24 articles
Funding
Seventeen days after Moove's $250 million Series C, DSD's own funding archive has not logged a single new disclosed MENA deal. We lined up our 2026 dataset against MAGNiTT's H1 numbers and a fresh dry powder report to find out whether capital deployment is actually slowing or just quiet on the page.
Funding
UAE-headquartered mobility company Moove has raised $250 million in a Series C round led by Mubadala Investment Company, valuing the business at $2.1 billion and nearly tripling its valuation since its last raise in 2024. DSD compared the round against Moove's own funding history and its own MENA-wide tracker data to show how much of the region's 2026 funding is now concentrated in a handful of mega-rounds like this one.
Funding
Dubai SME has folded its long running Hamdan Innovation Incubator into Dubai Founders HQ and opened applications for a new 16 week programme supporting 20 Emirati entrepreneurs from idea stage. The move gives early stage founders direct access to mentors, investors and corporate partners without requiring prior funding or a registered company.
Funding
Deep Finance Capital has launched in Dubai's DIFC as the first AI-native asset manager, running its investment process through a proprietary platform called NEXT. The firm, which emerged from Rasameel Investment House, is positioning itself as a bridge between European institutional capital and Gulf investment opportunities.
Funding
Dubai Future District Fund added eight new investment commitments in 2025, growing its portfolio to 30 positions across venture funds and startups. The expansion leans further into artificial intelligence and property technology as part of Dubai's D33 economic agenda.
Funding
MENA startup funding dropped 22% year on year to $1.35 billion in the first half of 2026 as regional conflict and cautious investors pulled back, with deal count falling 41% to the lowest half-year total since 2022. The UAE still captured 66% of all regional funding, led by three major BlueFive Capital-backed rounds.
Funding
Dubai-based AVELIN AI has raised 3.7 million dollars in pre-seed funding to expand its sovereign AI platform for governments and regulated enterprises. The capital will strengthen GPU infrastructure and support the startup's push into Europe and North America.
Funding
Hub71 has opened applications for Cohort 20 of its Hub71+ AI programme, offering startups up to AED 500,000 in combined funding and access to partners like AWS, Nvidia and Google for Startups. Applications close August 2, 2026, with the 12 month programme starting in February 2027.
Funding
Angel investors across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Qatar are writing more first checks than ever, but most founders still do not know which networks exist or how to reach them. This guide maps the GCC's active angel groups, their typical check sizes, and the fastest way to get on their radar.
Funding
UAE proptech and fintech startup Rentify has closed a $2 million seed round to launch Earn AI, a rental revenue management platform built specifically for GCC property structures. The raise brings the company's total funding to $2.5 million and signals growing investor appetite for AI-driven real estate tools in the region.
Funding
Manus' original backers are preparing a roughly two billion dollar buyback of the AI agent startup from Meta after Chinese regulators ordered the deal reversed. The episode shows how fast national security reviews can override even the biggest AI acquisitions.
Funding
Bootstrapping, VC funding, and angel investment each offer UAE founders a different deal. This guide breaks down how all three work in the context of the 2026 Gulf market, what you give up with each, and how to choose the path that fits your business.
Funding
Three UAE-based startups closed funding rounds this week, totalling $69.2 million, spanning AI agent cybersecurity, property sales automation, and B2B embedded finance. The deals signal a maturing Gulf startup ecosystem where post-revenue companies are raising capital to scale, not just to survive.
Funding
Raising a seed round in the UAE in 2026 is more achievable than ever, but the market has also grown more competitive and more structured. This guide breaks down exactly what investors expect, who is writing cheques at seed stage, how much equity you should expect to give up, and what separates funded founders from those still waiting for a reply.
Funding
Abu Dhabi's Core42 locked in $550M from HSBC this week in one of the region's largest-ever AI infrastructure financing deals, as UAE startups continued to hold their ground against a tough MENA funding environment. With fintech, proptech, and AI all driving activity, here is what this week's deals reveal about where Gulf capital is actually going.
Funding
Abu Dhabi-based AI infrastructure operator Core42 has secured a $550 million structured trade finance facility from HSBC, one of the largest AI-dedicated financing deals ever recorded in the region. The funding will fast-track the company's international cloud and high-performance compute expansion as global appetite for AI infrastructure hits record levels.
Funding
The GCC venture capital landscape in 2026 is defined by two contrasting realities: a tighter global funding environment and an increasingly ambitious regional ecosystem that refuses to slow down. From Khwarizmi Ventures' $70M+ fund launch to Mubadala-backed deals in fintech and proptech, here is where the money is moving and who is writing the big cheques.
Funding
Anthropic has closed a $65 billion funding round that pushes its valuation to $965 billion, making it the world's most valuable AI company ahead of OpenAI, on the back of $47 billion in annualized revenue driven by explosive demand for its Claude AI. The milestone arrives alongside the launch of Claude Opus 4.8 and a fresh set of legal and geopolitical battles that underscore just how high the stakes have become in the global AI race.
Funding
The Abu Dhabi Fund for Development has crossed AED 9.4 billion in cumulative investment in Jordan since 1974, funding everything from digital hospitals and solar farms to grain silos and dams. This is a closer look at where the money went and what it built.
Funding
Creative Zone has announced the launch of the Young Entrepreneurs’ Business Setup Program in collaboration with RAKEZ and Mashreq NEO BIZ to bolster the UAE’s startup ecosystem.
Funding
The Investment Gateway Summit (IGS) is set to return to St. Kitts and Nevis from June 17–20, 2026, characterized by a significant surge in interest from the MENA region.
Funding
OGold, the UAE’s leading Shariah-compliant gold and silver-backed "Super App," has announced a strategic investment from Plug and Play Ventures.
Funding
New data from the MAGNiTT FY2025 AI Report confirms that UAE startups raised $519 Million in 2025, representing 60% of the entire MENA region's AI funding.
Funding
Proptech startup Daleel, founded in 2025, has successfully raised $3 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate the development of its innovative real estate platform.