FWDStart

Past Editions

🎧 Podcast🎧 Podcast

Feb 10, 2025

VC React Podcast (Episode #24)

Saudi fintech and building AI agents for MENA

Jamie Lane

🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up

Feb 07, 2025

Qatar’s $1 billion Fund of Funds backs its first VC

Dubai-based AI agent startup secures $10M Seed, Egypt’s Khazna raises $16M for its financial super app, SVC reports $1 billion invested across 54 funds, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane, +1

🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview

+1+1

Feb 05, 2025

Building agentic AI for Arabic dialects

Why it's so difficult, the benefits of offering LLM flexibility, and how AI is changing the enterprise pricing model.

Jamie Lane, +1

🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up

Jan 31, 2025

Saudi startup Lendo secures $690M facility

UAE biotech BioSapien extends pre-Series A to $7M for cancer treatment platform, STC Bank secures approval to operate as a digital bank in Saudi, plus a round-up of this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news.

Jamie Lane, +1

🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview

+1+1

Jan 29, 2025

Growing vegetables in the Saudi desert

Saudi Arabia’s reliance on food imports for 90% of its fresh produce is a problem. This startup thinks it has the food security solution.

Jamie Lane, +1

🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up

Jan 24, 2025

MENA's new early growth-stage fund

Saudi rent-now, pay-later firm Rize closes $35M, Egyptian payment orchestration platform MoneyHash raises $5.2 million pre-Series A for MEA expansion, plus a round-up of this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news.

Jamie Lane, +1

🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview

+1+1

Jan 22, 2025

Scaling and exiting MENA's top cloud kitchen

How an $80M Series B led to a strategic acquisition, the realities of navigating an exit, and starting fresh as a second-time founder.

Jamie Lane, +1

🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up

Jan 17, 2025

Transforming job hunting in Palestine

Abu Dhabi’s ADQ offers to buy Aramex at $1.2 billion valuation, Dubai-based Sigma Capital launches $100M fund, and a round-up of this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news.

Jamie Lane, +1

🔍 Deep-dives🔍 Deep-dives

Jan 15, 2025

The Future of FWDstart

Building in public, introducing eight new premium deep-dive formats, and sharing our vision for future coverage and analysis

Jamie Lane, +1

🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up

Jan 10, 2025

MENA's first tech IPO of 2025

Nice One surges 30% on Tadawul public market debut, Zension raises $30 million series A, an exclusive interview, and a round-up of this week's MENA startup, VC, and tech news.

Jamie Lane, +1

🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview

Jan 09, 2025

How MilkStraw AI is redefining cloud optimisation

MilkStraw AI just raised a $600k pre-seed round. We sat down with CEO Jawad Shreim to learn more about the problem they're solving, what makes them different, their business model, and their vision for the future.

Jamie Lane

🔍 Deep-dives🔍 Deep-dives

Jan 08, 2025

MENA tech predictions for 2025

Saudi IPOs, more growth-stage funding from international investors, and AI everywhere – plus insights from four regional VCs.

Jamie Lane, +1

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