The Middle East is rapidly developing, with authorities across the region positioning their respective countries as leaders in the future. However, enormous challenges to growth remain, with systemic problems of water scarcity, the energy transition, and inclusivity standing in the path to sustainable development.
In this, the startup sector is perhaps the most important, providing a testing ground for new ideas and technology aimed at solving the problems of tomorrow.
Small businesses are the lifeblood of economies around the world, often accounting for the majority of employment and business activity. As the region looks to continue to embrace further diversification, supporting small businesses will be crucial in enabling long-term economic growth.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, with the sheer number of businesses in the sector confounding any form of ranking, it does represent a snapshot of the diversity of startups operating in the region.
Media, fintech, retail, hospitality, transport – the list of sectors that the following businesses operating in is varied and represents a healthy development for innovation in the region. Our congratulations to those listed and our thanks to the entrepreneurs and innovators of the Middle East helping to build the future.
| Rising Startups | Rising Startups |
|---|---|
| Anghami | Floward |
| Azom | Foodics |
| BitOasis | Hubpay |
| Cafu | InstaShop |
| ChatFood | iWireGroup |
| Justclean | Retailo |
| Kitopi | Sarwa |
| Namshi | Selfologi |
| Nana | Souqalmal |
| Noon | Starzplay |
| NymCard | Swvl |
| Paytabs | Tabby |
| Postpay | Talabat |
| Pure Harvest Smart Farms | Tarjama |
| Quiqup | Yallacompare |
Anghami
Year founded: 2012
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Media
Anghami is the MENA region’s biggest music streaming platform known as the region’s Spotify, but better. Founder Elie Habib recognised a wide gap in a proper digital music service in late 2012 and seizing the opportunity, he and his partner, Eddy Maroun, launched Anghami, which means ‘my tunes’ in Arabic in Beirut. Anghami relocated its headquarters to Abu Dhabi as part of the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) and is supported by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), according to its official website.
And today, Anghami boasts over 160 employees with offices in Dubai, Beirut, Riyadh and Cairo. In addition to around 200,000 Arabic and international podcasts, Anghami provides over 70 million Arabic and international songs to stream and download to more than 70 million users in MENA, Europe and USA. It also offers Video Expressions, similar to TikTok, which enables a user to create their own videos on top of music from Anghami.
Anghami sets milestones
Anghami set a milestone on February 4, 2022 when it became the first Arab technology company to be listed on NASDAQ and the first Arab company to list on this market in over 25 years.
In March 2021, the music streaming company merged with Vistas Media Acquisition Company, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The merger agreement with VMAC valued Anghami at $220m and was approved by a majority of VMAC stockholders at a special meeting held on January 19, 2022. With a robust outlook for 2022, revenue for the three-month period ending in March 2022 rose to $9.3m, stimulated by the number of subscribers, while subscription revenue for the reporting period increased to $7.3m.
Also, Anghami launched a joint venture label with Sony Music Middle East dubbed Vibe Music Arabia, which aims to create modern Arabic music with a global appeal by investing in emerging Arab artists in the GCC, Levant and Saudi Arabia.
Azom
Year founded: 2020
Headquarters: Saudi Arabia
Industry: Technology
Founded by Mohamad Almunajem, Azom designs, develops, and sells smartphones, electronics and mobile software. It first launched the 19 Desert 2 smartphone, set at a competitive price within the smartphone category and is the first Android smartphone provided by a Saudi startup.
The smartphone’s unique interface, under the name Ibrahim UI, was the first user interface developed by an Arab startup. Azom developed its own buds, also, to provide their customers with the entire experience. With a goal is to make technology easily accessible to everyone in their target markets. Azom operate under the EES model (electronics, eco products, software), the company leverages technologies like artificial intelligence algorithms in its operations. Azom is also designing its new products such as Azom Care – a service that the startup plans to launch soon.
Since 2020, Azom has raised $22.5m from Assr Al Jawal as well as angel investors. Its products are sold online in Gulf countries, and in KSA, and Oman, are sold both online and in retail outlets.
The startup has recently launched a new smartphone, Azom River, in addition to an Azom camera, pencil, Azom air purifier, Azom smart scale, and Azom smartwatch. The company has plans to expand to Egypt as well as other regions with a focus on industrial expansion.
BitOasis
Year founded: 2015
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
UAE-based BitOasis has grown to become the region’s largest crypto trading platform, having recorded over $4bn in trading volume to date. Ola Doudin, CEO and co-founder of BitOasis, launched it as the first cryptocurrency platform which has evolved to become the MENA region’s largest digital asset trading exchange and platform.
It currently aims its services at individuals, professional traders and investors across the region and internationally. The impetus for the company began in 2013 when Doudin purchased her first-ever Bitcoin and was compelled by its potential.
One year later, she launched the Dubai-based startup BitOasis, an online wallet and exchange that’s available across the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, and was the first to use multi-signature technology to protect digital assets.
With an engineering background, Doudin began her career in IT Risk Advisory at Ernst & Young in London while engaged in mentoring and investing tech startups, in addition to working with Aramex founder Fadi Ghandour.
