A week after its first investment in Europe, Chinese ride-sharing giant Didi Chuxing is spreading its wings once again after it announced a financing deal with Careem...
Twiga Foods, the Kenyan business-to-business food supply platform, has raised $10.3 million in a Series A funding round through debt and equity instruments...
After starting out as a repair service for consumers, the start up Geeks has expanded to business customers and has its eye on the Saudi market...
In five years, Careem has amassed 10 million registered users in 60 cities in 11 countries, some 250,000 contractor drivers, and ride numbers have been growing at a 25% monthly clip...
Our entry into Palestine is in line with our commitment to bettering our region and our dedication to creating opportunities. We will work hard to enhance our captains’ lives...
Lebanese automotive marketplace Seez have received $1.8 million in seed funding from B&Y, Phoenician Funds, and Wamda Capital...
Comparison site compareit4me.com announced today securing $3.5 million from existing investors including Wamda Capital, STC Ventures, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and...
There’s a huge appetite for luxury in the Middle East, even as economic growth falters. Every year, clothes and accessories from the runway make their way to designer stores...
The fact that both transactions happened within a close space of time indicates that we’re at a transformational moment, and the time for this is now...
Launched in Dubai in 2014, Bitoasis is now available across the MENA. “What you have with bitcoin is an open payment network that will enable a new generation of fintech...
Creem, the region’s leading ride-hailing service, is integrating facial recognition into its application. It signed a contract with Digital Barriers, a security service provider...
This is the final recognition that the technology and digital industry in the region is happening and Amazon is the big statement on this,” Ghandour told Arabian Business...
The most active venture capital firm in the UAE investing in tech startups is Wamda Capital. Using CB Insights database we charted the rise of equity funding to tech startups in the UAE...
Speaking at the Arabian Business Startup Academy yesterday, Talhouni said the region should aim to create a system that works for its circumstances, instead of mimic an existing one in the West...
Jamalon.com, has signed a Print-On-Demand (POD) agreement with Lulu.com, the leading global self-publishing platform, to make their 2 million titles available to Arab customers...
Jamalon’s state-of-art facilities aim to make all books in the world available for the Middle Eastern market, offering over 10 millions Arabic and English titles, with free worldwide delivery...
Modanisa, the Turkey-based modest fashion site, has closed a fourth round of funding. Led by Dubai-based VC Wamda Capital for an undisclosed amount...
Two McKinsey Consultants decided to start a corporate chauffeur service with a website for booking about four years ago. Little did they know, that along-with their third co-founder they were...
Our Managing Partner Khaled Talhouni discussing the state of venture capital and technology startups in the region on Dubai Eye's The Business Breakfast...
Fadi Ghandour discussing the state of the startup ecosystem in the region on Dubai Eye 103.8 The Morning Breakfast...
Step Group has closed a Series A funding round with a $2 million investment from regional investors, including Wamda Capital, Equitrust, DSOA...
...عندما تنظر إلى العالم العربيّ عن قرب، سترى منطقةً تقف على عتبة الابتكار والجرأة يقودها شبابها نحو ثورةٍ تكنولوجية
The UAE is making headway as a significant incubator of technology companies. The country is now home to two unicorn companies that were each valued at $1 billion...
Careem has become the Middle East’s second ‘unicorn’, after investment from Japan's Rakuten Inc and Saudi Telecom Company (STC)...
The board of STC has agreed to buy a 10 percent stake in Middle Eastern ride-hailing app Careem for $100 million, the kingdom's biggest operator said on Sunday...
Ghandour said regulators should strengthen foreign investment laws as well as track record profitability laws, among other regulations to encourage start-ups to get publicly listed...
I knew from the early stage of my research and planning for The Luxury Closet that it had the potential to be a viable business, which could build up to become a multi-million dollar company...
Experience no matter how painful comes with a blessing of some kind. That’s the first thing that comes to mind when one hears the story of Jordanian founder of Jamalon, Ala’ Alsallal...
Aramex founder and Wamda Capital chairman Fadi Ghandour has called on investors in the region to invest in startups in their early stages...
Look closely at the Arab world and you will see a region on the cusp of something bold and innovative, as the region’s youth drive a transformative era of technological disruption...
Lunch:on has closed a seed round of $500,000 led by Wamda Capital, with Arzan VC, Dubai Angel Investors and other participating investors. This signals positive growth for the MENA food tech scene...
All Dubai taxis will soon be available through the Careem app under a new agreement between the e-hail taxi provider and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA)...
According to a statement released by the company Sunday they will be using the money to grow the business across the UAE and aid its expansion plans across the MENA region...
