Shows
Startups ArabiaKhaled Talhouni, Spotting and Supporting Great Founders and the Macro Trends Creating a Regional Golden Age – Ep.4, Season 3Khaled Talhouni is the Managing Partner and co-founder of Nuwa Capital, a VC firm investing in early-stage startups across the MENAPT region, based in Dubai and Riyadh. He has managed over 150 early-stage deals with a total AUM exceeding $300M and has successfully exited 15+. With deep expertise in venture investing and portfolio management, he plays a key role in shaping the region’s startup ecosystem.—-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most prominent founders, investors, and operators of the Arab region. You will be inspired by their success, the challenges they...2025-06-231h 15
Startups ArabiaMichael Lints, Investing in Defensible Tech and Building Strong Founder Relationships – Ep.3, Season 3Michael Lints has over 20 years of experience helping innovative businesses obtain the resources, insights, and expertise they need in order to be successful. Michael has been a startup operator, investor, and mentor, and is currently a Partner at the Singapore-based venture capital firm Golden Gate Ventures. He joined the firm in 2013 and is currently leading growth venture efforts, which include LP fundraising and portfolio management for Golden Gate Ventures investments at Series B and beyond.Michael’s entrepreneurial journey began in 2000 when he co-founded an IT managed services startup in Europe that was acquired by a large da...2025-06-091h 17
Startups ArabiaJulien Plouzeau, From Banking to VC, Multistage Investment Strategy, and a Deep Dive into the UAE Ecosystem – Ep.2, Season 3Julien is the Senior Partner at Oraseya Capital, where he leads the firm’s investment strategy, oversees deal sourcing and execution, and actively manages a diverse portfolio of early-stage startups. Oraseya Capital invests from pre-Seed to Series B stages, fostering innovation and scaling transformative businesses across key sectors. Julien is also a member of the investment committee.In 2021, Julien launched SANDBOX, Oraseya’s program for investing in and mentoring pre-Seed/Seed stage startups. The program has supported hundreds of founders, with 16 investments made in 2024 alone.Julien plays a pivotal role in mentoring founders, building long-term part...2025-05-181h 13
Startups ArabiaWaleed Alballaa, Unveiling the Global Potential and Deep Tech Innovations Emerging from the MENA Region – Ep.1, Season 3Waleed A. Alballaa is a technologist-turned-investor with a proven track record across global and MENA markets, spanning semiconductors, wireless, mobility, and eGovernment. As a Founding General Partner at Sukna Ventures, he backs early-stage, tech-driven startups across the region. Prior to Sukna, Waleed co-founded STV, one of the MENA region’s largest VC funds, and led pivotal initiatives at Elm—including launching the firm’s first business sector and founding its corporate venture arm.Waleed’s earlier career includes high-tech development roles at Cadence Design, Conexant, Skyworks Solutions, and Microsoft in the U.S. He holds a Master’s in Compu...2025-05-041h 46
VC React PodcastVC React Podcast (E23): DeepSeek Moment! New Growth Funds In MENA, New Sector Focus For MENA VCs!VC React Podcast:
Every week, we bring you insights and reactions from top VCs, reacting to the latest news on MENA startups, VCs, and investment rounds. Stay tuned for: expert analysis, independent opinions, and maybe some heated conversations!
Hosts:
Ahmad Takatkah, VCpreneur.
Sign up to VCpreneur Newsletter on https://www.vcpreneur.com/
Jamie Lane, FWDstart.