Alternative investing
A venture that began with a single crypto, Bitcoin; now there are more than 40 digital currencies which investors can trade on the platform. The growth in the regional market is reflected in the robust upward trajectory of BitOasis and today, the platform is available to users in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, and Jordan. The venture has received a preliminary license to operate in the UAE from the Financial Services Regulatory Authority at the Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Chainanalysis data reports that between July 2020 and June 2021, the Middle East received $271.7bn worth of cryptocurrency which represents 6.6 percent of global activity. Also between July 2020 to June 2021, Turkey had the highest transaction volume at $132.4bn. In third place behind Turkey and Lebanon is the UAE with a transaction volume of $25.5bn. So far, BitOasis has secured two rounds of funding from international and regional venture capital funds.
Cafu
Year founded: 2018
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Retail
The Middle East’s first on-demand fuel delivery application, Cafu is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Rashid Al Ghurair who got the idea for Cafu after noticing the petrol station continued to operate along a decades-old model and that drivers needed a smarter, more convenient way to refuel.
Through its business model, Cafu is aligned with the UAE’s Vision 2030 for technology, transport and energy in several ways; including adherence to quality and safety measurements through the use of ESME-certified petrol and working with the Dubai Civil Defence Authority and UK’s Health and Safety Executive Council; reducing the time and physical space required for building petrol stations; and the implementation of new flow metres and fuel pumps to ensure the dispensation of the correct amount of fuel.
On-demand clean energy
In January 2022, Cafu has joined forces with SirajPower, the largest regional distributed solar energy company, and climate impact investor Creek to launch a new era of on-demand clean energy is to launch in the UAE, through the joint venture HYPR.
Through the deal, HYPR will launch its on-demand energy systems using innovative battery storage across the UAE which is set to mark the first-of-its-kind solution in the region using transportable lithium-ion batteries.
ChatFood
Year founded: 2018
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Hospitality
Providing F&B businesses with a set of cloud-hosted, web-based tools to help them sell better while simultaneously boosting profitability, ChatFood was launched by CEO Benjamin Mouflard and CTO Vinicius Rodrigues.
ChatFood is a provider of online ordering solutions for restaurant business management which also offers restaurants the chance to engage with offline, dine-in guests, as well as online customers. It allows restaurant guests to order food by using the website, Instagram, messenger or online food portals.
It is one of the F&B digital solutions in the market with a loaded menu of services that includes online business (delivery, takeaway), integrated on-premises business (order-and-pay at table services), fully scaled CRM solutions and an embedded loyalty and rewards functionality.
In 2021, ChatFood raised $5m in seed capital to drive the expansion of its suite of services. This funding helped the brand offer additional services, such as the table service solutions. Investors included Wamda Capital and BECO Capital.
With over 8,000 leading brands, over $100m of revenue generated by its partners, more than 1.2 million customers ordering directly; and over 5 million orders processed, ChatFood aims to ensure a sustainable future for home-grown food businesses in the region.
Floward
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: Kuwait
Industry: e-commerce
A flowers and gifts e-commerce platform founded by Mohammed Alarifi and Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Floward is a full-fledged e-commerce solution that offers fresh-cut flowers sourced from premium farmers and growers around the world which are locally arranged by a team of designers and florists.
Floward also partners with local and international brands to offer a wide range of gifts including chocolate, perfumes, cakes and more. With its own refrigerated fleet, average order turnaround time of one to four hours depending on the city the customer is in. Floward is operating in 36 cities in nine countries across the MENA region and London.
Serial entrepreneurialism
Al Loughani and his team apply a pure-play model, procuring flowers themselves and selling them on the website and app in addition to managing the last-mile delivery. In June 2021, the company said its Series B funding round raised $27.5m and was led by STV, a Saudi technology venture capital fund that previously invested in Careem. As of 2022, the total funding raised by the company reached $34.2m.
Floward quickly expanded across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar, before opening its UK office last year. Floward also dedicates 1 percent of its revenue to various activities centered around social responsibility.
Foodics
Year founded: 2014
Headquarters: KSA
Industry: Hospitality
A cloud-based technology and payments platform for restaurants in the MENA region, FOODICS was launched by Ahmad Al Zaini and Mosab Alothmani who observed a lack of technology in the F&B sector, particularly in the ordering process. Al Zaini consequently built upon this idea and developed a whole tech stack over time and a fully integrated ecosystem.
Today, FOODICS is an end-to-end restaurant management and fintech ecosystem that empowers F&B owners and merchants to run their operations more seamlessly and efficiently, thereby fast-tracking their own business growth in the process. With more than 350 employees, it has grown from its Al Khobar beginnings to eight offices spanning Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the Netherlands.
SaaS from MENA
Formally licensed as a fintech company by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), FOODICS has processed over 5 billion orders through the platform, making it one of the most promising SaaS companies to emerge from the MENA region.
Earlier this year, FOODICS made its first acquisition with the full ownership of POSRocket, the second-largest restaurant cloud technology provider in MENA, with further M&A activities and international expansion moves are planned to countries in the APAC region.
Hubpay
Year founded: 2019
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
Known as the cross-border wallet in MENAP that facilitates the process of money transfers on a domestic and international level, Hubpay was founded by Kevin Kilty and is the first startup to be licensed in the UAE for digital money services.
