Wamda

Regional

Startups in Mena raised $338 million in September 2021

Startups in Mena raised almost $338 million across 37 deals in September, a 111 per cent rise month on month and a whopping 3000...

Investment

Regional

Noon.com to raise $2 billion over three to four years

E-commerce platform Noon.com is receiving $2 billion in financing from investors including Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund...

Noon ecommerce

Regional

Do robots create or destroy jobs?

Eugene Kovalenko is the chief commercial officer of Rozum Robotics, the company behind the first robot cafe in the UAE. When it...

robotics

Regional

India's startup expansion to Mena: A cause for concern?

Since 2016, more than 50 India-based startups have expanded into the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) by making their UAE debut an entry...

India Softbank Softbank Vision Fund

Regional

Should online retailers pay greater attention to men?

Leith Mathews is the founder and CEO of UAE-based rokpool, an online platform dedicated to men’s personal care products. Safe...

E-commerce

Regional

The Abraham Accords and its impact on the 48er startup community

‘Historic’, ‘ground-breaking’ and ‘momentous’ was how the world’s media described the Abraham...

48-Palestinians 48ers

Regional

Should we care about Philosophy of AI in the Mena region?

Aliah Yacoub is an AI philosopher and head of techQualia at Egypt-based Synapse Analytics, a data science and AI company The...

Artificial intelligence AI

Regional

Is there hope for startups in the tourism sector?

The accelerating pace of vaccination efforts worldwide has led to encouraging signs of recovery in the tourism industry, but as the virus...

Travel Tourism

Regional

Dark stores will create more collaborators than competitors

In the absence of physical shopping during last year’s lockdowns, demand for e-commerce soared, most notably in the grocery segment....

q-commerce quick commerce

Regional

Mena startups raised $160 million in August 2021

Startups in Mena raised just shy of $160 million in August across 44 deals, taking the total raised so far this year to $1.78 billion....

investments

Regional

Can data regulation be Mena's competitive advantage?

Khaled Lababidi is vice president and general manager of the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, for InCountry – a data...

Fintech Data regulation

Regional

What is the main cause of stress for founders?

Mental health has long been a taboo subject in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, but attitudes are changing. Wamda recently...

mental health EMPWR

Regional

What is the state of mental health and wellbeing of entrepreneurs in Mena?

Wamda and Microsoft for Startups have published a research report on the impact of Covid-19 on the state of mental health and...

mental health

Regional

Mena's mental health startups support fellow entrepreneurs' mental health and wellbeing

Wamda and Microsoft for Startups have published a research report on the impact of Covid-19 on the state of mental health and...

Regional

The need for edtech in higher education

Brendan Vyner, is the director of marketing and student recruitment at the University of Wollongong in Dubai. Covid-19 has...

Education EdTech

Regional

Beauty and the online beast: Driving online sales in the Middle East

Nicolas Bruylants is the co-founder and chief visions officer of UAE-based CNNB Solutions, which helps brands to build, operate and scale...

D2C Beauty

Regional

Startup advice: Six tips for early stage founders from Bayzat’s Talal Bayaa

Talal Bayaa is the co-founder and CEO of Bayzat, a UAE-based startup providing businesses with smart insurance, HR, and payroll...

Bayzat startup advice

Regional

Fintech is poised for consolidation in the Middle East

Mahmoud Hamouda is a strategy and operations consultant at Dell Technologies. He is also the head of Dell for Entrepreneurs in Egypt. In...

Fintech

Regional

Village Capital launches accelerator programme for impact startups in Mena, Turkey

US-based Village Capital has launched an investment readiness accelerator programme for impact startups from the Middle East, North...

Village Capital impact entrepreneurship

Regional

Mena startups raised $632 million in July 2021

Startups raised almost $632 million in July across 77 deals, a record-breaking month thanks mostly to Kitopi’s $415 million Series C...

Investment

Regional

How the gig economy is disrupting the region’s startup ecosystem

With 70 million platform workers registered globally, economists predict that by 2025, talent platforms will mediate one third of all...

gig economy

Regional

Swvl eyes IPO via SPAC

UAE-based mass transportation company Swvl, initially founded in Egypt, is reportedly planning to go public via a merger with a special...

Swvl SPAC

Pakistan

Zayani VC, Tricap invest in Pakistan-based Dastgyr’s $3.5 million Seed round

Bahrain-based Zayani Venture Capital and Dubai’s Tricap investments have participated in Pakistan-based B2B e-commerce startup...

Zayani VC Tricap b2b

Regional

How we pivoted our startup with grace

Walid Daniel Dib is the co-founder and CEO of hala, a UAE-based insuretech startup Spoiler: There was absolutely no grace...

Pivot Hala

Thought Leadership

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