#ICYMI 16/12: UAE Tech & Digital News at a Glance
The UAE and the Middle East is truly in the midst of a start-up boom. And digital transformation initiatives are leading the way. Read about all this and more in the latest edition of our weekly digest of tech & digital news from the UAE.
Start-ups on Middle East’s mind
G7CR Technologies, a cloud services provider based in India with a base in Dubai, said it plans to invest up to $30 million to support start-ups in the Middle East and Africa region and India and select more than 1000 start-ups next year to its accelerator programme next year and.
Wa’ed, the entrepreneurship arm of state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco announced that it awarded up to 7.65 million Saudi riyals to four Saudi start-ups during the Wa’ed 2021 Entrepreneurship Roadshow stop in Makkah.
Yallah Market, a UAE-based online store that is currently operational in Dubai, raised $2.3M in a pre-Seed round.
Verity, a Dubai-based FinTech start-up, plans to launch their family banking and financial literacy app in 2022. The app is aimed at children aged from eight to 18, available in both English and Arabic, and offers users practical financial literacy learning experiences.
Sympl, a FinTech start-up from Cairo, which enables direct selling of products and services to bank card holders on short-term interest free repayment plans, announced that it had raised $6 million following its soft launch last month.
Abu Dhabi’s got algo-rhythm!
Abu Dhabi 42, a free, no-teacher and no-classroom coding school based in Abu Dhabi, is offering a 1,000 seats for aspiring coders. The school educates through peer reviews, coding projects and internships.
AgTech in Abu Dhabi gets a boost
Abu Dhabi’s Silal has partnered with Agritek, a UAE farming project developer, to develop large-scale technology solutions to enhance the quality and variety of food produced in the emirate.
N.THING, a Seoul-Based AgTech company, together with Smart Acres, the UAE’s latest vertical farm, have announced a Research and Development project with ten 40 feet containers in Abu Dhabi, with the aim of launching nutritionally-enhanced functional crops to the UAE.
Nanotech pioneer in Dubai
M-TEchX, a Japan-based nanotechnology company signs $500m deal with UAE’s BNP Group to set up an advanced nanofiber production plant in Jebal Ali, Dubai.
ESports rising in the UAE
A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the Mubadala Investment Company and Abu Dhabi Gaming with the aim to build an ecosystem for gaming and esports in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
Mubadala has also signed an agreement with Fincantieri to start collaborations in the field of advanced technologies and services in the naval, marine and industrial sectors.
In Fintech News
UAE’s first licensed digital-only bank, Al Maryah Community Bank, has selected Network International as their payment and technology partner.
The race to host Expo 2030 heats up
Saudi Arabia, and 4 the other bidding nations, Russia, South Korea, Italy and Ukraine made their pitches to host the world’s fair.
We love hearing your opinions
This week, we asked our community to share their thoughts on how start-ups can help elevate their employer branding and giving them an edge over tech giants in the competition for top talent. Share your comments to join the discussion.
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