Dubai
Amazon backs Indian meat startup FreshToHome in $104 million funding
Indian startup FreshToHome, which sells fresh fish and meat to consumers in the South Asian market and the Middle East region, has courted a new backer: Amazon. Amazon, through its…
Dubai-based accounting and financial compliance startup, Wafeq, raises $3M
In 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states signed a value added tax (VAT) agreement paving the way for the introduction of the general levy on consumption across the…
Valar Ventures leads $20M round in online brokerage platform baraka
Stock-trading apps have multiplied over the past couple of years, targeting varying demographics and audiences that they feel need to partake in investment activities to live healthier financial lives. In…
Hong Kong to explore legalizing retail crypto trades in reversal of previous proposal
Hong Kong has proposed allowing retail investors to trade in cryptocurrencies and crypto exchange-traded funds and plans to conduct pilots in NFT issuance and CBDC as it looks to regain…
Dubai-based Stake raises $8 million to let people across the globe invest in local properties
Dubai-based startup Stake is offering retail investors from across the globe the opportunity to buy fractions of rental property in UAE’s marquee city and earn regular income. The startup, founded…
Exceptional Ventures joins Europe’s health and wellness gold rush with a new $24M fund
With the after-effect of the pandemic set to play out for years, VCs specializing in health, wellness and general ‘joy’ would appear to have rising fortunes. Funds such as Able…
Daily Crunch: Cartona will use $12M Series A to expand its Egypt-based, B2B e-commerce platform
Happy new week! Christine went on a well-deserved break, so you’ll have to deal with a double dose of my awful puns and worse headline shenanigans for a bit.
Crop One, Emirate open ‘world’s largest vertical farm’ in Dubai
Passengers on Emirates and other airlines will be able to eat the leafy greens, which include lettuces, arugula, mixed salad greens and spinach on their flights starting this month.
Southeast Asia, a diverse region with an expanding population and rising income, is emerging as a popular destination for crypto entrepreneurs and investors hunting down high-growth startups in the space.…
SWVL plans to lay off 32% of its team two months after going public
Egypt-born and Dubai-headquartered mobility startup SWVL is planning to lay off 32% of its workforce it said in a statement today. The company’s LinkedIn profile shows it has over 1,330…
Despite recent swings in cryptocurrency values, many institutional investors appear undeterred. The growth of Babel Finance, which offers a suite of institution-facing crypto financial products, could be an indicator of…
Zenda gets $9.4M to streamline school fee payment and management
Zenda, a UAE-based startup looking to change how parents pay school bills, and the way educational institutions manage fee collection, is eyeing Africa as its next frontier for growth. Zenda…
Qureos, a UAE-based edtech and remote work marketplace that is changing how people upskill and get jobs across the globe, plans to grow the uptake of its platform by 10…
ZirooPay raises $11.4M to scale its mobile POS solutions for retailers across Nigeria
The number of POS terminals in Nigeria grew from 150,000 in 2017 to 543,000 in April 2021, according to Statista. During that period, the volume of POS payments in the country also…
All eyes are on Swvl as it starts trading on a SPAC combination
Mass transit and shared mobility provider Swvl went public today in a landmark moment for Egyptian and Middle Eastern tech ecosystems. It’s also a test for the company going public…
Sequoia Capital India, STV back Dubai-based BNPL provider tabby in $54M extension round
Tabby, the Dubai-based buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform that lets users shop, pay later and earn cash from over 3,000 global brands, including Adidas, IKEA and Bloomingdale’s, has completed…
Volocopter raises $170M, now valued at $1.87B, to fuel first commercial launches of flying taxi fleet in 2024
Volocopter, the startup out of southern Germany (Bruchsal) that has been developing electric VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft and a business model for operating them in taxi-style fleets in…
Featured Article
African tech took center stage in 2021
Two years ago, the African tech ecosystem saw newfound attention from global players that translated to the continent’s best year of receiving venture capital. From varying sources, it is estimated up to $2 billion went into African tech startups in 2019. With high-profile visits from the most famous Jacks (Ma and Dorsey), a long-awaited first…
India’s Cars24, a used-vehicle sales platform, raises $400M, now at a $3.3B valuation, to double down on growth
With supply chains in the automotive industry continuing to be disrupted due to COVID-19, demand has surged in the used-car market. Today, one of the startups that’s seeing a lot…
Egypt-based celebrity platform Minly acquires Dubai’s Oulo to consolidate its position in the GCC
Minly, a MENA-based media and entertainment startup, announced today that it has acquired Oulo, a Dubai-based celebrity shoutout platform, for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition is coming six months after…
Quick-commerce startup YallaMarket eyes Saudi Arabia and Qatar next year after U.A.E expansion
YallaMarket, a Dubai-based quick-commerce startup, is planning to expand within the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E), and to enter Saudi Arabia and Qatar next year, to tap the appetite for speedy…
Pet video marketplace Camlist eyes UK growth after raising $1.3 million pre-seed funding
Camlist, a video marketplace for pets, has raised $1.3 million in a pre-seed round, funding that the startup plans to use to develop its platform and grow its workforce —…
UAE B2B e-commerce site Dubuy targets Africa for growth
Dubuy, an e-commerce platform by UAE global logistics provider DP World, has entered Kenya with plans to launch the business-to-business (B2B) site in more countries across the continent in the…
Tier scoots off with $200M, all-equity ‘first close’ of Series D
Berlin-based e-scooter rentals company Tier Mobility has announced a $200 million raise, which it says is the “first close” of its Series D, as investors continue to plough money into…
Nomad Homes raises $20M to create a personalized house hunting platform for Europe, Middle East
The company is creating its own MLS for the regions and applies technology to the expertise provided by local customer services experts who assist from the initial search to closing…
Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Plug and Play invest in Odiggo’s $2.2M seed round
Servicing one’s car personally is a time-consuming, expensive and painstaking process. It’s a cycle that can lead to more expensive repairs and safety issues down the line, and no car…
Medal.tv, a video clipping service for gamers, enters the livestreaming market with Rawa.tv acquisition
Medal.tv, a short-form video clipping service and social network for gamers, is entering the livestreaming market with the acquisition of Rawa.tv, a Twitch rival based in Dubai, which had raised…
Why former Alibaba scientist wants to back founders outside the Ivory Tower
Min Wanli had a career path much coveted by those pursuing a career in computer science. A prodigy, Min was accepted to a top research university in China at the…
An internal code repo used by New York State’s IT office was exposed online
A code repository used by the New York state government’s IT department was left exposed on the internet, allowing anyone to access the projects inside, some of which contained secret…
YC-backed Ziina raises $7.5M seed led by Avenir Growth Capital and Class 5 Global
Cash is the predominant method of sending and receiving payments in the Middle East. If you owe someone a cup of coffee or a trip over a long period, repaying…
