🎧 Podcast🎧 Podcast
VC React Podcast (Episode #33)

VC React Podcast (Episode #33)

Four moves that speak to a maturing ecosystem — from a pre-IPO restructure and SME fintech, to infra for private markets and a rare outbound acquisition from the Gulf.

Jamie Lane
🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up
Saudi’s IPO pipeline and $100M venture debt push

Saudi’s IPO pipeline and $100M venture debt push

STV launches $100 million venture debt fund, iMENA raises $135M in pre-IPO round, and Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens eyes IPO for Middle East unit, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane, +1
📰 News📰 News
Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens eyes IPO for Middle East unit

Travis Kalanick’s CloudKitchens eyes IPO for Middle East unit

Backed by Saudi Arabia’s PIF since a $400M investment in 2019, the ghost kitchen company operates under the KitchenPark brand in the UAE, Saudi, and Kuwait.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
UAE-based Fuze raises $12.2 million Series A from Galaxy and e& Capital to scale its digital assets infrastructure

UAE-based Fuze raises $12.2 million Series A from Galaxy and e& Capital to scale its digital assets infrastructure

Founded in 2023 by Mo Ali Yusuf (CEO), Arpit Mehta (COO), and Srijan R Shetty (CTO), Fuze enables banks, fintechs, and enterprises to embed regulated crypto and stablecoin products through its Digital Assets-as-a-Service platform.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
Saudi-based STV launches $100 million non-dilutive capital fund in partnership with SAB Invest and NTDP

Saudi-based STV launches $100 million non-dilutive capital fund in partnership with SAB Invest and NTDP

The fund uses a Sharia-compliant structure called Non-Dilutive Investment in Callable Equity (NICE) to offer growth-stage startups capital without giving up equity.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
iMENA Holding raises $135M and restructures as Saudi company ahead of IPO

iMENA Holding raises $135M and restructures as Saudi company ahead of IPO

The round was backed by Sanabil Investments (Public Investment Fund), FJ Labs, Saygin Yalcin (Founder of SellAnyCar.com), and several prominent Saudi investors.

Jamie Lane
🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview
+1+1
Investing in MENA+ founders in the diaspora

Investing in MENA+ founders in the diaspora

The mechanics of how to build a high-performing syndicate, why values alignment is a competitive moat, and the MENA+ diasporic founders you should know.

Jamie Lane, +1
🎧 Podcast🎧 Podcast
VC React Podcast (Episode #32)

VC React Podcast (Episode #32)

A dealmaking trifecta that cuts across edtech, crypto, and venture strategy — from the first signs of an M&A path in Arabic learning, to one of the largest token collapses MENA’s seen this year, to a global VC fund leaning into replication across emerging markets.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
From the Gulf to the UK

From the Gulf to the UK

Calo absorbs Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen in UK launch, Fluent Ventures announces $40M fund to back emerging market founders, Rebel Foods raises $25M from QIA at $1.4B valuation plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane, +1
📰 News📰 News
Fluent Ventures announces $40M fund to back emerging market founders rebuilding proven models for local markets

Fluent Ventures announces $40M fund to back emerging market founders rebuilding proven models for local markets

Led by Alexandre Lazarow, the San Francisco-based firm is active across MENA, Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
Calo absorbs Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen in UK launch

Calo absorbs Fresh Fitness Food and Detox Kitchen in UK launch

The move marks Calo’s first expansion beyond the Gulf and sets the stage for broader European growth.

Jamie Lane
🎙️ Interview🎙️ Interview
+2+2
Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

Rewiring B2B finance in Pakistan and beyond

What it means to build in a market where volatility isn’t a risk – it’s a cyclical certainty, why going top-down beats direct-to-MSME, and how you build real moats in enterprise fintech — not with UX, but with trust, switching friction, and time.

Jamie Lane, +1
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