UAE
Fintech
+3
Sep 4, 2026
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1 min read
Alaan gets in-principle UAE approval for SVF and payments licences as it pushes into business banking
Final approval would allow the fintech to hold customer funds, issue corporate cards and run cross-border payments under its own CBUAE licences as it expands beyond spend management into business banking.
Startups
+4
Sep 2, 2026
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2 min read
Adam Neumann’s Flow enters UAE with DIFC licence, targets first openings in early 2027
a16z-backed residential operator plans communities in Dubai and Abu Dhabi as its portfolio grows to 8,500 homes under management or development.
SaaS
+4
Sep 2, 2026
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2 min read
Dubai's Enhance raises $18.2M from Global Ventures and Stride Ventures to expand personal training OS in the US
Fitness software company, which bootstrapped before raising a $3m Series A in 2021, will use the equity and venture debt financing to expand across the world’s largest gym market.
Results
+5
Aug 28, 2026
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5 min read
Talabat generated 94% of Delivery Hero’s MENA profit as Saudi losses narrowed
Regional GMV rose 11.6% even as profit slipped, with Saudi Arabia appearing to move back towards breakeven ahead of Uber’s €13B takeover of the Berlin group.
Startups
+4
Aug 28, 2026
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4 min read
Builder.ai founder Sachin Dev Duggal launches Dubai-based SeKondBrain after unicorn collapse
New venture marks the return of the Builder.ai founder 15 months after the QIA-backed startup entered insolvency, with an initial product designed to carry memory between competing AI models
Fintech
+6
Aug 24, 2026
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1 min read
Dubai-based Fasset raises $68M Series C at $1B valuation, only 3 months after previous round
Annualised transaction volume has passed $40 billion across 125 countries, according to Fasset, up from $32 billion when it announced its Series B in May.
Funding
+3
Aug 11, 2026
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1 min read
UAE customer intelligence startup Cobi raises $1M pre-seed led by Lunara Partners
The new capital will be used to expand enterprise deployments across the Middle East and internationally, and to further develop Cobi’s recommendation and decisioning capabilities.
VC
+2
Aug 5, 2026
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2 min read
Moove raises $250M at $2.1B led by Abu Dhabi's Mubadala to build the depot layer for robotaxis
The Dubai-headquartered company's valuation is 2.8x the $750 million it commanded in its $100 million round Uber led in 2024.
Fintech
+2
Jul 31, 2026
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2 min read
UAE credit reports to include Tabby and Tamara accounts from July
Al Etihad Credit Bureau will add BNPL data from both providers, covering existing and new customers and historical transactions.
Fintech
+4
Jul 17, 2026
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1 min read
Revolut wins in-principle approval from Dubai's VARA to offer crypto services in the UAE
The Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority approval covers broker-dealer, exchange, and management and investment services, and lands a month after Revolut completed its Central Bank licensing for payments, stacking a second regulatory pillar under a UAE launch that has yet to be given a date.
Fintech
+2
Jul 13, 2026
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2 min read
Tabby launches Tabby Cash, its first product on the UAE wallet licence, as it pushes beyond BNPL
The fee-free spending account, offering up to 3% cashback and free local transfers, and arrives alongside a rebrand positioning the $4.5 billion company as an everyday money management platform rather than a BNPL provider.
Funding
+3
Jul 10, 2026
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2 min read
Azraq raises oversubscribed pre-seed to price the risk behind the Gulf's data centre boom
The Abu Dhabi-based platform replaces the static, up-to-$1-million consultant reports underwriting data centre finance with continuous, lender-grade risk intelligence, and marks the first publicised graduate of the Utopia platform's co-build studio model.
Startups
+3
Jul 9, 2026
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1 min read
Keyper raises $11M Series A to expand monthly rent payments in the UAE
Led by Speedinvest with Mashreq's NeoVentures, Dubai Future District Fund, Property Finder and Arab National Bank participating, the platform has financed more than $44 million in rent since launch.
News
+2
Jul 3, 2026
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2 min read
OSN proposes taking Anghami private two years after buying control
The streaming group, which owns around 67% of the Nasdaq-listed Arab music platform, has offered $3.39 a share in cash for the rest, the stock's three-month volume-weighted average rather than a premium, and has told the board it will not sell its stake to a third party, effectively ruling out a rival bid.
Fintech
+3
Jul 3, 2026
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1 min read
Beehive completes majority acquisition of Saudi debt crowdfunding platform Themar
The deal makes the Dubai-born SME lender the first digital SME financing platform regulated across the UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia, converting a Saudi presence run through banking partnerships since 2020 into a fully regulated operation. Terms were not disclosed.
Agritech
+3
Jul 3, 2026
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1 min read
Maalexi raises $2.8M led by Saudi insurer Tawuniya as it builds a tokenised agricultural exchange
The oversubscribed round brings the Tadawul-listed insurer onto the cap table of the UAE agri-fintech alongside returning lead Global Ventures, as Maalexi positions for a Series A and layers a regulated real-world asset exchange on top of its trade-verification platform.
Fintech
+2
Jun 25, 2026
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2 min read
Lean and Ziina launch one-tap Pay by Bank top-ups, the UAE's first recurring Open Finance payment experience
Built on Lean's Deposits product, the feature lets Ziina users link a bank account once and top up their wallet with a single tap, moving Pay by Bank in the UAE past one-off transactions and into the repeat, low-friction flows that drive daily use.
Healthtech
+2
Jun 25, 2026
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1 min read
BioSapien wins Abu Dhabi regulatory approvals to begin Phase I cancer trials for its MediChip platform
The Department of Health, the Emirates Drug Establishment and an institutional review board have cleared the 3D-printed chemotherapy implant for first-in-human trials, with patient enrolment in colorectal cancer expected to begin within weeks.
Funding
+4
Jun 24, 2026
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2 min read
Abu Dhabi's MGX raises close to $50B in one of the largest AI funds ever
The firm has assembled a portfolio spanning frontier models, semiconductor infrastructure and data centres, with stakes including OpenAI and xAI.
Fintech
+3
Jun 19, 2026
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2 min read
Lean Technologies launches Pay by Bank suite on UAE Open Finance rails
Unveiled at the company's first hosted event in Dubai on 18 June, the suite groups account-to-account payments into deposits, collections, checkouts and a low-code payment links product, and arrives with Lean reporting more than 20 billion dirhams in payments processed to date.
