Founding MENA #21
Welcome to the Founding MENA newsletter, bringing you the top stories from across the region every week.
I hope you find the newsletter insightful, but I’m always open to feedback and suggestions. Let’s get into it!
💰 Investment Rounds
- 🇦🇪 CargoX raised $250M led by BlueFive Capital. See more here.
- 🇦🇪 Careem saw Uber acquire a 12.5% stake from e& for $100M. See more here.
📰 Startup News
Hub71 has selected 27 startups for Cohort 18 from a record 2,453 applications
For the first time, 100% of the startups are headquartered outside the UAE.
2,453 applications from 112 countries.
The 27 companies that got in have raised an average of $8.5M each. $230M in total funding.
Hub71 isn't poaching regional talent anymore. Companies from the US, UK, Sweden, Kenya, Hong Kong, and India. All choosing Abu Dhabi as their launchpad for global expansion, and the companies tell the story.
- EchoTwin AI transforms municipal fleets into sensing networks.
- Wingbits streams flight data from tracking stations globally.
- KPay Group is a fintech that raised $65M and is expanding from Abu Dhabi.
- Persium combines air quality sensors with AI.
- Uravu Labs captures atmospheric moisture and converts it to water.
Hub71's ecosystem now includes 525 companies. Each cohort is getting stronger. This one has the most funding history, the highest maturity level, and the most international footprint.
Read more here.
CNTXT AI acquired Actualize
The deal merges UAE-based sovereign AI infrastructure with native Arabic voice agents built for regional dialects.
Actualize was founded in 2023 by Muhammed Shabreen and Khalid Ghiboub. They built voice agents that speak Arabic the way people in the GCC actually speak it.
The technical challenge is significant because speech models trained on standard Arabic data produce unnatural-sounding voices when asked to handle the conversational patterns of Emirati, Saudi, or Kuwaiti Arabic.
Actualize voice models are recognised among the most natural-sounding in the market. The R&D team came from Google, Nokia, and Siemens.
CNTXT AI is the sovereign AI company. They built Munsit (Arabic foundation model), training data infrastructure, and deployment tools. They're obsessed with in-region hosting, secure architecture, compliance with government requirements.
The acquisition brings Actualize's technology and team into CNTXT's infrastructure. Muhammed becomes CTO. Khalid becomes VP of AI Models.
The GCC conversational AI market reached approximately $400 million in 2025. Projections indicate it will reach nearly $2.5 billion by 2034.
Read more here.
Metabolic becomes the first healthcare provider in UAE to offer Wegovy pill
Novo Nordisk chose the UAE as the first market outside the US for the oral semaglutide formula.
And a UAE-based healthtech company is controlling first-mover access.
This decision reflects three things: Emerging market purchasing power in the Gulf, a regulatory environment that can move fast on approvals, and a healthcare provider network willing to integrate new therapies into structured care models.
Metabolic (formerly GluCare.Health) was selected for early access one week before broader UAE market launch.
They've positioned themselves as a research-led, outcomes-focused platform. Their 2025 Outcomes Report shows 52.2% of patients lost >10% body weight after 12 months in their structured protocol.
The UAE is one of the most expensive markets for healthcare and one of the most densely populated by wealth.
Combined with high prevalence of metabolic disease and obesity, this is a high-value early market for premium health services.
The regulatory environment is fast-moving. Pharma companies trust the UAE system to approve new therapies quickly while maintaining safety standards.
Insurance coverage plus out-of-pocket spending from high-income individuals creates funding for premium services.
Read more here.
📰 Other News
Du just launched a $50 million venture fund, with Shorooq appointed to manage the fund
Corporate venture capital works best when the parent company actually needs the technology.
du doesn't need venture capital for investment returns. They're a multibillion-dollar telecom with steady revenue streams. What they need is optionality on the next-generation services that will define telecommunications in five years.
The fund targets fintech, AI, cybersecurity, cloud, loyalty, gaming, enterprise solutions, and customer experience technologies.
Shorooq manages $2+ billion across venture, credit, private equity, and real assets. They have infrastructure expertise. They have regional relationships across MENA and Asia. They understand how to deploy capital in high-growth markets.
Corporate venture is a hedge against irrelevance. Telecom operators globally are learning this the hard way. The industry that once controlled consumer access is now just one pipe among many.
VoIP disrupted voice. Messaging apps disrupted SMS revenue. WiFi disrupted cellular. Each time, the incumbents were too slow to see the threat.
Read more here.
Nora Alsarhan is named the new CEO of SVC (Saudi Venture Capital Company)
She takes over from Dr. Nabeel Koshak on July 1, 2026.
Nora wasn't brought in from outside. She's been with SVC since June 2019, starting her tenure before the fund really scaled.
She watched Saudi Arabia transform from a venture capital afterthought to the regional leader for three consecutive years.
Saudi Arabia has grown venture capital investment 26-fold since 2018. SVC alone has invested in more than 65 funds that have collectively backed 1,000+ startups and SMEs.
Nora now runs one of the kingdom's most important investment institutions at exactly the moment Saudi Arabia is pushing hard to be the region's venture capital hub.
Read more here.
🤝🏼 Tools for Founders
Founding MENA has partnered with CapQuest, MENA’s leading equity management platform.
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All of our readers can get 20% off their first year with CapQuest using the code: scalingmena20.
That’s all for this week, thanks! All of our MENA based readers: please stay safe. Sam
First published 8 Jun 2026 on Substack
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