With offices in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Karachi and London, Hubpay is the first start-up to receive a full Category 3c license in the UAE and holds In-Principle Approval for an EMI license in Pakistan. Hubpay offers a digital solution to customers looking to send money both domestically and internationally at low to zero cost.
In early 2022, Hubpay raised $20m in Series A funding, led by Signal Peak Ventures and went on to become the first fintech to hold an EMI license in both the UAE and Pakistan. The round was led by Signal Peak Ventures, Olive Tree Capital and BECO Capital, supported by early-stage backers Aditum, Emkan Capital and Stormbreaker.
As part of its strategy, Hubpay has been included in the Visa Fast Track programme, allowing it to further scale the business and leverage Visa’s payment infrastructure. A fintech with a focus on inclusion, Hubpay’s remittance cost is zero and aligns with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals which have mandated for global remittances to be priced at less than 3 percent.
Hubpay plans to expand into new markets across Asia and Africa and to offer financial products to remittance receivers.
InstaShop
Year founded: 2015
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: e-commerce
A leading online grocery marketplace, InstaShop is a home-grown marketplace on-demand delivery app that was launched in Dubai as a grocery delivery app.
Today, InstaShop has evolved and transitioned to include multiple local retailers including pet shops, butcheries, pharmacies, and more, to become a one-stop-shop solution for all grocery and household/personal items.
Providing convenience and ease for its users, the platform has become the MENA region’s on-demand grocery delivery market of choice. Present in the UAE, Qatar, Egypt, Greece, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, InstaShop promises to deliver groceries to your doorstep in around 30 or 60 minutes’ time, depending on your location.
Creating companies
Founded by CEO John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki, Tsioris had previously set up Philips’ marketing intelligence department in the Middle East and Turkey. Well-versed at setting up startups, Instashop is Tsioris’ second venture as he has also founded Vound, a social network application. With a diploma in engineering as well as an MScBA in General Management, Tsioris has been the recipient of several accolades for being behind some of the Arab region’s most promising startups.
An acquisition by Delivery Hero
As InstaShop’s business model had proven to be scalable and economically successful, in 2020, Delivery Hero, which is headquartered in Berlin, acquired all of the outstanding shares of InstaShop based on a valuation of $360m. The acquisition marked Delivery Hero’s quest to pioneer q-commerce, the next generation of e-commerce.
Pushing the standards for speed and convenience, while InstaShop continues to operate as an independent brand under the current leadership, joining Delivery Hero helps facilitate global expansion and scale of growth. With a strong presence in 39 out of 44 countries in which it is operating across Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, Delivery Hero also operates its own delivery service in more than 600 cities around the globe.
iWire Group
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Technology
The brainchild of Ahmed Fasih Akhtar, Vyomesh Thakker, and Firoz Karumannil, iWire is an IoT communications service provider that builds communication infrastructures with IoT solutions for logistics service providers, smart facilities, utility companies, and smart cities.
Steered by a strategy to develop IoT products for sale through global distribution channels, iWire seeks out its own networks, in multiple territories, to build economies-of-scale into its own operation.
Enhancing the quality of life through innovation, other specialities of iWire include big data, AI, digital transformation, smart city, robotic process automation, machine learning and connected world.
Providing smart solutions
With operations across 10 countries, including India, KSA, Algeria, Kuwait, Turkey, and Africa, just some of iWire’s UAE-based customers include RTA, Abu Dhabi Ports, Michelin, Total, the Dubai government and DP World. iWire has secured total funding for $47m from investors including Future Technology, Seed Investors, Noor Capital, and Bpifrance.
iWire Group includes iWire Connect, the exclusive Sigfox operator that is a global service provider for the Internet of Things (IoT) which has built a global network to connect billions of devices to the internet while consuming as little energy as possible.
JustClean
Year founded: 2016
Headquarters: Kuwait
Industry: Services
Founded as an on-demand laundry marketplace application in Kuwait by brothers Athbi and Nouri Al Enezi, Justclean has transitioned from being a marketplace application for laundry services to becoming a holistic ecosystem solution for laundry services.
The company is three businesses in one, namely a marketplace application; a logistics operation; and a SaaS business. Originally under the brand name MASBAGTI, the company attracted an $8m Series A round of financing in February 2019 by Faith Capital Holding, the Kuwait-based venture capital fund.
The funding enabled Justclean to implement its growth plans across the GCC region, while also expanding the logistics and SaaS arms of the business.
Expansion plans
Justclean is among the first to digitise the cleaning industry service and recently announced it has raised $6m led by Gulf Investment Corporation (GIC) with the participation of regional investors in March 2022. The capital boost will enable Justclean to accelerate its growth plans within the GCC, where it has become the leading cleaning marketplace app.
The fresh round of investment coincides with the launch of a new car wash proposition, offering the service to car owners at home or in stations in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and recently in KSA.
Kitopi
Year founded: 2018
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Hospitality
Kitopi stands for Kitchen Operation Innovations, and is an interconnected network of smart cloud kitchens that manages the details related to the brand’s delivery orders. This enables its clients the time to focus on managing their internal business operations while working on a revenue-share basis.
