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This week on VC React, we unpack MENA’s fastest unicorn, tease out why logistics is having a fintech moment, and dissect the AI talent wars shaking up global research labs.
We start in Saudi Arabia, where Ninja has become the fastest startup in MENA to reach unicorn status, hitting a $1.5B valuation just three years after launch. But this isn’t just another grocery app. We break down how the company grew from pre-seed to pre-IPO in two rounds, what’s driving investor conviction, and whether Q-commerce can defy its global collapse and thrive as a Saudi-built infrastructure empire.
Then it’s on to PetroApp, a lesser-known player that just raised $50M from Jeddah-based Jadwa Investment to digitize fuel payments and manage fleets across Saudi, Egypt, Nigeria, and Thailand. We discuss the rise of “fleet fintech,” how B2B logistics is quietly becoming a VC-backed category, and whether these companies are truly startups, or just corporates in a startup’s clothing.
Next, we turn to Spectre, a Web3 gaming startup building crypto-native games on Telegram, which just raised a $5M seed round led by a16z’s Speedrun and Impact46. We ask whether messaging platforms are becoming the new app stores, why Impact46 is going global, and whether Saudi Arabia’s outsized gaming appetite will translate into downstream M&A.
Finally, we zoom out to Silicon Valley, where Meta has poached four top OpenAI researchers, sparking a full-blown AI talent war. We explore what this means for applied AI in MENA, whether sovereign-backed startups can compete for top talent, and why every founder in the region may soon need to think like a recruiter.
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