Sign up to FWDstart Newsletter on https://www.fwdstart.me/
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Available on:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@VCReactPodcast
Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vc-react-podcast
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc-react-podcast/id1764834384
Amazon: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/bdc23d6a-4381-405d-bf59-53560c671c11/vc...2025-01-3152 min
Startups ArabiaSaoud Khalifah, Building with Obsession, Challenging Comfort Zones and Needed Cultural Shifts in the Arab World – Ep.13, Season 2Saoud was born in Kuwait during the Gulf War and left to the US at the age of 18. Saoud launched Fakespot.com in 2016, a platform that detects fake reviews using AI, after being scammed by a supplement with fake ratings. Since then, Fakespot is now used by millions of shoppers worldwide when browsing popular eCommerce websites. Fakespot was acquired by Mozilla in 2023 and is now integrated into Mozilla Firefox, one of the world's most utilized browsers. Prior to working at Fakespot, Saoud was a software engineer at Goldman Sachs and graduated from Monmouth University with his Bachelors and Masters...2025-01-271h 51
Startups ArabiaLeena Khalil, Building a Community-Centric Platform, Managing Complex Supply Chains, and Navigating Exit Opportunities – Ep.12, Season 2Leena Khalil is currently a Partner at Key Capital and was the co-founder of Mumzworld. In 2011, she co-founded Mumzworld.com, a leading platform dedicated to making parenting easier across the region. Following its strong growth, Mumzworld.com was fully acquired by the Saudi healthcare giant Tamer Group. Leena stepped down as CEO in 2024.Before her role at Mumzworld, Leena worked in investment banking in London, where she successfully launched equity transactions for TMT clients across multiple geographies. She later transitioned to business process outsourcing, focusing on optimizing local government processes and customer service through the integration of...2025-01-051h 15
Startups ArabiaMohammad AlRazaz, Building a Remote Logistics Powerhouse and Global Ambitions for Regional Startups – Ep.11, Season 2Mohammad AlRazaz is a serial entrepreneur and the Co-founder & CEO of OTO, MENA’s largest shipping integrator and aggregator platform, powering online businesses and omni-channel brands. At just 22, Mohammad launched Jeeny (formerly EasyTaxi) in Saudi Arabia with Rocket Internet, becoming the youngest Country Manager globally. An MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp alumnus, he has built multiple ventures spanning transportation, e-commerce, logistics, and technology.A curious soul, new father, coffee addict, remote work advocate, desserts maker, and a proud MENAT region nationalist.—-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most prom...2024-12-222h 08
Startups ArabiaAmal Dokhan, Championing Innovation, Inspiring Women Leaders, and the Transforming Saudi Venture Landscape – Ep.10, Season 2Amal Dokhan is an entrepreneurship advocate, a venture capitalist and an ecosystem builder operating for more than a decade in the MENA region. Amal is the managing partner at 500 Global managing the Sanabil 500 MENA seed accelerator fund focusing on investing in early stage tech startups. She previously worked at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, managing accelerator programs and delivering corporate innovation programs with many large organizations. Amal also has worked on several government initiatives during her time in the Small and Medium enterprise Authority.Amal has also angel invested in many startups as well as...2024-12-011h 40
Startups ArabiaMohammed Alzubi, Treasuring Entrepreneurial Scars and Bringing Back Silicon Valley Insights to the MENA region - Ep.9, Season 2Mohammed is the Managing Partner at Nama Ventures, a pre-seed / seed stage fund fueling techinnovation in the MENA region, especially in Saudi. Previously, he was the managing director ofTharwa Capital, a Dubai based financial investment and advisory firm focusing on the technologyequity markets.He’s also led the Venture Capital practice at Global Investment House, a Kuwait based investmentcompany. Prior to that, he was the Director of Technology Investments at Dubai Silicon OasisAuthority (DSOA). and the Founder and CEO of Sulaf Solutions, a...2024-11-171h 19
Startups ArabiaAmeer Sherif, From Bootstrapping During Turmoil to Building a Regional Employment Powerhouse - Ep.8, Season 2Ameer Sherif is the founder and chairman of Basharsoft, the company behind Wuzzuf and Forasna, Egypt's leading online employment platforms for both white collar and blue collar workers, respectively. Collectively, both platforms impacted the lives of over seven million job seekers in Egypt and helped 70,000+ companies hire more than one million people over the past years.They've had significant growth and impact on the local online employment market, and they have been one of Egypt's fastest growing local tech companies. He's raised a total of 12 million in VC funding along the way, and he's built a team o...2024-11-031h 41
Startups ArabiaHasan Haider, Embracing Non-Obvious Outliers, and his Early Stage Investment Thesis - Ep.7, Season 2Hasan Haider has over 13 years of experience investing in MENA startups. Hasan is the Founder and Managing Partner of +VC, one of the most active early stage venture capital firms focused on the MENA region. Hasan was previously Managing Partner, MENA at 500 Startups and led the firms growth in the MENA Region, turning 500 Startups into the most active VC fund in the MENA region, raising and deploying the 500 Falcons fund, building partnerships and running programs in the region to help build the regional ecosystem. Hasan has invested in more than 250 startups in the region over the course of the...2024-10-201h 17
Startups ArabiaAhmad Takatkah, Leveraging Data Science in Venture Capital, Experiencing Silicon Valley Hypergrowth and Processing Failure in Startups - Ep.6, Season 2VCpreneur, at The Intersection Of VC & DataAhmad Takatkah is a technical founder turned VC, with a background in computer engineering, data science (AI and ML), and product management. Over the past 15 years, Ahmad has helped set up and operate three VC firms. For which he created new deal sourcing, startup evaluation, and exit prediction tools. Ahmad utilized a new AI model he customized to summarize startup pitch decks and prepare investment memos and DD reports. He utilized a new data model he designed to collect 300+ data points on startups, and then used ML...2024-09-221h 47
VC React PodcastVC React Podcast (E5): Saudi's AI Investments, Egypt's Mega Round In FinTech, Jordan's AcceleratorsVC React Podcast:
Every week, we bring you insights and reactions from top VCs, reacting to the latest news on MENA startups, VCs, and investment rounds. Stay tuned for: expert analysis, independent opinions, and maybe some heated conversations!
