10 digital startups debut at a demo day first in Tehran

Witnesses to the next big startups out of Tehran? [Images via AvaTech]. Since launching in 2014 the Tehran-based accelerator AvaTech...

Lucy Knight • 15 April, 2015

Tehran AvaTech iran

Dubai's Pixelbug launches highly anticipated edutainment app Colorbug

The coloring is taken to a whole other level.  Are you a child between 4 and 10? Do you want to meet Patrick the Horse, Pablo the...

Pamela Kesrouani • 04 May, 2015

PixelBug Colorbug edutainment

GoNabit’s cofounders reunite to embark on a new journey

Having been a part of Dan Stuart and Sohrab Jahanbani’s team back when they cofounded GoNabit, the first online group buying website...

Reine Farhat • 06 April, 2015

livingsocial gonabit Q&A

More options for Cairo startups as coworking spaces multiply

Two years ago the number of coworking spaces in Cairo could be counted on one hand, but as their numbers have multiplied they’re now b...

Eman Mostafa • 28 April, 2015

Big plans in little Djerba: coworking Cogite is heading to the island

In mid-March, after visiting Gafsa and Kairouan, the team behind Tunis-based coworking space Cogite brought their Cogite...

Christine Petré • 13 April, 2015

Cogite Coworking Spaces

2 Egyptian startups heading to Germany’s Pirate Summit

Winners of the event, Germany bound.  Two Egyptian startups are heading off to Germany. Crowd Analyzer, a platform analyzing social...

Eman Mostafa • 23 April, 2015

Coterique Crowd Analyzer Greek Campus

Innovative thoughts at the Arab youth Employment Conference in Jordan

The Arab youth Employment Conference: Promoting Innovative Solutions to Longstanding Challenges, will be held from April 28-30,2015, in...

Wamda • 08 April, 2015

International Youth Foundation Silatech Arab youth Employment Conference

Cardiac emergency services app takes first prize at Dubai’s Hacka{MENA}

Finding ways to change the world in seventy-two hours sounds close to impossible, but Hacka {MENA}, Dubai’s first social impact hackathon d...

Sushmitha Pidatala • 09 April, 2015

PwC Hacka EXPO Hacka MENA

Lebanese designers converge to the Disrupt!/Design!/ ideathon

Disrupt!/Design!/ is a focused event organized by Mideast Creatives where designers from a wide variety of fields come together to bring...

Wamda • 08 April, 2015

disrupt design Mideast Creatives zoomal

USAID launches MENA-II in Lebanon amidst growing landscape of support

Last week, representatives of USAID, the Berytech Foundation (a Lebanese incubator and VC fund), and the United States...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 08 April, 2015

im capital Circular 331 Berytech

Girls in Tech to launch in Morocco to support women entrepreneurs

When I asked Fatim-Zahra Biaz to give me a name of a Moroccan woman tech entrepreneur, she struggles. “This is why we’re launching Girls ...

Aline Mayard • 08 April, 2015

Girls in Tech women entrepreneurs New Work Lab

Inspiration, community-building and unicorns at #STEP2015

The STEP Conference, in its fourth year, is quickly becoming one of the most anticipated events in the Arab region when it comes...

Maya Rahal • 01 April, 2015

STEP2015 Step Conference STEP

Hatcher announces new seed and Series A funding for MENA startups

Hatcher, the Singapore-based ‘B2B venture builder’ connecting startups in emerging markets with investors, is looking to “double down,” as ...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 02 April, 2015

hatcher fund hatcher beirut

liwwa announces seed round led by DASH Ventures, hints at new product launch

liwwa, the Amman-based peer-to-peer Sharia-compliant lending site, has closed a seed round led by DASH Ventures, with participation from...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 31 March, 2015

crowd economy liwwa DASH Ventures

New fund to invest $10M in idea-stage startups

In order to bridge the funding gap between the early stages of a startup, a new fund lead by Prince Kojo Onioni Zalani from Nigeria is...

Reine Farhat • 01 April, 2015

fund

Facebook launches Blueprint for startups; and main announcements from #F8

In one of its biggest conferences so far, Facebook revealed this week a slew of services, products, and features tailored to almost all...

Maya Rahal • 27 March, 2015

F8 blueprint Facebook

Souq.com opens API to the public to spur MENA ecommerce

Souq.com announced Friday that it will be making its API (application program interface) available to the public, allowing third party...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 25 March, 2015

api Souq.com ShopGo

Corridor for UK and MENA investment in SMEs opened up further by UK regulation

The Dubai-based international investment platform Eureeca announced today that they have recently received the stamp of approval from the...

Wamda • 23 March, 2015

FCA eureeca Dubai

Lebanese startups gain access to more money and support than ever #ArabNetBeirut

The Circular 331 panel. A Lebanon-based $71 million fund focusing on the Middle East and North Africa; plans for a Beirut chapter...

Lucy Knight • 20 March, 2015

Kuwait National Fund iSME Leap Ventures

Flat6Labs to launch Beirut accelerator

Regional accelerator Flat6Labs will open a chapter in Beirut, cofounder Hany El-Sonbaty announced today at the Arabnet conference. The...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 18 March, 2015

beirut accelerator Flat6Labs

Fadi Ghandour: entrepreneurship is a tool for social inclusion

Middle East governments and private sectors must both take action to increase social inclusion in the region if they want to build...

Rachel Williamson • 17 March, 2015

aramex Fadi Ghandour

Sawari Ventures tries to fill Egypt funding gap with $50 million VC fund

Sawari Ventures partners: Hany Sonbaty, Ahmed Alfi, Wael Amin.   Egyptian venture capital company Sawari Ventures is turning...

Rachel Williamson • 16 March, 2015

Sawari Ventures morocco tunisia

Physical gets digital for self storage with Kuwait's BoxIt

For decades now, self-storage in America has been big business. Fuelled by that all-American accumulative consumerist instinct, by 2009...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 11 March, 2015

sirdab lab self-storage storage

Jordanian founders activate their ideas at lean startup workshop

Many entrepreneurs spend months or even years immersed in their businesses, before they suddenly realize their company has been solving...

Tala El Issa • 17 March, 2015

lean lean startup Lean Methodology