⏱️ Around MENA in 60 seconds

1. 🇹🇳 Tunisia: ANAVA by Smart Capital has committed €5 million to Titan Seed Fund I for deep tech startups. Managed by Medin Fund, founded by Noomane El Fehri and Ghazi Ben Othman, the fund aims to back 20 Tunisian startups with a focus on early deep-tech innovations.

2.  🇦🇪UAE: Accredify, a verifiable document issuer, clinched the $100,000 Supernova Challenge prize at Expand North Star Dubai. Among 521 entries, they shone brightest. The event saw 1,800+ startups from 100+ countries. Accredify aims to bolster its UAE presence.

3. 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia: Cashin has acquired Cardless to boost its digital card services. The move enables 20,000+ merchants to issue virtual cards. CEO Omar Al-Ramah highlights Cardless's decade-long expertise and broad customer base in backing the strategic integration.

4.  🇦🇪UAE: Global Ventures has welcomed the Dubai Future District Fund as a strategic investor. With mutual goals to foster innovation in the Middle East and Africa, both entities aim to support transformative businesses, benefiting from their combined strengths in the Dubai ecosystem.

Introducing Flat6Labs Ignite (Abu Dhabi)! This is a seed and early stage funding opportunity for startups launched by Flat6Labs in partnership with ADQ.

• The 4-month seed programme supports early stage companies with $100-150k in seed funding and the chance to get $200-500k in follow-on funding.

Their newest 7 graduates just took part in Flat6Labs' Fifth Demo Day in the UAE and we’d love to introduce you to them!

📝Take note, these startups will be making headlines before you know it

🩺 Diagnio is a biotech product designed to provide rapid point-of-care diagnostics to track women’s hormonal health & fertility. Their pioneering "lab on a chip" offers a dual benefit – providing patients with insightful visibility on their fertility journey while offering fertility clinics cost-efficient and patient-centric solutions! Our take.

• Founded by Marina Sol in 2022.

🛒 Cognitiwe offers AI-powered products for fresh food retailers that promote sustainability and optimise operational efficiencies through real-time insights and data-driven predictions.

• Founded by Attila Algan in 2021.

📱 OptimizeApp enables SMEs to create, launch and optimise ads on Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and Google. It is a one-stop-shop for creating and executing targeted campaigns.

(Where has this been all my life?!)

• Founded by Bader F. AlKazemi in 2017.

👥 Workfam’s HR platform fosters a positive work environment by empowering employees to pursue healthy lifestyles, give feedback, and receive recognition for positive organisational outcomes (@FWDstart, can we sign-up? 👀) Their holistic and gamified approach aims to bolster employee-employer relations.

• Founded by Cameron Collins in 2018.

💬 Notchnco offers an omni-channel messaging platform that integrates seamlessly with popular messaging apps for advanced customer experience and commerce. Their humanised chatbots, backed by Notch AI, help businesses overcome the complexity of consumer communications.

• Founded by Bassem Nassif in 2019.

🚗 Tomorrow’s Journey automates access to cars for various time frames, enabling test drives, car rental and subscription services, and helps brands modernise their systems for growth. Their platform does everything from vehicle selection to billing with just one code base.

(Honestly, it's so efficient, we’re just surprised it doesn’t drive the car as well)

• Founded by Chris Kirby in 2018.

💰 Fundbot offers an API & infrastructure that facilitates money movements between buyers, merchants, and financial institutions. The aim? Support 19 million SMEs in MENA with a $250 billion cashflow gap through easy lending.

• Founded by Karl Abouzeid in 2020.

• P.S. They launched their new website just 2 weeks ago (http://www.fundbot.co/) and it is amazing!  🎉

Introducing Belong! This Dubai-born social app simplifies making friends within cities by enabling users to seamlessly discover groups, events and people with similar interests.

And, they just secured an additional $1.5 million in funds in their pre-series A round!

• Co-founded by Mike Askew and Matt Gaziano in 2019, this fresh investment brings the company's total capital raised to $3.5 million.

💰 Investor low-down: The round was led by undisclosed investors.

• Back in January 2023, Belong raised $1 million in funding, $515,000 of which was raised in a crowdfunding campaign which brought in 57 new investors.

🏙 Ah, look at all the lonely people

Remember when social media’s raison d'être was to facilitate communication and allow people to genuinely connect with one another?

*drowns in ads, infinite video scroll, bad news, more ads, even more bad news*

Us neither.

Ironically, a lot of them just aren't very social by design, leading to increased feelings of isolation rather than connection.

🎵 We’re all in this together

Recognising the challenges adults face in making friends, Belong streamlines adult friendship-building, bridging online interactions to real-life meetups and helping users explore cities and find like-minded individuals.

Sum up the priority: building real friendships over accumulating likes and followers.

 🌃 Flashforward

The company will use the fresh round of funding to accelerate its growth and revenue milestones while solidifying and expanding its footprint in New York, San Francisco, and Dubai.

👋 Message from the team

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