Kitopi is the third Middle Eastern unicorn company and the first Middle Eastern company to receive investment from SoftBank reported at more than $1bn, making it the fastest unicorn in the Middle East, also joined by other leading growth investors, including Nordstar, Next Play Capital and Dogus Group.
What makes the Kitopi platform unique is that they have developed an in-house suite of applications, known as Smart Kitchen Operating System, or SKOS. A custom-built technology, this optimises all aspects of kitchen operations in real-time to maximise efficiency and increase utilisation.
The history of Kitopi
The original co-founder of BMB Group, one of the largest confectionery businesses in the Middle East, Mohamad Ballout later moved on to launch Ripples Capital in June 2016 where he forayed into the concept of incubation and the idea of virtual brands. This exposure to the startup world became the impetus for Ballout to launch Kitopi in 2018 for F&B brands to scale rapidly, but with reduced startup cost.
Now operating a network of over 60 cloud kitchens in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, this cloud kitchen platform has also announced it will establish its presence in Singapore and Malaysia in the second half of the year.
The company, which initially focused on on-demand food delivery, has now expanded its offerings to include meal plans and dine-in concepts. Kitopi’s growth strategy has also seen it invest in several leading food companies. It plans to invest up to $1bn in the next two years to develop and expand a network of the best local, regional and international brands that have synergy with its operating platform.
Namshi
Year founded: 2011
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: e-commerce
Founded by Hisham Zarka, Hosam Arab, Louis Lebbos, Muhammed Mekki and Faraz Khalid, Namshi was one of the ventures of Rocket Internet in the region. A little after one year, both Lebbos and Mekki left Namshi to launch Astrolabs, a capability building company committed to strengthening the digital ecosystem in the MENA region.
In 2017, Emaar Malls bought a 51 percent stake in Namshi for $151m in May 2017, with GFG, a company backed by Germany’s Rocket Internet, retaining the 49 percent stake. Namshi recorded sales of $116m for Q2 2021 which was 65 percent higher than Q1 2021, and recorded online sales of $186m in the first half of 2021.
The appeal for Gen Z
Offering a unique online retail experience for the Middle East, Namshi now has a presence in KSA, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, in addition to its home turf UAE. It generates its largest amount of e-commerce net sales in the UAE, with KSA holding the second-largest share of its e-commerce net sales.
Namshi achieves the greatest part of its e-commerce net sales in the fashion category. Providing a completely unique online retail experience for the Middle East, Namshi appeals to the 20-something customers for its affordable, accessible product selection and convenience of a seamless end-to-end digital purchase.
Nana
Year founded: 2016
Headquarters: KSA
Industry: e-commerce
Riyadh-headquartered Nana, launched by co-founders Sami Alhelwah, Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Bakr Elsherif, and Ahmed Alsamani, is an e-grocery marketplace that delivers groceries and other essential products to businesses and homes across 18 cities in KSA with plans to serve all cities in KSA soon.
With a business model based on the sharing economy, Nana has three apps that work in tandem; one for grocery shoppers on both Android and Apple; the second app for online store owners who can regulate product sales; and the app for the delivery team who delivers the orders to the customer.
Investments for expansion
Across the span of five years, the online marketplace raised $28.9m and officially launched its dark store in September 2020 covering Riyadh, and expanded its operations across KSA and Egypt.
Investors included venture capital fund STV, Saudi Venture Capital Company, MEVP, Wamda Capital, Watar Partners, amongst others.
Recently, Google Cloud announced a collaboration with Nana Direct, whose online grocery shopping experience is completely powered by Google Cloud. Running the entire IT back-end on Google Cloud allows Nana to grow and scale its business as the platform aims to expand in the kingdom.
Noon
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: e-commerce
A home-grown tech platform, noon has rapidly built capabilities in its marketplace, logistics, and payment platforms and was co-founded by Emirati billionaire Mohamed Alabbar and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Providing a platform for the UAE’s local businesses, the long-term objective of noon is to streamline digital processes and make the Middle East digitally self-sufficient.
The e-commerce giant now includes: noon.com, the e-commerce platform and digital marketplace delivering to customers in UAE, KSA, and Egypt; noon Grocery which offers all produce, kitchen and household items in KSA and the UAE.
Noon NowNow is an on-demand platform giving customers access to stores and services in their local neighbourhood; SIVVI, a fashion portal; noon Food, a restaurant-first platform on the noon app, operating flexibility for the food and beverage industry in the Middle East, while noon VIP is a lifestyle rewards programme.
KSA expansion plans
As noon looks to tap further into the kingdom’s growing e-commerce market, in March 2022, noon launched its largest warehouse space in Riyadh. Spanning more than 45,000 sq m, the new customer fulfilment centre will cater to the delivery needs of millions of customers throughout KSA and is part of the company’s strategy to expand its operations in the kingdom.
Nymcard
Year founded: 2018
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
A foundational fintech company focused on the Middle East and Africa region and co-founded by serial entrepreneur Omar Onsi and Ayman Chalhoub, NymCard is a cloud-based issuer processor that enables banks, financial institutions, and fintechs to build plastic card and virtual card programmes for their customers.
