Author: Editorial Board

Qatar is taking a decisive step to strengthen its entrepreneurial ecosystem and diversify its economy with the launch of a 10-year residency program targeting entrepreneurs and senior executives. The announcement was made on Sunday by H.E. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, signaling a renewed push to attract global talent, foster innovation, and position the country as a long-term base for high-impact founders and business leaders. The move aligns Qatar with similar long-term residency initiatives introduced in recent years by regional peers, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab…

Qatar’s digital payments ecosystem continues to gain momentum as SkipCash closes a $4 million Series A funding round, accelerating its expansion across the GCC and deepening investment in mobile-first payment technologies. The round attracted participation from Qatar Development Bank, Qatar Islamic Insurance Company, KBN Holding Group, Finjan Venture Investments, Ula Capital, and Doha Tech Angels. The investment comes on the back of strong operating momentum, with SkipCash processing over QAR 1 billion in transactions during 2025, underscoring rising adoption of contactless and mobile-based payments across Qatar. Strengthening Qatar’s Smart Payments Infrastructure The new capital reinforces SkipCash’s position as one of…

As food security and climate resilience climb higher on the GCC’s strategic agenda, agri-technology companies are increasingly evaluated not on experimentation, but on their ability to commercialize, scale, and regionalize. That shift helps explain why Hydrovest Technology, a Doha-based climate-smart agriculture company, has secured approximately $275,000 (QAR 1 million) in fresh funding. The capital will be used to scale production, broaden its product portfolio, and prepare for regional expansion beyond Qatar. From Pilot Projects to Commercial Scale The investment marks a pivotal transition for Hydrovest as it moves from pilot deployments toward repeatable, commercial-scale operations. The company plans to allocate…

Saudi-focused wealth creation platform Vennre has secured SAR 36 million ($9.6 million) in a Pre-Series A funding round, reinforcing growing investor confidence in platforms reshaping access to private markets across the MENA region. The round was co-led by Vision Ventures and anb seed Fund, with participation from Sanabil 500, Ace & Co, Plus VC, and a group of strategic angel investors spanning private banking, technology, and entrepreneurship. Targeting the HENRY Opportunity Vennre is purpose-built for HENRYs (High Earners, Not Rich Yet)—a fast-growing segment of professionals who generate strong income but lack access to institutional-grade private investments. By bypassing traditional gatekeepers,…

PayLater has secured $10 million in seed funding, marking one of the largest seed-stage fintech rounds in Qatar to date and reinforcing the country’s growing momentum in regulated financial innovation. The round was led by LuLu Alternative Investments, with strategic participation from Qatar Development Bank and KBN Holding, alongside a group of angel investors. Founded in 2023 by Mohammed Al-Delaimi and Khalifa Saleh Al Haroon, PayLater was built to meet rising demand for regulated, Shari’a-compliant instalment payments. Licensed by the Qatar Central Bank, the company operates as Qatar’s first central bank–licensed Buy Now, Pay Later platform, enabling consumers to split…

Yakeey has closed a record-breaking $15 million Series A, the largest Series A round ever raised in Morocco, marking a major milestone for the country’s proptech and digital infrastructure ecosystem. The round includes a strategic equity investment from Beltone Venture Capital, highlighting the firm’s growing focus on scaling high-impact technology platforms across Africa and the MENA region. The investment reflects rising investor confidence in category-defining startups tackling large, fragmented markets with strong regional expansion potential. Founded to modernise Morocco’s traditionally offline and fragmented real estate sector, Yakeey is building the country’s end-to-end digital infrastructure for property transactions. Its platform brings…

Datatruck has secured $12 million in Series A funding, led by Avenue Growth, doubling down on its mission to replace outdated, broker-first transportation management systems with AI-native software designed exclusively for carriers. For decades, trucking companies have been forced to operate on TMS platforms that were never built for them. While brokers thrived, carriers were left with fragmented data, manual workflows, and profitability insights that arrived weeks too late. Datatruck set out to change that — from the ground up. Built as an AI-first TMS, Datatruck puts real-time financial visibility at the core of carrier operations. Fleet owners can track…

Property Finder, the Middle East’s leading property portal, has announced a fresh $170 million investment led by Mubadala Investment Company, alongside another UAE sovereign wealth fund and BECO Capital. The new capital reinforces Property Finder’s market leadership and underlines its role as a technology innovator in MENA’s fast-growing property classifieds sector. The raise follows a landmark $525 million round in 2025 led by funds advised by Permira, with significant participation from Blackstone Growth—a strong signal of international confidence in the company’s strategy and long-term outlook. In total, Property Finder has now raised nearly $700 million in equity and an additional…

Wio Bank has entered a strategic partnership with global fintech leader Pine Labs to modernise its merchant acquiring infrastructure, reinforcing the UAE’s push toward a fully digital, cashless payments ecosystem. The collaboration will see Wio Bank deploy Credit+, Pine Labs’ modular, API-first acquiring platform, to power its core merchant acquiring operations. Built without reliance on legacy technology, the new infrastructure is designed to enable faster merchant onboarding, real-time settlements, and seamless multi-mode payment acceptance at scale. A Modern, API-First Acquiring Stack Credit+ is engineered for speed, scalability, and configurability. The platform supports intelligent rule-based workflows, data-driven decisioning, and optimisation of…

Juthor has closed a $500,000 pre-seed funding round, signaling growing investor confidence in its vision to solve one of digital retail’s most persistent challenges: fragmented omnichannel operations. The round was backed by Flat6Labs, alongside strategic angel investors Hamdan Alhamdan and Abdulaziz Alyabis, in addition to a wider group of angel backers. One Platform for the Omnichannel Era Juthor is building a unified retail technology platform that enables merchants to manage sales, inventory, and operations across multiple e-commerce channels from a single dashboard. Instead of handling each marketplace separately, retailers gain a centralized view of their entire business. Through the platform,…