Shahbandr, a leading enabler of e-commerce and digital transformation in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa, and Tamara, the region’s leading provider of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions, partnered to empower online stores with flexible payment options that help them boost sales and accelerate growth. BNPL Solution Through this partnership, Tamara will provide its BNPL solution to all online stores on the Shahbandr platform, enhancing the shopping experience and increasing conversion rates by offering diverse payment methods and instalment options. At the same time, Shahbandr will be able to collect its service fees directly from Tamara,…
Author: Mohamed Fathy
In recent years, companies have started to focus on understanding brand perception and customer sentiment toward their products, creating a market for monitoring and analytics. The global social media analytics market was valued at $13.47 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow from $16.53 billion in 2025 to $61.95 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. As AI tools have evolved, so have monitoring and analytics solutions. Before the AI boom, Egyptian entrepreneur Mohy Abou Alam explored this market and co-founded Darwinz in 2021, which later rebranded as TheDar.AI — a Saudi-Egyptian startup offering an AI Copilot platform…
Perle, an AI training data platform powered by Web3 that brings human wisdom to AI models, today announced it has closed a $9 million seed round led by Framework Ventures. The round brings Perle’s total funding to $17.5 million across its seed and pre-seed rounds, marking a major milestone in the company’s growth and mission to improve how AI systems are trained and evaluated. Perle Labs With this new capital, Perle will launch Perle Labs, a crypto-native ecosystem designed to transform how human input powers AI. By integrating blockchain infrastructure and incentive design, Perle Labs will provide transparent payments, on-chain…
The Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC), of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA), has welcomed a new cohort of tech startups under the 47th round of its flagship incubation program, Start IT. The program is part of ITIDA’s broader mission to empower youth, promote innovation, and accelerate the growth of early-stage technology ventures across Egypt. Aspiring Entrepreneurs Start IT targets aspiring entrepreneurs with ICT-driven ideas, solutions, or prototypes and helps them build scalable, investment-ready startups. The latest cohort intake reflects ITIDA’s continued commitment to nurturing a vibrant and sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystem. Alumni Networking and Community Building The kickoff…
F6 Group, a newly formed entity integrating venture capital and entrepreneurial support, announces its official launch, anchored by two powerful arms: F6 Ventures, a newly launched seed-stage investment firm, and Flat6Labs, the region’s most recognized startup accelerator platform. Together, they represent a bold evolution of the company’s 14-year journey, bringing sharper focus, expanded reach, and deeper capabilities to support founders and ecosystems across the Middle East and Africa. F6 Ventures At the core of this transformation is F6 Ventures, the Group’s dedicated venture capital arm to be managing six funds with over $90 million in assets under management (AUM) and…
Alaan, a UAE-based spend management platform, announced Tuesday that it has raised $48 million in an oversubscribed Series A funding round to accelerate its expansion in Saudi Arabia and enhance its suite of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered finance automation tools. The company had previously raised $7.5 million across its Seed and Pre-Series A rounds. Investors The round was led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) with participation from the founders of 885 Capital, Sudeep Ramnani & Jai Mahtani, Y Combinator, 468 Capital, and Pioneer Fund. Regional operators also participated in the round, including Hosam Arab (Founder of…
Suplyd, the Cairo-based digital procurement platform for restaurants, announced the successful raise of $2 million in a pre-Series A funding round. The investment was led by 4DX Ventures, Camel Ventures, and Plus VC, with participation from Seedstars and existing investors. This round will support the company’s mission to build a comprehensive infrastructure for restaurant operations and expand into untapped areas across Egypt. Procurement Solutions Founded in 2022, Suplyd provides procurement solutions for small and medium-sized restaurants, addressing long-standing inefficiencies in Egypt’s $10 billion HORECA supply chain. By directly connecting restaurants with suppliers and streamlining procurement workflows, Suplyd is tackling the…
EdfaPay, a pioneering digital payment solutions provider, today proudly announced a landmark achievement: securing the coveted “PCI Mobile Payments on COTS (MPoC) Solutions,” “PCI MPoC Software,” and “PCI MPoC Services” certifications from the esteemed PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). First Company This monumental accomplishment positions EdfaPay as the first company in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to earn this prestigious triple recognition, firmly cementing its leadership and unwavering commitment to the highest standards of security and innovation in the rapidly evolving payments landscape. The PCI MPoC Solutions certification establishes a global benchmark for…
Data Guardians Network (D-GN), a decentralized platform transforming global human input into highly accurate, ethically sourced frontier training data for AI, has closed a US$5 million pre-seed round led by Saudi businessman Hamoud Al-Rumayyan, Web3 infrastructure leader droppGroup and veteran crypto firm Hub Culture. D-GN’s Emergence The investment fuels D-GN’s emergence from stealth and accelerates its global rollout, scaling contributor operations, multimodal data pipelines and enterprise integrations worldwide. Trustworthy AI D-GN enables enterprises to build trustworthy AI by sourcing diverse, human-created and -labelled frontier datasets through a decentralized contributor model. Users around the world complete data annotation tasks – such…
At Huawei Cloud Summit Northern Africa 2025, Hu Hang, General Manager of International Business of Huawei Hybrid Cloud, announced the launch of Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5 for Northern Africa. He highlighted Huawei Cloud Stack’s strengths in hybrid cloud capabilities and cutting-edge innovation, while reaffirming its “One Customer, One Cloud” development path. The release aims to help North African government and enterprise customers unlock more value from the cloud and accelerate digital and intelligent innovation. Huawei Cloud Stack 8.5 for Northern Africa: A leap to new heights As digital and AI transformation accelerates globally, cloud adoption continues to increase. In Northern…
