Saudi Arabian firm Foodics, which has created an all-in-one restaurant management system, has raised a $20 million Series B funding round, as it bids to expand into the micro-lending industry. The 2014-founded…
SoftBank Takes Massive Hit on Stock Tumble, and Saudi Khashoggi Outcry
Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp has devalued by as much as $22 billion, on the back of a global tech stock tumble, and ongoing outrage over Saudi Arabia’s alleged slaying of a prominent…
Progress Speeds Up on Dubai to Abu Dhabi UAE Hyperloop
Five years after Elon Musk imagined the Hyperloop, two companies are vying to make it a reality between the United Arab Emirates’ two most prominent cities. The proposed Hyperloop between Dubai and…
At Russia’s World Cup, a Yellow Card for Traditional TV Broadcasters
The 2018 FIFA World Cup is almost a fortnight old and breaking broadcast records. But traditional airers should still look nervously over their shoulders. Over 3.4bn people are estimated to watch the…
Amid a Humanitarian Tragedy, Entrepreneurship is Being Kept Alive in Yemen
When Ibrahim Saleh began working in tech, barely anybody else understood what he did. It was 2006 and his home country of Yemen, torn by decades of coups, conflicts and civil wars,…
The Top Five GCC Startups to Watch Out For
The Middle East has risen, in a short space of time, from a digital backwater to a region of immense tech promise. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sits atop its valued metrics.…
Payments, Bureaucracy and Brain Drains: Cairo Stands at a Startup Crossroads
When Willie Elamien first showed up in Cairo in 2014, the city’s startup scene was very different than it is now. There was hardly any government support. People rarely saw entrepreneurialism as…
All Hail the Unicorn Maker: Is SoftBank’s Vision Fund Good for Tech?
Masayoshi Son has always been a bit of a gambler. In 2000, during the first dot com bubble, the 59-year-old SoftBank founder lost a record $70 billion. Undeterred, he continued with his…
Rouhani’s Re-Election: A Victory for Moderate Iran, and its Entrepreneurs
It’s the economy, stupid. At least, that was the word on the streets of Tehran this Friday, as around 70% of Iran’s 80 million people elected their next President. The Middle Eastern…
SoftBank Tech Fund Becomes World’s Largest with $93bn War Chest
SoftBank has announced that it has raised $93 billion for a new tech investment fund, which will become the largest in history. The Japanese telecoms giant, currently valued at $78.6bn, raised capital for…