. You teach them to read and digest information. The difference is [the machine] won’t forget. T...

ICT MENA Forum Watson big data

U.A.E

Careem v Uber: the local kid is winning

Careem’s flexibility in dealing with governments may give it the edge it needs over Uber and upstarts such as Egypt’s Ousta. Careem announced Tuesday that it had cut a deal wi...

careem Uber Ousta

Global

From droid farmers to gamer therapists: why we can’t prepare students today for the careers of 2030 [Opinion]

This article is a crossposted with Medium. I recently reread To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. There’s one part in the book that I didn’t catch the fir...

littlebits Opinion

Regional

Why do Middle East startups ignore Maghreb?

What does a person in Doha have in common with a person in Tunis? Not much, especially when it comes to online services. As much as media, business people, and Wamda love the concept of M...

Maghreb middle east careem

Egypt

Egypt ride hailing startup Ousta lands $1.25M bridge investment

Egyptian ride hailing startup Ousta has raised a $1.25 million investment, five months after its launch. The bridge round was funded by undisclosed local and UAE investors and would ...

Egypt Ousta ride hailing

Saudi Arabia

Saudi getting smart on flooding?

For the last four years PhD student Mustafa Mousa has been placing nodes (sensors) in various locations in Mecca and Thuwal. He wanted to predict floods. Acting like an eye for city plann...

KAUST Saudi Arabia Sadeem

Global

Startup Watch: Saudi cash, zombie startups, and your how-to-fire guide

The world of entrepreneurship news is a complex one, with people ever ready to give their two cents on how you should be running your business/VC fund/incubator. Here’s our wrap of wha...

Startup Watch careem KarmSolar

U.A.E

Careem to use driverless ‘pods’

Careem has announced that they’ve partnered with a company that builds driverless, battery-powered ‘pods’. Furthering their ambitions, last week they announced a $100 m...

careem public transport MEMakersGE

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