Host: Ahmad Takatkah, VCpreneur.
Sign up to VCpreneur Newsletter on https://www.vcpreneur.com/
Co-Host: Jamie Lane, FWDstart.
Sign up to FWDstart Newsletter on https://www.fwdstart.me/
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Available on:
Youtube: VC React Podcast
Spotify: VC React Podcast
Apple: VC React Podcast
Amazon: VC React Podcast
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Guests:
1. Ali Zewail, Venture Partner @ Endure Capital
- LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alizewail/
- VC Firm Website: http://www.endurecap.com/
2. Hasan Haid...2024-07-2550 min
Startups ArabiaRama Kayyali, Building a mission-driven company, adopting cutting-edge technology to improve Arabic language literacy and pivoting several times - Ep.5, Season 2Rama Kayyali is CEO and co-founder of Little Thinking Minds, an award-winning edtech company with a mission to close Arabic language literacy gaps, creating digital learning platforms to improve targeting over 100 million children in MENA and over 100 million globally. Currently Little Thinking Minds platforms are used by half a million students in 800 schools in 10 countries in the MENA region in private and public schools as well as schools that cater to refugee communities.Little Thinking Minds is a multiple globally recognized and award winning company:2023 winner of the Innovation Award from the...2024-02-111h 07
Startups ArabiaWael Nafee, Transitioning from operator to investor, YC’s secret sauce and building Careem in its growth phase - Ep.4, Season 2Wael is a Computer Engineer, serial entrepreneur, and YC alumnus who has co-founded various startups in the Silicon Valley and the Middle East. He was one of the early employees of Careem and held roles including VP of Product Management and VP of Platform Superapp Business Unit until Uber's acquisition for $3.1bn. Wael is a techie at heart and has built technology products used by tens of millions of users worldwide. He is currently a General Partner at Raed Ventures, a VC firm investing in early stage startups in the region, and is passionate about building tech capacity and fosterin...2024-01-281h 21
Startups ArabiaWaleed Kadous, Decoding LLM-based approaches and startup versus big tech culture - Ep.3, Season 2Dr. Waleed Kadous is Chief Scientist at Anyscale, the company behind the popular open source distributed computing platform Ray. He leads the company’s LLM efforts. Prior to Anyscale, Waleed worked at Uber, where he led overall system architecture, evangelized machine learning, and led the Location and Maps teams. He previously worked at Google, where he founded the Android Location and Sensing team, responsible for the “blue dot” as well as ML algorithms underlying products like Google Fit. He also holds more than 40 patents. —-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most prominent founders...2024-01-081h 36
Startups ArabiaAsher Siddiqui, VC fundraising, GP/LP dynamics, and advising Robert Downey Jr's fund - Ep.2 Part 2, Season 2Asher Siddiqui is a tech investor with a global career spanning 25+ years, having made 100+ investments valued at $15bn+.Asher is a General Partner at Sukna Ventures, a MENA focused early-stage VC Fund that backs exceptional teams building the software & data infrastructure layer enabling the digital transformation of industries across the MENA region.Asher started out in the late 90’s as an entrepreneur and software engineer building J2EE B2B SaaS products (1998-2006), followed by 10 years (2006-2016) in corporate M&A, as Head of M&A and CVC at Etisalat Group (now e& Group - c...2023-12-241h 43
Startups ArabiaAsher Siddiqui, Thriving through boom and bust, picking the right startups and architecting billion-dollar mega-deals - Ep.2 Part 1, Season 2Asher Siddiqui is a tech investor with a global career spanning 25+ years, having made 100+ investments valued at $15bn+.Asher is a General Partner at Sukna Ventures, a MENA focused early-stage VC Fund that backs exceptional teams building the software & data infrastructure layer enabling the digital transformation of industries across the MENA region.Asher started out in the late 90’s as an entrepreneur and software engineer building J2EE B2B SaaS products (1998-2006), followed by 10 years (2006-2016) in corporate M&A, as Head of M&A and CVC at Etisalat Group (now e& Group - c...2023-12-101h 42