The Luxury Closet has closed a Series B round of $7.8 million. Led by Wamda Capital, the investment is one of the highest in MENA this year...
Wamda Capital announced today a $2.2 million Series A investment in Insider, an Istanbul-based smart digital platform for marketers to personalize, segment and predict customer behaviors...
la Doudin, the Jordanian founder of the Dubai-based start-up BitOasis, bought her first Bitcoin three years ago. She was living in Amman, having quit her job in London’s finance industry in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crash...
Jordan-based media platform Kharabeesh, which aims to redefine Arabic web content with its youth-targeted “edgy and innovative” video shows, has raised US$5 million in an investment round led by Wamda Capital, with participation from Dash Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst. With around 82 million monthly views in the region...
Kharabeesh is a creative, multi-platform network that combines media and technology to produce original, high quality Arabic online videos and shows. Its content has 82 million monthly views from the top four countries in the region, and 12.5 million subscribers across the company’s seven different platforms...
Fadi Ghandour, founder of Aramex, discusses why he sold his 9.9% stake in the company to a group of gulf investors. He speaks to Yousef Gamal El-Din and Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Markets Middle East...
It's no secret that Uber and Careem are direct competitors. Both offering similar transport services to the people of Dubai and other cities. One difference we all know about is that Careem is born locally, where as Uber originated in Silicon Valley in the US...
Users are able to order electronics, coffee, food, groceries, choosing from a menu of 30,000 products in more than 2,500 merchants from its iOS or Android apps. They can also put free-text custom orders or chat with an agent within the app for their orders...
Under the new partnership, Next will bring battery-powered, self-driving electric pods to the region. The pods can drive individually or by attaching themselves to other pods to form a bus-like structure where travellers can move freely from one pod to another...
While cleaning their flat, Premlal Pullisserry turned to his wife and jokingly said: “If only we can store some of these things at our neighbor’s house.” As it turns out, the problem Premlal identified wasn’t a joke, and he started Boxit, a smart solution for physical storage...
Back in April, STEP2016 brought MENA investors and entrepreneurs on one stage to debate the fundraising process, discuss challenges they have faced while working on investments, and compile lessons learnt from their experiences to find room for improving the entrepreneur-VC relationship...
According to a statement released today they plan, over the next five years, to invest $100 million into R&D. Part of this will be the growing of their team in the UAE and Pakistan, plus the opening of two R&D centers in Egypt and Germany...
Growing up in Amman, Jordan, Mohammed Al-Shaker was so captivated by the weather, that he launched a website called JordanWeather at age 15, in 2005. Reliable or not, he posted his own forecasts drawn from meteorological models and algorithms he developed...
As a teenager fascinated with computer programming, AlSallal volunteered for Ruwwad, an Amman-headquartered non-profit community development organisation, teaching other young people basic computer literacy...
If you can handle sugar and salt together, then Kharabeesh is your destination of choice! Established in 2008, Kharabeesh is a media and entertainment network, which took an initiative to boost and expand youth-oriented Arabic e-content, by creating outstanding, funny, edgy and innovative video shows...
Founded in 2012, the app has branched out into 27 different cities across the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region and Pakistan. The business has already managed to secure over 2.5 million registered users, but is looking to open in even more markets...
Back in April, MENA investment giants The Abraaj Group‘s Arif Naqvi and Wamda Capital‘s Fadi Ghandour took the main stage at STEP2016 to discuss entrepreneurship and digital disruption in MENA...
The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund made headlines last week when it announced a $3.5 billion investment in U.S. ridesharing company Uber. The investment makes us particularly excited because it validates a belief we’ve had since our founding in 2012...
ArabiaWeather Inc., the leading provider of weather products, services and solutions to consumers and businesses in the Middle East and North Africa, announced joining the Royal Meteorological Society in UK that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science as Corporate Member...
Geeks.ae, an on-demand tech services platform that helps connect consumers and business with Geeky resources to support their IT needs, raised a seed round of $600,000, led by Wamda Capital...
Leading the region’s venture capital firms, Wamda Capital invests in propitious entrepreneurial ventures, from the taxi hailing service Careem to Jordan’s popular privately-owned weather website ArabiaWeather, and Souq.com, the region’s leading online retailer...
Most entrepreneurs say they seek to change the world, by which they usually mean that they want to provide a good or a service that people need, making lives easier or better...
Led by Dubai-based Wamda Capital, who put in $200,000, it also included Kuwait-based Arzan VC, Dubai-based investor Equitrust, Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al Ahamad Al Jaber Al Sabah and Saad Mouasher, vice chairman at Jordan Ahli Bank...
Fintech startup BitOasis has announced its first round of funding, an undisclosed sum led by Wamda Capital.
