Author: Mohammed Abubakr

Rethinking Wellness for a Time-Constrained World Saudi Arabia-based healthtech startup Metafare has raised $1 million in its first funding round as it looks to redefine how wellness is delivered across the Gulf. The round was co-led by Harmonix Ventures along with a group of regional family offices, signaling growing investor interest in the convergence of immersive technology and preventive healthcare. Founded by Ibrahim Almaghlouth and based in Riyadh, Metafare is building a platform that delivers short, immersive virtual reality sessions designed to improve physical and mental well-being. The company is targeting individuals, employers, and healthcare providers, positioning itself within a…

Betting on Prevention Over Treatment Saudi Arabia-based healthtech startup Madeed has raised additional pre-seed funding, bringing its total capital raised to $925,000 as it works to build a preventive healthcare platform focused on early disease detection. The latest round includes participation from SEEDRA Ventures, Unity Investment Partners, and Seen Growth, alongside earlier investors such as Vision Ventures and a group of Saudi angel investors. Founded in 2025 by Adam Bataineh, Madeed is positioning itself at the intersection of healthcare, data, and artificial intelligence. The company is focused on shifting healthcare from a reactive model to a proactive one by identifying…

Rebuilding Commerce Around Culture and Interaction Bahrain-born e-commerce platform Siin has raised new funding, bringing its total capital raised to $3 million as it looks to scale live, interactive shopping across the Gulf. The round was led by VentureSouq and Shift Group, with participation from Plus VC, Oqal, and a group of regional investors including Suhail Al Gossaibi, Mussab Al Hakami, and Abdulla Al Hashmi. Founded in 2024 by Ahmed Allawi, Hesham AlSaati, and Khaled Albalooshi, Siin is building a live commerce marketplace that blends real-time interaction with online shopping. The platform enables users to buy and sell products through…

A New Chapter for the Future of Reading Sinai.ai, an AI-native reading platform, has raised $1.45 million in a pre-seed funding round as it looks to transform how books are created, consumed, and experienced. The round was led by KAUST Innovation Ventures and DisrupTech Ventures, with participation from Maza Ventures, YOUXEL Ventures, and a group of angel investors. The funding will be used to accelerate the development of Sinai.ai’s proprietary technology, expand its AI infrastructure, grow its user base, and strengthen licensing partnerships with publishers. At a time when the global book market exceeds $150 billion, the core format of…

From Building the First Local Solution to Defining the Next Category Saudi-based technology company Signit has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round as it looks to expand its role in the Kingdom’s digital infrastructure. The round was led by Raed Ventures, with participation from STV, Seedra Ventures, Takamol Ventures, and Suhail Ventures. Founded in 2021, Signit entered the market at a time when organizations in Saudi Arabia had limited options for digital signatures. Most relied on international platforms that lacked Arabic support, local compliance, and data sovereignty. Others depended on white-labeled solutions that were not designed specifically…

From a 25-Year IT Career to Building a Consumer Brand Shafi Yaseen Mohammed’s journey into entrepreneurship did not begin in retail or fashion. It began in technology. With over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, he worked with global organizations such as Dell, HP, Accenture, and AT&T, building a career defined by structure, stability, and scale. Yet, alongside his professional life, he carried a long-standing passion for business, fashion, and jewellery. In 2023, that passion took shape in the form of a modern jewellery brand designed to rethink how gold is worn and experienced. Today, the company operates…

Choosing Impact Over Convention At an age when most students are focused on education or early career choices, S K M Riad chose a different path. At just 19, he stepped away from the idea of a “safe” and predictable route to build Fasteszz, an all-in-one delivery platform designed to simplify how people access everyday services in Bangladesh. For Riad, the decision was less about risk and more about timing. “Waiting for a safe path often means delaying impact,” he says. That mindset reflects a growing shift among young founders—one that prioritizes speed of learning and real-world problem solving over…

From Corporate Leadership to a Deeper Realization Abdulla Hassan Thakur’s career spans continents and industries, from serving as Head of Business for MENA at British Telecom UK to advising family businesses and engaging at the board level across the GCC. Over the years, his exposure to multiple markets revealed a recurring imbalance. While economies were expanding and capital was increasingly accessible, meaningful opportunities remained concentrated among those with access to the right networks. This observation led him to a critical realization: capital alone was not the defining factor of success—access was. In May 2023, Thakur initiated the Global Islamic Chamber…

Solving the Economics of Convenience On-demand delivery has reshaped consumer expectations. What was once a luxury—getting products delivered within minutes—is now increasingly seen as a baseline service. Yet behind this convenience lies a persistent and often overlooked problem: the economics do not work. For Ali Ahmed, Co-founder and CEO of Robomart, this inefficiency was impossible to ignore. Having previously built in the on-demand delivery space, he witnessed firsthand how costly last-mile logistics can be for retailers, platforms, and consumers alike. The model, while popular, often operates at a loss. “The only way to make on-demand delivery sustainable is through automation,”…

Solving a Problem Hidden in Everyday Student Life In universities around the world, students are expected to manage a constant flow of information—deadlines buried in syllabi, scattered announcements, and evolving course requirements. It is a system so normalized that its inefficiencies often go unquestioned. For Ibraheem Arif, a computer science student at the University of Saskatchewan, that normalization was the problem itself. What initially appeared as a minor inconvenience revealed itself as a deeper structural issue: students were spending unnecessary time organizing information instead of focusing on learning. CalenDue was built from that realization. “I did not want to build…

A Gap Between Digital Sophistication and Physical Operations Over the past two decades, businesses have undergone rapid digital transformation. Customer-facing systems, e-commerce platforms, and analytics tools have become increasingly sophisticated. Yet behind the scenes, a critical part of business operations has remained largely unchanged. Frontline operations—retail stores, visual merchandising teams, and facility management—continue to rely on paper checklists, fragmented communication, and manual processes. For Sharjeel Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pazo, this disconnect was impossible to ignore. “While the digital world was evolving rapidly, physical operations were still stuck in outdated systems,” he reflects. That observation became the starting point…

Turning a Personal Frustration Into a Scalable Solution In the world of construction and signage, some of the most time-consuming work happens long before any physical work begins. Permits, zoning regulations, and city codes often require hours of manual research—slowing down projects and increasing operational overhead. For Mustafa Abdelhamid, this inefficiency wasn’t theoretical. It was something he witnessed firsthand. What began as a side project to help his brother’s signage business has since evolved into PermitPal, a platform designed to automate one of the most overlooked yet critical aspects of the industry: sign code and permitting research. From Software Engineer…

A Gap Hidden in Plain Sight The global gaming industry is valued at over $200 billion, shaping how millions of young people understand mythology, identity, and heroism. Yet within that ecosystem, one of the world’s largest populations—Muslims—has remained almost entirely absent from the highest tier of storytelling. Muhammad Bilal, Founder and Creative Director of Jinn Studios, sees this not just as a market gap, but as a civilizational one. For decades, global entertainment has normalized Western mythologies, embedding them deeply into the cultural imagination of audiences worldwide. Meanwhile, Islamic narratives—rich in depth, history, and philosophical complexity—have largely remained outside mainstream…

Long before “Muslim tech” became a recognized category, Shahed Amanullah was already building for the global Muslim community—quietly, consistently, and with conviction. Today, with multiple successful exits and decades of entrepreneurial experience, his journey reflects a rare combination of Silicon Valley execution and community-driven vision. A Front-Row Seat to the Birth of the Internet Shahed’s story begins in Silicon Valley during the early days of the internet. After studying civil engineering at UC Berkeley, he initially worked on infrastructure projects like San Francisco’s streetcars. But the rapid emergence of the internet changed everything. “The buzz coming out of the Valley…

In a world increasingly dominated by artificial intelligence, most companies are racing to build faster models, better interfaces, and smarter applications. Muhammad Laraib Khan is taking a fundamentally different approach. Instead of building on top of existing systems, he is asking a deeper question: Who truly owns intelligence in the age of AI? From Startup Exits to Deep Tech Architecture Laraib Khan, the Founding Architect of Rebootix Research, is not new to building high-stakes technology. Before launching Rebootix, he successfully built and exited a tech startup—gaining firsthand experience in scaling systems and navigating complex technological environments. His expertise spans AI…

In the world of enterprise finance, complexity is the norm. Spreadsheets, fragmented systems, manual reconciliations, and compliance-heavy workflows continue to define how companies operate—despite decades of technological progress. Furqan and Sarfraz, the founders of Plouton AI, saw this inefficiency firsthand. What they’re building today is not just another automation tool—but a new operating layer for finance teams. From Fintech Foundations to AI-Driven Systems Furqan’s journey sits at the intersection of finance, technology, and execution. Before founding Plouton AI, he co-founded and exited a licensed fintech company, YPay Financial, which focused on expanding financial access for young investors. He later led…

At just 22, Afzal Khan is part of a new wave of Muslim entrepreneurs building platforms rooted in personal experience and real-world problems. As the founder of Influe, a fast-growing influencer marketing platform, his journey began not with success—but with disappointment. That moment would go on to shape the foundation of his company. A Problem That Started With One Unpaid Deal Afzal’s entrepreneurial journey began at the age of 18, when he was working as a content creator. Like many beginners, he secured his first brand collaboration through a middleman. He delivered the work. The brand got the content. But…

Abdur Rahman and Mohammed Aadil met in college, the kind of meeting that doesn’t feel significant at the time, but turns out to be everything. They were just two students who kept ending up in the same conversations, drawn together by a shared love of technology and an inability to stay quiet when something felt wrong. They talked a lot in those days. About ideas, about their community, about the gap between what was and what could be. Neither of them knew they were building something. They were just being honest with each other. From Awareness To Accessibility Rahman initially…

Nazir Ahmed’s entrepreneurial journey did not begin in a technology lab or business school classroom. It began in a Government Urdu School classroom—and was nearly halted by a life-threatening medical crisis. During his academic years, Ahmed went into a coma for three days and spent almost three months hospitalized. The episode was transformative. “That phase changed my perspective completely,” he reflects. “When you return from something like that, you value time differently.” Despite the interruption, he resumed his studies and later completed his graduation in Environmental Science. With no formal IT training and coming from a non-technical background, his path…

When Noaman Sayed completed his postgraduate degree at the University of Sydney in 2004, his career path appeared set for the corporate world. Over the next two decades, he built deep expertise across Digital Transformation, Business Process Reengineering, and Project Management—working across diverse sectors including Media, Publishing, Catering, Customs, Automotive, Healthcare, Restaurants, and IT. But nearly a decade ago, alongside a like-minded co-founder, Sayed stepped into entrepreneurship with a different intention: building a faith-centered platform designed not just for profit, but for purpose. Identifying A Gap In The Islamic Marketplace At the time the company was founded, access to Islamic…