Previously, if an institution in the region needed to issue a payment card, it would have to endure the lengthy process of seeking out a BIN sponsor such as Mastercard or Visa, as well as a processor. NymCard helps simplify the process by providing the building blocks to fintechs to help them build their card programmes without the inconvenience of card issuing.
NymCard is the only BaaS provider based in the Middle East offering an innovative payment issuing and processing platform that enables fintechs, large enterprises, startups, and banks in the MENA region to instantly create, manage, and distribute physical or virtual cards using their fully public API platform in a timeframe of less than eight weeks.
Several of the MENA region’s most innovative financial institutions are currently being supported by NymCard for services that include multi-currency, money transfers, gig economy, on-demand delivery services, corporate expense cards, youth banking applications, and buy now pay later (BNPL) offerings.
In June 2022, Mastercard certified NymCard as a principal Mastercard issuer in the UAE, a watershed moment as it marks the first time a UAE-based fintech is licensed to issue cards by Mastercard.
Venture investments
Aimed at supporting the region’s fintech ecosystem, in June 2022, NymCard raised $22.5m in its latest funding round. In addition to other investors, the venture round was led by DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform; Reciprocal Ventures; and Shorooq Partners with participation from Chimera, DFDF, Knollwood, Endeavor Catalyst, and OTF Jasoor Ventures.
This takes NymCard’s total funding to more than $35m and the capital will help it further enable MENA-based fintechs with the infrastructure required from card issuing, BIN sponsorship, treasury, programme management, compliance, FX, and treasury.
Paytabs
Year founded: 2014
Headquarters: KSA
Industry: Finance
Set up by Saudi entrepreneur Abdulaziz Fahad Al Jouf, MENA’s payment processing powerhouse PayTabs was launched in Saudi Arabia as the first home-grown company to provide seamless B2B e-commerce solutions to SMEs.
Supported by private Saudi investment, as a fintech enabler for the region, PayTabs’ goal is to simplify and orchestrate a unified payments experience and value for key players in MENA and beyond.
By launching PayTabs SwitchOn, the real-time, integrated, turnkey platform, PayTabs launched its globally validated unified payments and transaction processing service.
Its architecture is designed to ensure a unique payment orchestration capability, allowing clients from multiple industries and scale to maximise benefits while in conjunction with the legacy systems. From the card and wallet management system to the Unified APM Gateway and passing by the various value-added modules, clients can select what best fits their needs.
PayTabs’ experts will ensure the right deployment mode is provided, either it is a hosted managed service, on-premises, or hybrid. PayTabs also provides custom fit white-label solutions.
PayTabs SwitchOn solution for omni-channel payments provide answers to the growing demand for solutions that are compliant with the data localisation directives and regulations for each country of operation.
Postpay
Year founded: 2019
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
Founded in 2019 by Tariq Sheikh, Postpay is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider that offers shoppers the option to pay in three monthly installments at their partner stores with no interest or fees. Postpay works with hundreds of leading global brands, including H&M, Footlocker, Dermalogica and regional merchants such as the Entertainer, Kcal and Squat Wolf.
While Postpay shift costs to retailers as a premium payment gateway, its solution increases conversion rates up to 30 percent and reduces return rates by over 25 percent, all with no added risk for retailers as they get settled up front on a weekly basis.
Partnership with CBI
Last year, Postpay closed a $10m pre-series A funding round, led by Afterpay Touch ventures. Most recently, in February 2022, Postpay partnered with Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) who will support to Postpay in several ways, including debt funding, transaction banking, and e-commerce solutions.
Postpay’s planned expansion in the UAE, KSA, and other GCC countries will be fuelled by the continued support from CBD. The financing facility helps solidify Postpay’s place as the region’s leading BNPL firm with the most diverse range of brands. Further, it supports their promise to create a seamless payment journey for consumers and to provide greater financial flexibility both online and in-store across the region.
Pure Harvest Smart Farms
Year founded: 2016
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Agriculture
UAE-based Pure Harvest Smart Farms, the tech-enabled agribusiness, is a regional innovator in sustainable agriculture focused on the production of greenhouse fruits and vegetables using world-leading Dutch greenhouse growing technologies.
Sustainably-grown, premium quality, local fresh produce, Pure Harvest uses controlled environment agriculture technology to produce fruits and vegetables in high-tech greenhouse facilities. Its high-tech greenhouses provide precise climate and environmental controls, enabling increased productivity and reduced waste (including water, energy and time). Pure Harvest also pack their own produce, immediately cooling fresh-picked produce to extend shelf life.
Founded by Mahmoud Adi and Sky Kurtz, a former technology private equity investor turned serial entrepreneur who had also served as a divisional CEO at Pultron Composites.
Pure Harvest Smart Farms received seed funding in 2017, and in March 2018 it began constructing its first high-tech greenhouse in Abu Dhabi. In April 2020, Pure Harvest announced a Series A funding round of $110m led by Wafra International Investment Company.
Pure Harvest Smart Farms alliance with Al Dahra Group
In June 2022, Pure Harvest acquired Baywa’s controlling interest in the Al Dahra Baywa joint venture, which currently operates a large-scale, 11-hectare high-tech controlled-environment agriculture production facility in Abu Dhabi. The Al Dahra Baywa project was an early and important contribution to the UAE’s food security and sustainability objectives.