Saudi-based personalized meal subscription platform Calo has secured $39 million in a Series B funding extension round, bringing its total Series B funding to $64 million. Latest funding round The latest funding round brings Calo’s total funding to around $90 million, following a $13.5 million seed round in 2021, a $13 million Series A in 2022, and an initial $25 million Series B tranche closed in December 2024. The extension round was led by AlJazira Capital, with follow-on participation from existing investors Nuwa Capital, STV, Khwarizmi Ventures, and Al Faisaliah Group, and new investor Oraseya Capital joining the round. The…
Visa (NYSE: V), a global leader in payments, today announced the launch of a new report, ‘Value of Acceptance: Understanding the Digital Payment Landscape in Egypt,’ which reveals significant growth potential for digital payments, especially among small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs). Digital Payments Ecosystem The report highlights substantial progress in Egypt’s digital payments ecosystem. Over half (53%) of merchants surveyed have implemented digital payments in the last two years, showing accelerated adoption trends. Additionally, 55% of cash-only merchants are interested in adopting the technology. This growing popularity is reinforced by positive experiences among businesses already accepting digital payments, over 80%…
The artificial intelligence (AI) realm witnesses rapid developments around the world, reshaping the world of digital transformation and accelerating the pace of AI adoption. In this weekly newsletter, FollowICT is highlighting the most important news and advancements in AI around the globe. Tools – Google’s new AI-powered feature lets you try on clothes virtually On Thursday, Google announced a new AI feature that allows users to try on clothes virtually. The tech giant is also launching updated price alerts and teased an upcoming tool to help users discover shopping items and get interior design inspiration using AI-generated images. After two…
African startups are witnessing significant developments. That’s why FollowICT Digital Economy Platform brings you a weekly roundup of the most important startup news across the continent. – 50 Finalists Selected for the Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) 2025 Competition Worth $1.5 Million – Including 8 Egyptians The Africa’s Business Heroes (ABH) Prize, the flagship philanthropic initiative of the Jack Ma Foundation in Africa, has announced the top 50 finalists for its 2025 competition, which offers $1.5 million in grant funding. This year marks a record high in participation and regional representation. ABH supports outstanding entrepreneurs from all 54 African countries who…
Dxwand, the company known for empowering businesses with conversational AI, is proud to announce the launch of Merlinx—a game-changing, autonomous AI sales and customer service agent built for small and medium-sized businesses. Merlinx Blending powerful AI with a playful, wizard-inspired personality, Merlinx is not just another chatbot—it’s a fully autonomous digital team member that learns your products, talks to your customers, and drives real revenue growth. All with zero code and near-zero onboarding effort. Give SMEs the Power Built to give SMEs the power of an entire sales and support team—without the complexity or cost—Merlinx is intelligent, proactive, and works…
Philadelphia-based robotics company Asylon announced Tuesday that it raised a $26 million Series B led by Insight Partners, with participation from Veteran Ventures Capital, Allegion Ventures, and the GO PA Fund. Asylon began as a drone company for securing facilities. It’s best known for a drone that has a robotic arm that can change its own batteries. But it also has a robotic guard dog service called DroneDog. Asylon takes the famed Boston Dynamics robot dog Spot and modifies it for guard work and to integrate with its command-and-control Guardian software. Asylon offers the drones, dogs, and software as its…
Nice Deer, a leading innovator in Egypt’s health insurance technology (InsurTech) sector, proudly announces it has received official approval from the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) to establish Nice Deer for Financial Solutions Egypt’s first fully digital non-banking financial institution (NBFI) dedicated to providing factoring services for deferred medical insurance claims. Medical Service Providers This regulatory milestone enables Nice Deer to offer real-time, structured financing to medical service providers, converting delayed insurance receivables into immediate cash. The goal is to directly address one of the most pressing challenges in the healthcare ecosystem: liquidity shortages due to delayed claim settlements. “This license…
Egypt’s first fully digital and FRA-regulated SME financing platform, announced today that the company has successfully closed its seed round by raising US$3 million blended funding round, comprising both equity and debt. Investors The equity round was led by Egypt Ventures, with participation from Camel Ventures, Sukna Ventures, Plus VC, Banque Misr, and prominent regional family offices including El Sewedy and Baalbaki, alongside strategic corporate bankers. On the debt side, Flend has secured facilities from MSMEDA, as well as other local banking partners. Flend was founded by a team of experts in banking, fintech, and development finance who had long…
Valu, MENA’s leading universal financial technology powerhouse, has announced its partnership with RoboGarden Egypt, the AI-powered EdTech platform, to provide flexible payment plans for the “Learn to Earn” initiative. This initiative seeks to empower youth across Egypt — with a special focus on women and people with disabilities — by providing specialized digital training programs designed to equip them with the skills needed to thrive in today’s evolving job market. Equal Opportunity The initiative features an innovative approach that promotes equal opportunity in education by offering a hybrid learning experience. Combined with Valu’s flexible payment solutions, it ensures that high-quality…
Sprints, the leading platform for upskilling tech talent across emerging markets, has spent six years crafting personalized learning journeys and cultivating a top-tier talent pool. Building on this foundation, HiRemoters was launched as Sprints’ dedicated remote hiring arm—connecting remote-ready talent with global opportunities. Backed by Sprints’ expertise, HiRemoters delivers AI-powered, end-to-end hiring solutions that help businesses source, onboard, and manage distributed teams with speed, transparency, and confidence. HiRemoters HiRemoters is not a gig platform. It’s designed for accountability and long-term team success, offering transparency, IP protection, and cost control. Unlike outsourcing models that involve hidden fees and lack direct access…