Continuing its focus on emerging markets, Seedstars World hosts Dubai round

In 2005, Mohamed Elwazer witnessed a disturbing scene while waiting for a train at a metro station in Egypt. A security officer was...

Natasha D'Souza • 19 May, 2014

competition Health

8rbtna: a platform which aggregates services and support for Syrian refugees

Syrian refugees now number 2.5 million, and Syrians are on track to become the largest refugee population in the world due to the war that...

Eman Mostafa • 22 May, 2014

jobs

How this Tunisian gaming company rebounded after a failure

Just over a year ago, then-Features Editor Glen Dalakian got pretty excited about a new game, DefenDoor, and a new gaming studio,...

Aline Mayard • 15 July, 2014

digital mania tunisia Failure

Death of a Tunisian dating site

One year ago the odds appeared to be in the favour of Zouz, a Tunisian online dating site. In 2009, the entrepreneur left his...

Aline Mayard • 03 July, 2014

fundraising Failure

ScreenDy, a coding-free DIY app creation service, tackles MENA market

Mehdi Alaoui created his first mobile app in 2001, succeeded in gathering 50,000 members on his dating app in 2003, and since 2006 has...

Aline Mayard • 27 May, 2014

Global entrepreneur community Startup Grind seeks to foster connections in Jordan

Sound advice from battle-tested entrepreneurs is a highly valuable asset for those trying to get a nascent startup off of the ground. It’s ...

Hayden Pirkle • 08 May, 2014

startup grind amman

How niche e-commerce site HobbyGulf doubled its orders in four months

The Gulf aviation industry has been the envy of the world over the last decade with lower costs and an ideal, centralized location that...

Alexander Hawkes • 07 May, 2014

niche E-commerce

StartupYourLife announces two new partnerships, with Seedstars World and Oasis500

The Moroccan entrepreneurs network StartupYourLife inked two new partnerships this month, in an attempt to bring more visibility to...

Aline Mayard • 06 May, 2014

startupyourlife Oasis500

Ifrosh tests cardless ecommerce platform in Iraqi Kurdistan

In recent years, the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan has generated headlines for its relative stability and booming...

Eric Reidy • 28 April, 2014

iFrosh Kurdistan credit cards

How this Saudi advertising firm pulled in 200 clients

Recently, an Arabnet study found that total online advertising spending in the Arab region reached $300 million USD in 2013, and is...

Pamela Kesrouani • 06 May, 2014

How this Bahraini woman uprooted her successful London creative agency and moved home

I first met Wafa Obaidat at a TEDxYouth event in Bahrain. I was floored by how — at 23 years old — Obaidat was running operations for her S...

Leena AlOlaimy • 23 April, 2014

Fashion

Palestinian startup AidBits aims to streamline the aid sector

NGOs aren’t known for being the most efficient organizations. The amount of bureaucratic navel gazing, however important, it takes to get d...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 15 April, 2014

aidbits arabreneur palestine

A radical solution to the region's payment challenges, from serial ecommerce entrepreneur

At this point, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to learn that Moustafa Mahmoud eats, drinks, and sleeps e-commerce, in addition to having l...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 17 April, 2014

payment solutions uae cash-on-delivery

KarTag enters the Cairo carpooling market with a user-generated 'pure carpooling' model

Egypt suffers from an astonishing amount of automobile-related pollution, traffic, and parking problems. Egyptian entrepreneurs have...

Ahmed Gabr • 09 April, 2014

Car Service Coworking Sharing Economy

Iraqi startup Miswag.net helps merchants transition to the internet

Miswag.net, Baghdad’s first internet-based startup with real potential to grow, launched less than a month ago to help local merchants in B...

Ali M. Ismail • 14 April, 2014

PAYMENT iraq Delivery

Lebanese developer overcomes technical challenges to launch Arabic mobile word game

After attending a seminar about the lack of digital Arabic content at ArabNet 2012, Samer Hamandi came up with the idea of Charbaka, a...

Reine Farhat • 24 April, 2014

Mobile Gaming Arabic Content Mobile

MXD raises $1M to launch 3D printing tool for the masses

“This year, 3D printing will be going mainstream in the U.S. and Europe, and we hope to become one of the big fish and set standards in the ...

Maya Rahal • 16 April, 2014

3d printer 3D Investment

Fresh off Kickstarter glory, Integreight gears up for 1Sheeld due date

$85,210 USD. That’s how much funding the Egypt-based startup Integreight attracted for its award-winning product 1Sheeld during its 30-day ...

Hayden Pirkle • 10 April, 2014

1sheeld arduino Hardware

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

Why registering as a startup in Dubai is getting easier

Lately, we often hear startups from Casablanca to Cairo asking us how they can get a foothold in Dubai, the market with the region’s ...

Nina Curley • 06 April, 2014

in5 Incubator

Palestinian entrepreneur launches e-store and educational blog on sexual health for married couples

“It started one day when I was walking in Ramallah,” Ashraf Alkiswani says. “I was stuck behind these two guys in their late thirties, and ...

Stephanie d'Arc Taylor • 03 April, 2014

karaz sexual health ramallah

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

Can this Saudi initiative become the Wikipedia of Arabic infographics?

In light of many recent attempts to enhance online Arabic content, three Saudi entrepreneurs have launched Arinfographic.net to archive...

Maya Rahal • 06 April, 2014

arabic infographic inforgraphic Arabic Content

Palestinian startup offers online Arabic children's stories [Wamda TV]

[English subtitles]   To add an Arab touch to the world of children’s online education, Palestinian entrepreneur Asma'a A. Abu Tailkh has e...

Mariam Hamed • 08 April, 2014

children Arabic Content