This transaction represents the largest investment to-date in the fast-emerging GCC controlled-environment agriculture ecosystem. The newly formed Pure Harvest Al Dahra joint venture partnership increases Pure Harvest Smart Farms’ total operating capacity under management to over 22 hectares (54 acres).
Further, Pure Harvest and Al Dahra will invest additional capital to enhance the farm’s capabilities, as well as expand its production capability into new crops to serve consumers.
Quiqup
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Transport
An on-demand delivery service which has changed the way in which companies and consumers connect to local retailers and restaurants, Quiqup was founded in 2014 by Bassel El Koussa, Federico Ferraro, Rami Idriss, Danny Hawkins, and Tim Linssenand in London, with co-founder El Koussa as CEO.
Available as a smartphone app, on both iOS and Android, and a web platform, this q-commerce technology startup enables e-commerce businesses, from SMEs to enterprise organisations, with reliable and convenient last-mile logistics services.
It was launched in 2017 in Dubai, and in early 2019, Quiqup closed its UK operations and is now operating only in the UAE, with plans to expand business across the GCC. Quiqup have disrupted the last-mile delivery with a 60-minute q-commerce experience, and with their pay-as-you-go model which charges businesses for every order delivered. With a fleet of over 3,000 couriers serving more than 800 businesses using its services, Quiqup’s partner restaurants can book an on-demand courier to deliver food within 60 minutes.
Funding from Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF)
In 2020, Quiqup raised over $5.5m in a funding round which was led by Delivery Hero and supported by strategic shareholders Cedar Mundi, JOBI Capital and Transmed; capital that was used to further expand the company’s AI-driven logistics infrastructure.
More recently, The Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF), an initiative launched by the UAE Ministry of Finance to support innovation in the UAE, has provided a guarantee for a loan worth $1.36m to Quiqup. The business is at the forefront of the next generation of mobility of goods and services in urban cities, helping to accelerate the UAE to become the fastest q-commerce economy in the world.
As MBRIF supports the tech and innovation ecosystem, this enables Quiqup to access affordable debt finance to continuously invest in research and development as the company aims to expand across the region.
Retailo
Year founded: 2020
Headquarters: KSA
Industry: e-commerce
A B2B e-commerce platform co-founded by former Careem executives, Talha Ansari, Wahaj Ahmed and Mohammad Nowkhaiz, Retailo launched simultaneously in both KSA and Pakistan. Launched at the peak of the Covid pandemic, Retailo is a startup that digitises retail supply chains for SME retailers.
With a fleet of approximately 200 vehicles serving 50,000 retailers, the company has a nearly 200,000 sq m of warehousing space. Retailo has expanded its operations in Saudi Arabia, UAE and Pakistan and is looking to digitise the region’s retail shops by providing a one-stop portal to order all their products at better margins.
Funding for expansion
Retailo raised $9m in just nine months before securing $36m to help fund its effort to digitise shops in Pakistan, the UAE and its home country of Saudi Arabia. The Series A round was led by Silicon Valley’s Graphene Ventures, an early-stage investor in Snap and Lyft. Later, it raised $29m in equity and $7m in debt.
Investors in the round include 500 Global, Agility Ventures, Aujan Group, Tech Invest Com and Mentor’s Fund, all of whom have exposure in the retail industry’s technology companies. The debt was raised from Nahda Fund, one of the Middle East’s first venture debt funds, backed by Hong Kong-based IMM Investment Global.
Sarwa
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
Launched in February 2018 by CEO Mark Chahwan and co-founder Nadine Mezher, Dubai-based startup Sarwa is the first hybrid automated investment platform in the region. By combining proven investment strategies with technology that drives down costs and the guidance of financial experts, Sarwa users can build customised portfolios of low-cost index funds, which are a type of mutual fund or exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Easy to use and accessible to everyone
With more than 50,000 registered users, Sarwa’s features make it easy and convenient for users to set up and open their accounts online in less than 10 minutes and auto-deposits to reinvest dividends and allocate new funds into the account.
Supported by key investors including the Mubadala Investment Company and 500 Startups, Sarwa launched Sarwa Trade, a self-directed zero-commission platform for the purchase and selling of more than 4,000 publicly traded stocks and ETFs listed on major US exchanges.
Some of Sarwa’s unique features include simple sign-ups, auto-depositing, reinvesting dividends, smart rebalancing, tax optimisation, as well as human advisors available on-demand to help you plan your financial future and answer your questions.
Sarwa raises $15m in funding
In August 2021, Sarwa raised $15m in a Series B round. And now with over 40,000 registered users, the support of the community, and their expert team, Sarwa continues to push forward on its mission: smart investing made easy, accessible to all regardless of their background, age, or net worth.
The Series B round was led by Mubadala Investment Company with 500 Startups, Kuwait Projects Company, Shorooq Partners, Middle East Venture Partners, DIFC, Hambro Perks Oryx Fund, HALA Ventures, and Vision Ventures also participating. The Sarwa team plans to reach more people, grow their team, and launch several new products to address all aspects of personal finance with this capital.
