Wamda

U.A.E

The controversial and unsustainable nature of food delivery

Over the past few weeks, delivery drivers for both Deliveroo and Talabat in Dubai have refused to turn up for their shifts, demanding...

Food delivery

Regional

Mena startups raised $297 million in April 2022

Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $297 million across 29 deals in April 2022 a drop of just $2 million...

Investment

Egypt

Lucky: the startup digitising the cashback space

The devaluation of the Egyptian pound back in 2016 was intended to preserve its foreign currency reserves, attract foreign direct...

Lucky app

Global

How fintech solutions can bridge the trade financing gap

Ankit Goel is the Middle East and North Africa head of MODIFI, a a global fintech company that helps small and medium-sized...

Fintech

Saudi Arabia

How can Saudi Arabia unleash national success in fintech?

Abdullah Al Othman is the founder and chairman of Geidea, a Saudi Arabia-based fintech specialised in payments. It works with over 150,000...

Fintech

Saudi Arabia

From Resalaty to Unifonic, tracing the Saudi startup’s journey

It is difficult to recall a time when messaging large numbers of people was impossible, but that was the reality for brothers Ahmed and...

Unifonic

Qatar

What is holding back Qatar's startup ecosystem?

Qatar’s vast oil and natural gas reserves have served the country’s needs well. It was thanks to these fossil fuels that Qatar...

doha

Egypt

The startup tackling plastic waste in Egypt through its “reverse vending machine”

As the most populous country in the Middle East, Egypt produces the largest quantity of plastic waste at an average of 5.4 million tonnes...

plastic waste Dawarha Cleantech

Regional

Startups in Mena raised $299 million in March 2022, pushing Q1 funding to $934 million

Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $299 million across 79 deals in March 2022, a 22 per cent decrease...

Investment

Egypt

Shift EV to expand beyond Egypt after raising Series A round

Egypt-based electric mobility startup Shift EV, has raised an undisclosed Series A round, led by the startup's existing...

Shift EV

Global

The 10 pitch deck slides you need to wow investors

Dr. Mussaad M. Al-Razouki is the chief investment and business development officer of Kuwait Life Sciences Company. He has over 15 years of...

pitch deck Advice

U.A.E

What are the implications of the UAE's tax reforms?

Dr Robert Mogielnicki is a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington The Ministry of Finance in the United...

tax

Global

The realty of the metaverse

Amash Malik is director of performance marketing at Bayut & dubizzle From the moment Facebook rebranded to Meta, the concept of...

metaverse

Saudi Arabia

What we learned at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Riyadh

For the past few years, Saudi Arabia has done an exceptional job of reforming its business processes and boosting entrepreneurship in the...

GEC GEN

Libya

Presto: Building Libya’s first super app

Over the past decade, Libya has been mired in a civil war that has decimated its economy and put paid to foreign direct investment (FDI)....

super app

Saudi Arabia

The digital payment opportunity in Saudi Arabia

When Muhannad Ebwini launched payment gateway HyperPay in Jordan back in 2014, e-commerce accounted for just 1.5 per cent of total retail...

hyperpay

Egypt

Do cloud kitchens stand a chance in Egypt?

The meteoric rise of cloud kitchens in the UAE is beginning to permeate through to other parts of the Middle East. Across the region, new...

cloud kitchen Cloud kitchens

Regional

This is the year cryptocurrency will come of age in the Middle East

Areije Al Shakar is the senior vice president at Bahrain Development Bank & director at Al Waha Venture Capital Fund of Funds Banks...

crypto cryptocurrency Al Waha Fund of Funds

Regional

Mena startups raised $375 million in February 2022

Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $375 million across 81 deals in February 2022, a 51.6 per cent increase...

investments

Regional

Why is there a lack of investment in startups founded by women?

In January and February of 2022 alone, startups in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) raised $622 million. To have broken the half a...

women entrepreneurs Investment

Regional

Mena’s startup euphoria is more fragile than it looks

Tarek Sakr is a former investment banker and CEO of Kuwait’s largest classifieds company – 4Sale Market participants are now...

valuations

Regional

How have NFTs impacted the Middle East’s art world?

Rarely a day goes by without the announcement of a new NFT [non-fungible token] project, artwork or even a culinary digital...

NFT crypto

Egypt

FreshSource raises Seed round to cut food loss in Egypt

For Egypt, agriculture is one of its most critical sectors, accounting for more than 11 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) and 28...

FreshSource food waste agritech

Regional

What we learned at Step's tenth show in Dubai

It has been 10 years since Step held its first startup conference and festival in Dubai, a time when the entrepreneurship sector in the...

STEP

Thought Leadership

All the information you need to navigate Mena's startup ecosystem

Thank you