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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Middle East, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌏️
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📰 Important News
- Lucidya launched its Enterprise AI Agent platform to drive growth in MENA, offering large-scale AI deployments with Arabic dialect recognition.
- Liabify launched LiaPay with Mawarid Finance in the UAE and partnered with Paymentology to expand payroll-linked financial services across the GCC.
- Ziina and Virtuzone partnered to speed up payments for UAE SMEs by integrating company setup with instant settlement.
- DIFC and Capital.com launched CapitalHer, a six-week program to enhance financial literacy and market participation for women across the GCC.
- Bahraini digital financing platform Flooss partnered with global payment provider Optty to expand its Sharia-compliant consumer financing solutions.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Saudi fintech Muhlah secured a $7.5 million seed round led by BIM Ventures and SBI Group to expand its Sharia-compliant digital microfinance solutions.
- Qatari logistics startup ShipBee secured $500,000 in seed funding led by GrowthX Capital to support its expansion across the GCC and MENA.
💰️ IPO and M&A Watch
- Converted acquired the Egyptian fashion e-commerce platform Mitcha to expand AI commerce capabilities across advertising, payments, and order data in Egypt.
🏦 About Investors
- Wider Consulting committed $14.3 million to Egyptian and Saudi startups, launching an accelerator to establish 50 new companies by 2026, focused on technology, education, and healthcare.
- Nahda Capital Partners filed for its inaugural private equity fund, targeting about $300 million for control investments in GCC mid-market businesses.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Muhlah
Founded in 2024 in Riyadh by Abdulaziz AlRammah, Muhlah is emerging as one of Saudi fintech’s most purposeful new entrants, building a fully digital, Sharia-compliant consumer microfinance platform for individual borrowers. This week, the startup drew fresh attention after closing a $7.5 million seed round co-led by BIM Ventures and Japan’s SBI Group, with backing from AlSuhaimi Holding Group and Fakhr Investment Holding Company. With strategic backing from BIM Ventures chief Mohamed Amine Merah, Muhlah is using the new capital to scale its platform and expand financing capacity through innovative structures.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Wider Consulting
Founded in mid-2025 as a joint Egyptian-Saudi initiative, Wider Consulting is not a classic VC so much as an advisory-led investment platform, using its governance and institutional consulting roots to back startups in technology, healthcare, education, software, PropTech, and entrepreneurship enablement. Under founder and CEO Omar Hamdy, the firm has moved quickly from advisory work into venture building, earmarking $14.3 million for startups in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, incubating three early companies, and launching an accelerator aimed at helping create 50 more by the end of 2026. What makes Wider distinctive is its role as a bridge, linking Arab academic ecosystems, Saudi venture infrastructure, and international investors to turn research into scalable businesses and deepen regional innovation.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
Amazon Nova AI Hackathon
- 📢 Organizer: Amazon Web Services
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon, Award/Prize
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 17, 2026
Hack-Nation Global AI Hackathon
- 📢 Organizer: Hack Nation
- 🗂️ Category: Hackathon
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 21, 2026
Immersive Edutainment Platform Challenge
- 📢 Organizer: Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE)
- 🗂️ Category: Award/Prize, Funding, Competition/Challenge
- 🪜 Target Stages: Stage Agnostic
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Education & Workforce, Media & Entertainment, AI & Data, Software & IT
- 📅 Application Deadline: March 23, 2026
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