Saudi Arabia Saudi accounting solution startup Qoyod closes a Seed round from Arzan VC Qoyod, an accounting cloud solution for small and medium businesses in Saudi Arabia, has recently raised an undisclosed Seed round from... Reine Farhat • 03 July, 2018 Qoyod Saudi Arabia Arzan VC
Global Here’s how these four startups are making agriculture more efficient During a business trip to Switzerland this year, I have had the chance to meet many startups from different parts of the world, but mainly... Reine Farhat • 27 June, 2018 Agrocenta Twiga Foods GreenTec
Regional Is the tech industry poised to overtake oil and gas jobs in the Middle East? In 2018, 71 percent of employers have plans to increase their hiring rates in the next 12 months and 66 percent are optimistic about... Preetish Panda • 25 June, 2018 IT Jobs IT sector oil and gas
Bahrain Bahrain’s e-government is ready for full migration to the cloud Not only is technology causing an impact on economic sectors' performance and activities, but also affecting the manner through which... Rana Freifer • 20 June, 2018 E-government Bahrain
Egypt Is Egypt becoming a hotbed for local and regional VCs? [Opinion] The year 2018 has been a landmark year for Egyptian startups, securing bigger and later stage investment rounds and giving a dash of... Omar Barakat • 18 June, 2018 fundraising Investment
Global What does Careem’s expansion to Sudan mean for local players? Sudan, a country with a population of around 40 million, has gone both unnoticed and untouched by regional and international tech players,... Wamda • 12 June, 2018 careem Sudan Expansion
U.A.E Robots can help socialize autistic children and UAE’s Atlab is a practical example Robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) are both revolutionizing all industries, and healthcare has been at the core of their activities.... Rana Freifer • 07 June, 2018 Autism robotics Atlab
Turkey What does Turkey’s currency dip mean for local startups? In recent news, Turkey’s lira has marked a record-breaking plunge. At the time of writing, the Turkish lira is now down to TL 4.57... Reine Farhat • 04 June, 2018 Turkish Lira turkey modanisa
U.A.E VR in airports: Driving sales, beyond entertainment In early 2015, the Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways, in partnership with Samsung, brought Virtual Reality (VR) to its first-class... Rana Freifer • 31 May, 2018 uae Entertainment tech
Global Chinese ecommerce Jollychic gets funding from Sequoia Capital, hits a reported $1 billion valuation Jollychic, a Chinese online store founded in 2012, has a value of $1 billion after a Series C round from the global venture firm Sequoia... Reine Farhat • 28 May, 2018 Sequoia Capital Jollychic ecommerce
Ivory Coast How Ivory Coast is attempting to lead Francophone-African entrepreneurial ecosystems A review by the World Economic Forum has identified three major trends expected to prompt Africa’s economic growth in the upcoming... Rana Freifer • 22 May, 2018 Ivory Coast startups africa
Bahrain Tech and innovation are at the core of the ‘New GCC’ investment opportunities as revealed ‘Gateway Gulf’ Over 500 international investors and select business leaders flocked to Bahrain to explore how to unlock opportunities across the... Rana Freifer • 15 May, 2018 Gateway Gulf Investor Forum Bahrain startups
Global A Nigeria story: Empowering those in need through technology One of the leaders in the online space in Nigeria, Wole Faroun, the founder and managing director of NetPlusDotCom, is helping launch... Reine Farhat • 14 May, 2018 Nigeria Sub-saharan Africa Q&A
U.A.E $33B of lost remittances could be regained through the Blockchain, and this UAE startup is on it Fintech startups are continuously bringing innovative solutions to cater to the large unbanked population. According to the World... Rana Freifer • 09 May, 2018 uae Dinarii Cash Fintech
U.A.E Abu Dhabi’s travel and tourism leaders award $100k to four Fikra Labs winners One month after announcing the 12 shortlisted startups to join a four-week training by Fikra Labs, an acceleration programme for the travel... Reine Farhat • 04 May, 2018 Fikra Labs acceleration abu dhabi
Global Africa, a missed opportunity for MENA investors? Every country has its own identity and challenges, let alone a continent. For most of the investors and stakeholders who are solely... Reine Farhat • 01 May, 2018 africa Afrikonnect Startup your Life
Lebanon Could this 3D-printing startup remove one of the biggest construction costs in Dubai? I met two startups in less than two weeks working in innovating the construction industry. And this is only in Lebanon. One cannot... Reine Farhat • 29 April, 2018 Buildink 3d printing Construction
Regional More family businesses to engage with tech and innovation: Techstars’ Jag Singh Last month, Wamda had the chance to catch up with Jag Singh, managing director of Techstars’ METRO Accelerator for Retail, ahead of... Rana Freifer • 26 April, 2018 lebanon Jag Singh techstars
Regional Adopting cashless payment channels will double business growth [Opinion] We’re at an inflection point in the history of payments. Led by countries like Sweden, where non-cash payments now outweigh cash... Sirish Kumar • 24 April, 2018 oped Telr Sirish Kumar
Global Adrian Cockcroft of Amazon Web Services on cloud tech and how corporate culture is key Last month, Wamda met with Adrian Cockcroft, VP of cloud architecture strategy at Amazon Web Services (AWS), to discuss the importance of... Rana Freifer • 22 April, 2018 AWS adrian cockcroft Cloud Computing
Bahrain How Bahrain is growing into a startup haven In 2017, Bahrain ranked second in the MENA in terms of Ease of Doing Business, and very good reasons have endorsed this ranking. The number... Rana Freifer • 19 April, 2018 Bahrain Ecosystem startups
Egypt Cairo’s Startups without Borders brings 200 refugee entrepreneurs to learn, share, and give back Late March, Startups without Borders, a newly-established project that supports refugees in Egypt, gathered around 200 women... Menna Farouk • 18 April, 2018 Greek Campus cairo Startups Without Borders
Global What undeserved emerging markets achieved through tech: Success stories from Seedstars Global Summit Switzerland was named the fourth happiest place on earth by the United Nations. This European country is home to one of the best... Reine Farhat • 17 April, 2018 Emerging Markets Seedstars Global africa
Turkey The Blockchain can improve the profitability of online ads and this Turkish startup is kicking it off This year, internet ads are expected to overtake TV ads as the largest advertising segment, and the total spend on entertainment and media... Rana Freifer • 11 April, 2018 turkey Online ads Blockchain