The round included Barry Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG), Samih Toukan, the serial tech entrepreneur chairman of Jabbar Group, as well as Payfort and other tech angel investors based in New York and Dubai...
Jamalon, the Middle East’s largest online bookstore, has announced its new Publish-on-Demand (POD) service at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2016. Set to launch in Dubai on May 15, Jamalon’s POD will be a first for the Middle East and will serve as a hub for the region’s publishing industry...
Online shopping platform Mumzworld has just secured a multi-million dollar investment in its series B funding round. The website, dedicated to giving mothers a wide choice of quality products for their children and themselves, saw investments from Wamda Capital, twofour54, and Endeavor Catalyst...
Soon after becoming a mother, Mona Ataya realised the need for a one-stop shop in the UAE where mothers could compare and purchase products for their children.Mona, along with her co-founders, decided to fill the gap by launching Mumzworld.com...
Not all entrepreneurs are blessed with early equity investment, and many find themselves plunging their own savings into launching their business. It is important to set strict limits on this, says the entrepreneur Kunal Kapoor, 34, founder of Dubai-based TheLuxuryCloset.com...
The Dubai-based venture capital firm Wamda Capital is weighing launching a second and bigger fund with a wider geographic scope, depending on the deployment of its first US$75million fund, its managing director said...
Fadi Ghandour, one of the Arab world’s most storied entrepreneurs and technology investors, says he is watching the Iran market closely following the lifting of economic sanctions against the former pariah state...
Ecommerce platform for office supplies, OfficeRock.com announced today that it secured $800,000 in seed funding, from Jabbar Internet Group, Wamda Capital, and other regional and international investors...
Mark your calendar and plan to join IE Business School (IE) for IE Venture Day in Dubai on Friday, March 4, 2016.
At the IE Venture Day Dubai participating start-ups will present their business elevator pitch in front of a jury comprised of a unique mix of industry experts, venture capitalists, business angels and investors...
It is becoming very clear that the quest for a better future with economic and social inclusion has become a priority for Arab citizens, and we can no longer ignore the fact that improving economic outcomes and increasing the levels of economic equality are key elements in promoting social justice in the Arab region...
Members of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), the world’s premier network of 23,000 chief executives and business leaders in more than 130 countries worldwide, are leveraging the rise of Dubai as a hub of innovation, while the UAE continues to outperform all other MENA countries...
The brightly colored plastic blocks made by littleBits Electronics Inc. don’t fit neatly into conventional concepts about toys. The company encourages girls, boys and grown-ups to make anything at all from its snap-together electronic circuits, motors, lights and sensors...
Dubai Museum of the Future Foundation has announced the establishment of the Global Blockchain Council to explore and discuss current and future applications and organise transactions through the Blockchain platform...
Tech Growth Fund Wamda Capital has raised $60 million in the first round of funding of a $75 million Wamda MENA Ventures I fund, and invested 40 percent of that so far. The venture capital firm, which is based in Dubai, has made the investments in 11 companies, ahead of its schedule...
In June 2015 Wamda Capital, a venture capital firm investing in high growth tech start-ups, launched what is believed to be the largest growth stage venture fund in the region...
The Luxury Closet, the fast growing online marketplace that buys, sells, and consigns personal luxury goods, mostly pre-owned and at a discounted price, announced that it has secured $1 million funding from Wamda Capital...
ArabiaWeather, Jordan’s popular privately-owned weather website, recently raised $5 million in funding that will be used to fund a major expansion drive.Mohammed al Shaker, ArabiaWeather’s founder and CEO, said the investment deal was led jointly by Silicon Badia and Wamda Capital...
Compareit4me, the Dubai-based price comparison site for financial products has closed a Series A round of $3 million, lead by STC Ventures. Also participating in the round were Wamda Capital...
littleBits emerged from the niche “maker” community. Its library of open-source electronic blocks that snap together like Lego bricks and allow people to put together an almost infinite number of creations...
Wamda Capital, an investment vehicle initiated by Fadi Ghandour, has launched what is believed to be the largest growth stage venture fund in the region...
Wamda Capital announced today the launch of its regional growth stage $75 million investment fund, Wamda MENA Ventures I. The Fund, the largest of its kind in the MENA region to date...
IFC is ramping up support for tech startups in the Middle East and North Africa with a $10 million investment in a new venture capital fund.
Managed by Dubai-based Wamda Capital, the vehicle will provide seed funding to up-and-coming IT firms in several countries, including Egypt, Lebanon, and Jordan...
Zain Group, a leading innovator of mobile communications in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announces its second foray into venture capital investment through a strategic participation in Wamda Capital’s growth stage venture fund...
