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Welcome to another edition of 🔍 Startup Researcher - Asia, your essential digest delivering the latest news and premium insights on startups and venture capital across the region 🌏️
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📰 Important News
- Ziina and Lean launched the UAE’s first live Open Finance payments under CBUAE rules, enabling instant bank transfers for consumers and SMEs.
- Arabic.AI and Replit launched free Arabic coding courses across MENA to close the skills gap and broaden access to tech education.
- MoneyHash and Spare partnered to roll out Pay by Bank in the UAE, cutting transaction costs and speeding up settlements for businesses.
- Mastercard and botim money expanded UAE remittances to 150+ countries, enabling faster, safer cross-border transfers via the botim app.
- Fasset appointed Rafiza Ghazali to lead consumer banking and scale its stablecoin-led Islamic digital bank in Malaysia.
💸 Top Funding Rounds
- Mal secured a record $230 million Seed round to develop an AI-powered Islamic finance platform for global Muslim communities.
- Bahraini fintech Flooss raised a $22 million credit facility structured by Shorooq, marking Bahrain's first private asset-backed fintech financing.
- Saudi startup Governata obtained $4 million in Seed funding to scale its AI-ready data governance platform across the MENA region.
- Dubai-based AI news platform A47 landed $2 million in Pre-seed funding to deliver verified, personalized news and support digital publishers and creators.
- Saudi's Resquad AI secured $1.5 million Seed funding from SRG Group and angel investors to expand regionally and grow its developer marketplace.
🏦 About Investors
- Jadwa Investment launched a $200 million GCC Private Credit Fund with an $80 million first close, targeting regional growth through alternative financing for high-quality companies.
- Flow Accelerator launched Flow Ventures, a new investment and financial services arm, to bridge critical funding and growth gaps for early-stage and scaling Palestinian startups.
🚀 Startup of the Week
Introducing our Startup of the Week 🏆
Mal
Founded in Abu Dhabi by serial entrepreneur Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, Mal is an emerging fintech building an AI-powered Islamic financial platform for Muslim and underbanked communities worldwide. The company raised a record-breaking $230 million seed round, the largest in MENA, led by BlueFive Capital with backing from strategic investors and family offices. Led by Abu-Sheikh, former co-founder and CEO of Astra Tech, Mal has assembled a senior team with experience from Revolut and Nubank. Currently pre-launch, Mal is deploying capital to product development and regulatory licensing ahead of a 2026 launch, aiming to modernize ethical finance at global scale.
💼 Investor of the Week
Introducing our Investor of the Week 🏆
Jadwa Investment
Founded in 2006 and headquartered in Riyadh, Jadwa Investment is one of Saudi Arabia’s leading investment management and advisory firms, managing over $30 billion in assets for government, institutional, and private wealth clients. Operating across public equity, private equity, real estate, fixed income, and now private credit, Jadwa recently launched its flagship Jadwa GCC Diversified Private Credit Fund, targeting $200 million and securing an $80 million first close. Led by CEO Tariq Al-Sudairy, with private credit overseen by Fidaa Haddad, the fund has already invested in fintech platforms Lendo and JeelPay. Jadwa positions itself as a disciplined, regionally anchored capital partner supporting non-oil growth and strengthening the GCC alternative financing ecosystem.
🤑 Opportunities Expiring Soon
Kernel Camp 2025
- 📢 Organizer: Propeller
- 🗂️ Category: Training & Learning
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 19, 2026
E3 Accelerator – Riyadh Cycle
- 📢 Organizer: E3.Ventures
- 🗂️ Category: Funding, Accelerator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Pre-Seed, Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: AI & Data, Finance & Insurance
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 20, 2026
Spring 2026 Cooperative Business Incubator
- 📢 Organizer: Start.coop
- 🗂️ Category: Incubator
- 🪜 Target Stages: Ideation, Pre-Seed
- 🏭 Focus Sectors: Sector Agnostic
- 📅 Application Deadline: January 21, 2026
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