Selfologi
Year founded: 2021
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Wellness
A digital platform where users can discover, learn about, and book cosmetic treatments, selfologi was founded by Tamer Wali in Q3 of 2021. With Rob Pye as the CEO of selfologi, the platform will enable a new way for consumers to learn about, understand, book, and have access to user-generated ratings and reviews to compare clinics and practitioners.
An intuitive and adaptive search engine to guide consumers towards the best practitioners and clinics, users can directly search for specific treatments on the website, according to location, clinic, treatment, devices, or price. With every clinic and practitioner thoroughly screened, selfologi brings cosmetic treatments into the e-commerce realm, and as a result, has been recognised as a key player in the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Curated by the company’s professionals in Arabic and English, users are able to compare multiple practitioners from clinics around the UAE, select from thousands of treatments, and book directly on the site.
Investment round
Currently operating in the UAE and KSA with plans for global expansion, in a round led by angel investor Wali in participation with Xenel International group, selfologi raised $17.5m investment which has enabled the company to scale up its services, improve its technology and create original content.
Souqalmal
Year founded: 2012
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
Founded by CEO Ambareen Musa, Souqalmal helps find the financial product best suited to their needs as the consumer portal allows customers to do their homework using up-to-date, unbiased information.
With a vision to create a highly transparent marketplace, empowering MENA consumers to make the right choice by bringing all the latest details to compare in one place more than 3,200 retail banking, telecoms, insurance and education products offered by various providers in the UAE and KSA.
In 2021, Souqalmal launched the first corporate financial education programme for employees last year through its financial education MoneyDoctor Programme.
SHUAA Capital acquires majority stake
Dubai-based investment bank and asset manager SHUAA Capital has acquired a majority stake in financial comparison platform Souqalmal. While the size of the stake hasn’t been disclosed, Souqalmal plans to make use of the investment to execute a growth plan over the next 24 months.
Following the investment, SHUAA joins existing strategic investors Riyad Capital and UK comparison website GoCompare, which remain as shareholders in Souqalmal. CEO Musa will continue to lead the enterprise and oversee the expansion of its services.
Starzplay
Year founded: 2014
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Media
Considered as the UAE’s own localised Netflix, Starzplay Arabia – co-founded by Maaz Sheikh, Danny Bates, Khaled Benchouche, and Karin Baggstrom – is a subscription video-on-demand streaming service.
With movies, documentaries, TV shows, and Arabic content streamed in four languages across the MENA region and Pakistan, Starzplay Arabia has over 1.8 million subscribers. Partnering with global studios including Warner Bros, Universal, Discovery, 20th Century Studios, and more, Starzplay raised over $125m in funding from Lionsgate, State Street Capital Group, and SEQ Capital and secured its first independent debt financing of $25m from Abu Dhabi-based Ruya Partners in 2021.
Starzplay moves HQ
In June 2021, Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) inked a deal with Starzplay to establish the company’s headquarters in the UAE capital. The partnership is part of ADIO’s $545m Innovation Programme, an initiative of the Abu Dhabi government’s Ghadan 21 accelerator programme.
Building on existing cooperation with entities such as Abu Dhabi Media, twofour54 and Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Starzplay will partner with local production houses and animation studios to produce compelling original content, especially relevant for the region’s largest demographic, the 200 million Arab youth.
Swvl
Year founded: 2017
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Transport
Founded in 2017 in Cairo, Egypt and now headquartered in Dubai, Swvl is a bus transport app that bridges the gap between mass transit and ride-hailing and enables commuters to reserve seats on private buses functioning on fixed routes and using its mobile app, pay the fares. Prior to its launch, the Swvl CEO Mostafa Kandil had embarked upon a car classifieds platform Carmudi in the Philippines, and also held the role of head of operations in Rocket Internet.
He founded Swvl with Mahmoud Nouh and Ahmed Sabbah as a bus-hailing service in Egypt and other ride-sharing services in emerging markets. And today, Swvl spans across over 100 cities in over 20 countries, providing intracity, intercity, business to government and business-to-business transport. The company has ambitious plans to expand to multiple countries including the US, South Africa, Peru, Mexico, Columbia, and South Africa.
Global expansion plans
Disrupting the mass transportation sector, Svwl acquired Shotl, a Spanish Uber-like service for bus and van operators which enabled its foray into Europe and Brazil.
Prior to this, the company also purchased a controlling stake in Viapool, a South American firm which gave the company access to Chile and Argentina. Swvl also acquired door2door, a European high-growth mobility platform from Germany.
And most recently, as part of the company’s ambitious expansion plans, agreed to acquire Volt Lines, a Turkish transportation-as-a-service operator. Recently, Swvl became the second Arab technology company to be listed on Nasdaq following Anghami. This follows from the approval of a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Queen’s Gambit Growth Capital, the first blank-cheque company led entirely by women.
In May 2022, Swvl announced plans to reduce employees by 32 percent as part of efforts to turn cash flow positive by 2023. The reductions will focus on roles that have been automated by investments in engineering and product and support functions, the company said.
Tabby
Year founded: 2019
Headquarters: KSA
Industry: Finance
A buy now, pay later platform (BNPL)co-founded by CEO Hosam Arab and Daniil Barkalov, Tabby provides solutions to over 1 million active shoppers across both KSA and the UAE.
