Yamsafer tackles region's payment challenge with cardless bookings

Faris Zaher, CEO and co-founder of hotel bookings site Yamsafer, thinks his team may have come up with a solution to the region’s payment r...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 07 April, 2014

yamsafer payment solutions cardless bookings

China's largest search engine takes on Google in Egypt

The digital media scene – especially that in the Arab region – seems to be an appealing market for competition between China and the U.S., ...

Eman Mostafa • 10 April, 2014

Baidu china Egypt

Elance's Dubai hiring announcement signals increased regional focus

Nearly two years after hiring a Startup Mobilizer based in Cairo, multinational online staffing platform Elance has moved to hire a...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 02 April, 2014

elance localization Freelancers

Palestinian software companies merge; set sights on changing U.S. healthcare market

iConnect-Tech and 2i Software, two software development companies with front offices in Chicago and programming teams based in Palestine,...

Eric Reidy • 01 April, 2014

software development palestine Developers

Why startups in the Arab world should attend SXSW

If there’s one American event international startups should attend, it’s probably South by South West (SXSW). This movie and music con...

Aline Mayard • 26 March, 2014

usa events

Can Emirati wedding directory site Yebab successfully pivot to photo sharing?

Since its launch in 2008, Yebab.com, an Emirati platform offering wedding services for Arab women, has been slowly but...

Maya Rahal • 30 March, 2014

photo sharing photo album uae

How Buzzeff monetized the growth of social video advertising

Almost two years after raising a $1.2 million USD round of investment, and one year after launching its Dubai offices, Moroccan...

Maya Rahal • 20 March, 2014

buzzeff morocco Video Advertising

Egyptian startup Asly fights counterfeit vaccines to save lives and money

  When Tamer Ahmed was a child, his three year-old sister died because she had been given a counterfeit vaccine. Years later, still...

Pamela Kesrouani • 05 March, 2014

counterfeit Mobile

Students develop first Egyptian Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle (ROV) for undersea exploration

Given the rising global demand for equipment to explore and exploit oil resources at sea, there’s been a global boom in the m...

Eman Mostafa • 11 March, 2014

Hardware

4 lessons from Fishfishme's successful investment round

Some of you may already know that we just closed a $200,000 USD financing round from some angel investors Sim Whatley, Saif Alzarouni,...

Abdullah Alshalabi • 11 February, 2014

Angel Investment Investment

Baraka Bits uses 'good news from the Middle East' to power positive change in the region

“It’s OK if we don’t see thousands of views on our articles,” says Rama Chakaki, founder and CEO of news site Baraka Bits. “We’re willing t...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 06 February, 2014

baraka bits palestine Media

Here's why the Arab world needs a startup exchange program

Ten accelerators from around the world have announced the launch of a travel abroad program called Startup Exchanges. During one month, 50...

Aline Mayard • 05 February, 2014

cultural exchange exchange accelerator

Palestine's only startup accelerator Fast Forward announces its second class

Palestine’s first startup accelerator, Fast Forward, announced its second class on January 20th. The new group of startups focuses on t...

Eric Reidy • 28 January, 2014

Fast Forward accelerator palestine

Here's what Morocco-based video advertising agency Buzzeff learned when opening a Dubai office

Every three weeks, Casablanca-based Jérôme Mouthon makes the seven-hour flight to Dubai to work for one week at his company’s Dubai off...

Aline Mayard • 27 January, 2014

morocco Dubai Video Advertising

Startup news ticker: PricePanda secures 3 million dollars from Tengelmann Group

Welcome to Wamda's weekly startup news ticker, which will offer quick announcements and stories relevant to the region. If you have a quick...

Wamda • 27 January, 2014

ticker Rocket Internet Investment

The secret sauce for running a successful crowd investment campaign

Will 2014 be the year of crowd investment? Yes, if startups like SearchinMENA have anything to say about it. The B2B marketplace, founded...

Nina Curley • 16 January, 2014

crowdinvestment How-Tos

Lebanon's touch launches an app store; can it succeed where others have failed?

Yesterday, touch, one of Lebanon's two major telecom companies, announced the launch of its Android-compatible app store, aimed at serving...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 15 January, 2014

apps app store apple

Turkey

What Turkey's economic struggles mean for its startups

Excitement about Turkey’s startups hit fever pitch last year. This time one year ago, The Economist anointed the country’s startup scene a...

Gulay Ozkan • 09 January, 2014

Ecosystem

Startup news ticker: Integreight reaches its goal on Kickstarter in 6 hours; Kamel Al-Asmar in Forbes’ 30 Under 30

Welcome to Wamda's weekly startup news ticker, which will offer quick announcements and stories relevant to the region. If you have a quick...

Wamda • 07 January, 2014

Egypt Crowdfunding Social Entrepreneurship

How Lebanese gaming portal At7addak is building an online empire with user-generated content

As I drove up to the town of Mansourieh overlooking sprawling Beirut, I wondered how such a successful online company could operate in...

Glen Dalakian II • 29 December, 2013

Content Portals Arabic Content Gaming

BitPay founder Tony Gallipi on Bitcoin's bright future [WamdaTV]

BitPay is an easy-to-use platform enabling internet businesses to accept Bitcoin as a form of payment. BitPay provides a plugin and makes it...

Gulay Ozkan • 16 December, 2013

currency p2p bitpay

Jordanian custom photo album service eyes Gulf Facebook users, B2B expansion

There’s got to be a story behind a company by the name of Cheezu. “I was watching a Japanese movie,” says Tala Haddadin, Cheezu’s Jordani...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 15 December, 2013

cheezu b2c b2b

Can AskNative save Egypt's tourism industry?

AskNative, a tourism service that works like a social network, is up against serious odds in Egypt, where both tourism and e-commerce are...

Eman Mostafa • 26 December, 2013

AskNative Tourism Egypt

PayPal brings new mobile payment option to rapidly developing East Africa

M-PESA, a mobile payment scheme launched in 2007 by Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom, has fundamentally changed the way Kenyans...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 11 December, 2013

mobile payments Payment systems Kenya