Startups ArabiaIsmael Belkhayat, Startup as an Extreme Sport and Business in French-speaking Africa - Ep.1, Season 2Ismael Belkhayat is the CEO and cofounder of Chari. He’s a serial founder who is a notable figure in the Moroccan tech ecosystem. After his time in consulting at the Boston Consulting Group, Ismael founded two companies that would kickstart his entrepreneurial career: the Venture Builder Wib.co, a startup studio, and VotreChauffeur, a leading ground transportation company in Morocco later acquired by Avis Car Rental. After gaining significant traction and recognition, Ismael went on to found Sarouty, a marketplace that facilitates real estate deals, helping people to rent or buy property across Morocco.Within two ye...2023-11-051h 16
Startups ArabiaConcluding the first season of the Startups Arabia podcastWith that we conclude the first season of the Startups Arabia Podcast. Your host, Ali Zewail, takes a moment to reflect on the podcast’s first season and the journey thus far.Thank you for joining us and a special thank you to our wonderful guests who made it all possible.—-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most prominent founders, investors, and operators of the Arab region. You will be inspired by their success, the challenges they overcame and the opportunities they see.Check us out on: https://www...2023-06-2710 min
Startups ArabiaEman Hylooz, The power of listening to your customers: evolving from a community to the biggest Arabic digital reading platform - Ep.12, Season 1Eman Hylooz is the Founder and CEO of Abjjad, the first and biggest Arabic digital reading platform. Her passion for reading and solid experience in technology inspired her to create Abjjad and embark on the journey of promoting digital reading in the Middle East. Prior to establishing Abjjad, Eman worked in the IT field, where she gained valuable experience in digital marketing. She has also worked closely with entrepreneurs in three local startups and was employed at KPMG in her most recent job. Eman is an accomplished businesswoman with a proven track record of success and has been recognized...2023-06-041h 48
Startups ArabiaBelal El-Megharbel, Serving the underserved, acquiring their way into Morocco, and leveraging data for hypergrowth - Ep.11, Season 1Belal is the co-founder and CEO of MaxAB, after getting his BASs from Virginia Tech in the States, Belal decided to join his family business and worked there for 2 years before joining the famous ride-hailing app "Careem'', then he decided to walk out of flourishing career in the middle east's first unicorn to build an app that will transform the Egyptian B2B grocery market forever! In 2018, he teamed up with Mohamed Ben Halim (Co-founder and COO) and formed the e-commerce marketplace MaxAB to connect informal food and grocery sellers with suppliers and provide a wide range of services...2023-05-211h 11
Startups ArabiaRoberto Croci, Insights on the Gulf startup environment and how the Arab startup ecosystem has evolved in the past decade - Ep.10, Season 1Roberto has over 20 years of experience working for companies such as Microsoft and Google. Roberto is now the Director of Value Creation and Transformation at the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), which is the engine, driving the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s economy. He is passionate about innovation, startups and people, where he thrives mentoring young people across the globe - helping them develop an entrepreneurial mindset as they look to solve the world’s most pressing problems.—-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most prominent founder...2023-05-071h 05
Startups ArabiaRomouz Sadeq, Pivoting Mrayti from an Uber-like to a product-centric business model, and introducing her new startup, OVU, for the first time! - Ep.9, Season 1Romouz Sadeq is the founder & CEO of www.mrayti.com the Arab world's leading natural cosmetics store, funded by Oasis500, Oman Tech Fund and ISSF!Prior to Mrayti, Romouz served as CPO of the #1 Arab world review platform Jeeran where she worked on: Revamping Jeeran's mobile apps on Android, iPhone, and the release of a windows phone app as well as Jeeran's mobile site. She's also recognized for her work on building the current monetization product that has been sold to over 200 clients so far. Between 2011 and 2013, Romouz was the regional marketing manager for LG Mobile where...2023-04-231h 09
Startups ArabiaOmar Hagrass, Early challenges, Trella’s fast growth, and a winning founder’s mentality - Ep.8, