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🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up
Saudi’s AI ambition goes full-stack
May 16, 2025

Saudi’s AI ambition goes full-stack

STV launches $100M AI fund backed by Google, Egypt’s proptech Nawy secures $75M to scale, and nsave opens access to secure financial accounts for Syrians, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane, +1
📰 News📰 News
WakeCap raises $28M Series A to expand AI-powered construction intelligence platform globally
May 15, 2025

WakeCap raises $28M Series A to expand AI-powered construction intelligence platform globally

Founded in 2017 by Dr. Hassan Albalawi, WakeCap has developed an IoT and AI-powered project controls platform that delivers visibility into workforce activity, safety, productivity, and site progress across large-scale infrastructure and development projects.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
YC-backed, London-based nsave opens access to secure financial accounts for Syrian users following sanctions lift
May 15, 2025

YC-backed, London-based nsave opens access to secure financial accounts for Syrian users following sanctions lift

Co-founder and CEO Amer Baroudi called it “the moment I started nsave for,” as the company begins onboarding Syrians via a new waitlist – offering early access to the first 10,000 signups.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
Tala Al-Jabri launches MENA’s first AI-native VC fund, Wyld VC, with $50M to back early-stage AI talent across the region
May 15, 2025

Tala Al-Jabri launches MENA’s first AI-native VC fund, Wyld VC, with $50M to back early-stage AI talent across the region

Backed by the family office of Lawrence E. Golub, the fund will invest in AI middleware and application-layer tools rather than foundation models, with a focus on early-stage startups.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
Egypt’s Nawy secures $75M in equity and debt to scale its full-stack proptech platform across MENA
May 15, 2025

Egypt’s Nawy secures $75M in equity and debt to scale its full-stack proptech platform across MENA

Founded in 2019 by Mohamed Abou Ghanima, Abdel-Azim Osman, Ahmed Rafea, Aly Rafea, and Mostafa El Beltagy, Nawy has evolved from a listings platform into a vertically integrated real estate ecosystem.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
STV launches $100M AI fund backed by Google, marking tech giant’s first VC bet in MENA
May 15, 2025

STV launches $100M AI fund backed by Google, marking tech giant’s first VC bet in MENA

MENA’s largest VC firm, with over $900M in AUM, also recently launched a $100M non-dilutive NICE Fund in partnership with SAB Invest.

Jamie Lane
📰 News📰 News
Saudi Arabia launches HUMAIN to anchor AI leadership, signs landmark deals with NVIDIA, AMD, and AWS
May 15, 2025

Saudi Arabia launches HUMAIN to anchor AI leadership, signs landmark deals with NVIDIA, AMD, and AWS

Its executive team includes former leaders from Microsoft, Nokia, and Groq, and it is closely aligned with SDAIA, the Saudi Data and AI Authority.

Jamie Lane
🔍 Deep-dives🔍 Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers
May 14, 2025

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENA’s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data – and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
🔍 Deep-dives🔍 Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#2)
May 14, 2025

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#2)

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENA’s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data – and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
🔍 Deep-dives🔍 Deep-dives
+1+1
How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#3)
May 14, 2025

How to get (and keep) your first 100 customers (#3)

An 18,000-word playbook drawn from interviews with 7 of MENA’s top post-Series A founders, tackling how to build trust before brand equity, validate before users, retain in transient markets, and know when to follow data – and when to trust your gut.

Jamie Lane, +1
🎧 Podcast🎧 Podcast
VC React Podcast (Episode #34)
May 12, 2025

VC React Podcast (Episode #34)

Two stories that hint at how exits are evolving in the region — from a cybersecurity acquisition that keeps the core team and tech intact, to a surprise IPO push from one of Silicon Valley’s most controversial founders, now looking east.

Jamie Lane
🗞️ Weekly round-up🗞️ Weekly round-up
AI, autonomy, and MENA cybersecurity
May 09, 2025

AI, autonomy, and MENA cybersecurity

A rare MENA cybersecurity startup exit, Money Fellows raises $13M pre-Series C, and Nama Ventures becomes first foreign VC licensed by Saudi CMA, plus this week’s MENA startup, VC, and tech news round-up.

Jamie Lane, +1
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