With over 4,000 global brands including, H&M, SHEIN, Adidas and Bloomingdale’s, customers can enjoy Tabby’s technology and at the same time providing brands gain loyal customers by offering flexi-payments, both online and in stores.
After Tabby’s platform went live in February 2020, the app allows shoppers to split their purchases into four interest-free payments.
Empowering shoppers with the financial freedom to access items they need while allowing them to maintain financial control, Tabby has released new figures showcasing record-high user engagement, driving 26 million clicks to retail partners in the last year. Currently ranked among the top 10 shopping apps on the App Store in the UAE and KSA, 500,000 shoppers are installing the app every month.
It is used by 2 million active shoppers, driving 3.5 million clicks every month to thousands of its retailers, and is ranked among the top 10 shopping apps in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It has partnered with seven of the 10 largest retail groups in the GCC, more than any other regional BNPL player.
Financing growth
In 2021, Tabby received $50m in an equity round which valued the company at $300m and was led by Global Founders Capital and STV with participation from Delivery Hero, CCVA and other investors.
The financing was used to expand Tabby’s product portfolio and enter a number of new markets. More recently in 2022, Tabby announced that it has extended its Series B capital raise by $54m in a round led by Sequoia Capital India and STV, with additional participation from investors Arbor Ventures, Mubadala Investment Capital and Global Founders Capital (GFC).
Talabat
Year founded: 2004
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Transport
Founded by Kuwaiti nationals Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Mohammed Jaffar and Khaled Al Otaibi, talabat has evolved to become the largest online food ordering platform in the Middle East. What started as an ambitious idea is now the leading food delivery company in the UAE and in 2015, German-based e-commerce company Rocket Internet acquired talabat for $170m, which was at the time the largest technology exit in the MENA region.
Later, in December 2016, German company Delivery Hero acquired part of Rocket Internet’s food delivery business which included talabat. A leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, Delivery Hero operates in over 40 countries across the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Latin America, as well as partners with over 500,000 restaurants.
Diversifying its offerings
As the region’s largest food delivery and grocery platform, operating in seven different countries throughout the GCC, including the UAE, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman, talabat has evolved to include more products, including groceries, flowers, pharmaceuticals deliveries and more to its product roster. It has also launched its q-commerce store, talabat Mart, which delivers in 30 minutes or less.
And in April 2022, it launched talabat pro in the UAE, a subscription service that provides customers with access to benefits that include savings on delivery fees and double earnings in reward points on qualifying orders.
Talabat is present across all seven emirates in the UAE, providing more than 17,000 restaurant partners on its platform with a tech solution to enhance their online reach. It was the first online food delivery platform to expand its operations to Zayed City, Al Dhafra region in Abu Dhabi in the first half of 2021.
Tarjama
Year founded: 2008
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Services
Supporting over 450 language pairs including Asian, African, and European, and with contracted female translators, writers, and editors of all educational backgrounds, certified translation agency Tarjama is a one-stop shop for all things content.
Tarjama was originally established in Jordan. At that time, with a lack of quality translation and large content volumes that required translation, founder Nour Al Hassan went on to launch Tarjama as a small agency, with a team of women who worked remotely.
And now the MENA’s leading provider of smart language solutions today, Tarjama has evolved into a tech-enabled business that can deliver customised high volume, high-quality content in with an AI-powered platform. Along the entire translation life cycle, Tarjama empowers its talents to manage translations at a bigger scale.
With a presence in more than 20 countries, Tarjama boasts an extensive network of 35,000 linguistic talents as well as subject matter experts. It also owns Ureed, a home-grown freelance services marketplace for content and translation services launched in 2017 and with a 55 percent female workforce Since 2017, Ureed.com has more doubled in size, with a network of freelancers that exceeds 100,000 professionals and spans 207 countries.
Yallacompare
Year founded: 2011
Headquarters: UAE
Industry: Finance
Founded as Compareit4me in 2011 by Jon Richards and Samer Chehab, Yallacompare is currently active in the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and Jordan.
Yallacompare is the leading finance comparison site in the Middle East, helping users to find and compare credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, car loans, insurance and bank accounts from a diverse range of local and international banks and financial institutions.
A completely free service for its users, Yallacompare provides up-to-date product information and access two promotions not otherwise available to the general public. Since its launch, Yallacompare accounts for more than 75 percent of online insurance transactions in the UAE.
Investment from Kuwaiti Gulf Insurance Group
In 2020, Yallacompare raised $4.25m of fresh capital from Kuwaiti-listed Gulf Insurance Group, one of the largest and most diversified insurance groups in the MENA region. GIG is one of the leading private insurers (by gross premiums written) with a strong competitive market position in Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, and Jordan. Since its launch in 2011, the insurance aggregator is active in Kuwait and Egypt and has also increased its market share with its partnerships with Etisalat, National Bonds, Smart Dubai, and others.
Enhancing the insurance market
In March, yallacompare launched an exclusive 24/7 personal accident extension, which is an extra-value benefit included with all motor insurance plans, providing worldwide coverage for accidents that occur outside the owner’s vehicle.
The cover extends to protect customers against any unforeseen injuries sustained from accidents when travelling on private and public transport, in the home, in public or when travelling abroad.
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