Turning a Personal Story into a Purpose-Driven Startup For Adeel Syed, Founder and CEO of BiteBuddy.ai, entrepreneurship has always been about solving real-world problems. Having built his first website at the age of 14, Adeel has spent nearly three decades in web development, digital architecture, and artificial intelligence. His entrepreneurial journey includes two previous startups backed by renowned accelerators Y Combinator and Techstars, experiences that sharpened both his technical expertise and leadership. Yet the inspiration behind BiteBuddy.ai came from something much closer to home. Growing up, Adeel watched his father struggle to keep his restaurant afloat amid staff shortages and operational challenges. Those memories became the foundation of a company designed to eliminate one of the industry’s most overlooked problems—missed phone calls that translate directly into lost revenue. Using AI to Solve an Expensive Operational Challenge BiteBuddy.ai is an AI-powered phone agent built specifically for independent restaurants. The platform answers customer calls instantly, processes complex food orders with high accuracy, and integrates directly with leading point-of-sale systems such as Toast,…

Saudi Arabia-based Think has raised more than $8 million in pre-seed funding, marking what the company describes as the largest AI infrastructure and deeptech pre-seed round in the MENA region to date. The round was co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, with participation from Dhahran Techno Valley’s Venture Capital arm and a group of strategic angel investors. The new capital will accelerate team expansion, manufacturing scale-up, product development, and commercial growth as Think expands across Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and selected international markets. The funding also reflects growing investor confidence that the next phase of artificial intelligence will be driven not only by better models, but by smarter infrastructure capable of deploying those models efficiently and securely. Building the Infrastructure Behind AI While much of the AI industry has focused on developing larger language models and more powerful GPUs, Think is solving a different problem: making AI infrastructure significantly more efficient. Founded by Ahmed AlSharif, a former technology leader at Meta, Sony PlayStation Europe, and EA Games, together with…

After helping educate thousands of software developers through MohirDev, Mukhammad Khalil realized that talent alone wasn’t enough. Today, through Startup Garage, he is building the entrepreneurial infrastructure that could transform Uzbekistan into one of the world’s next great startup ecosystems. For decades, countries have been known for the natural resources they export. Saudi Arabia exports oil. Australia exports minerals. Brazil exports agricultural products. But what if a country could become known for exporting something far more valuable—entrepreneurs? That is the vision driving Mukhammad Khalil, Founder of Startup Garage, a venture studio that is quietly reshaping the entrepreneurial landscape of Central Asia. While many organizations focus on helping individual startups succeed, Khalil is thinking on an entirely different scale. His ambition is to build an ecosystem where creating successful technology companies becomes a repeatable capability rather than an occasional success story. It is an ambitious mission. Yet it is rooted in a simple observation. Great founders rarely emerge because of talent alone. They emerge when talented people are surrounded by mentors,…

Egypt-based logistics startup Mylerz has raised more than $2 million (EGP 100 million) in a new funding round led by Lorax Capital Partners, with participation from Fawry and a group of existing investors. The investment will strengthen the company’s balance sheet, finance working capital, and support the expansion of its logistics infrastructure as Egypt’s e-commerce market continues to grow rapidly. Founded in 2019 by Samer Gharaibeh, Mylerz provides end-to-end e-commerce logistics, fulfillment, and last-mile delivery services through a proprietary technology platform that enables merchants to efficiently manage shipments, inventory, and delivery operations. The latest financing follows the company’s $9.6 million funding round in 2022, reinforcing investor confidence in its long-term growth strategy. Powering Egypt’s E-Commerce Economy As online commerce accelerates across Egypt, logistics has become one of the country’s most critical infrastructure challenges. Fast delivery, reliable fulfillment, and efficient last-mile operations are increasingly determining the success of online retailers. Mylerz has positioned itself as a technology-driven logistics partner that enables merchants to focus on growing their businesses while the company…

UAE-based artificial intelligence company 9Yards X has acquired Labib AI, marking a significant step in strengthening Arabic-language artificial intelligence and accelerating the development of sovereign AI platforms across the Middle East and North Africa. The acquisition combines 9Yards X’s enterprise AI infrastructure with Labib AI’s expertise in Arabic natural language processing (NLP), large language models, and generative AI, creating one of the region’s most comprehensive AI platforms designed specifically for Arabic-speaking governments and enterprises. Founded by Hussam Almulhem, 9Yards X focuses on building sovereign AI infrastructure and enterprise AI solutions tailored for governments and highly regulated industries. Labib AI, founded by Mohammad Yaqub, has built specialized capabilities in Arabic language understanding, text generation, and natural language processing, making it a strategic addition to 9Yards X’s growing AI ecosystem. Building AI That Understands Arabic While global AI models continue to improve multilingual capabilities, Arabic remains one of the most underserved languages in artificial intelligence. Differences in dialects, cultural context, formal and conversational Arabic, and regional business terminology present unique challenges that…

Morocco-based super app ORA Technologies has extended its Series A funding round to $10 million, providing fresh capital to accelerate the growth of its digital payments business, expand its food delivery platform, and strengthen its ambition of building Morocco’s leading consumer technology ecosystem. Founded in 2023 by Omar Alami, ORA has now raised nearly $12 million since inception, making it one of Morocco’s best-funded consumer technology startups. More importantly, the latest round was led primarily by Azur Innovation Fund alongside other domestic investors, highlighting the growing maturity of Morocco’s venture capital ecosystem and the increasing willingness of local investors to back startups beyond the seed stage. Building Morocco’s Super App Rather than focusing on a single vertical, ORA is building what it describes as a Moroccan super app, combining digital payments, food delivery, e-commerce, money transfers, social features, and on-demand services within one integrated platform. At the center of this ecosystem are two flagship products: ORA Cash, the company’s digital wallet and money transfer solution, and Kooul, its rapidly growing…

After pioneering Nigeria’s largest online livestock marketplace, the founder of FarmEASY is tackling one of Africa’s biggest challenges—improving the productivity of millions of smallholder farmers through technology, training, and digital transformation. Africa possesses one of the world’s greatest agricultural advantages. The continent is home to more than 65% of the world’s uncultivated arable land, yet it continues to import over US$100 billion worth of food every year. For many observers, this contradiction reflects the complexity of agriculture across Africa. For Ibrahim Maigari, Founder and CEO of FarmEASY Technologies, it represents one of the continent’s greatest opportunities. “Africa should be feeding itself,” he says. “And beyond that, Africa should be helping feed the world.” That conviction has shaped nearly two decades of Ibrahim’s career, one dedicated to applying technology to agriculture—not as an end in itself, but as a practical tool to improve productivity, increase farmer incomes, and strengthen food security across the continent. From Law to Agricultural Innovation Unlike many agritech founders, Ibrahim’s journey did not begin on a farm…

Syrian marketplace startup AlMkhtar has closed a $100,000 seed funding round, led by angel investors Rani Abu-Shaar and Abdulah Al-Shamma, alongside a group of regional angel investors. The investment will support the company’s expansion across Syria, enhance its digital platform, and strengthen its position in the country’s growing online classifieds market. Founded in 2020 by Ayham Ksayer, AlMkhtar operates a digital marketplace connecting buyers and sellers, landlords and tenants, across real estate, vehicles, and a growing range of consumer categories. The company aims to modernize Syria’s fragmented marketplace by providing a trusted platform that simplifies transactions while improving transparency and efficiency for individuals and businesses alike. Building Syria’s Digital Marketplace While global platforms have transformed classifieds and online commerce in many countries, Syria’s digital marketplace remains relatively underserved. AlMkhtar is working to bridge that gap by creating a comprehensive platform where users can buy, sell, rent, and advertise through a single digital ecosystem. The platform extends beyond real estate and automobiles, allowing users to trade electronics, furniture, fashion, pets, and…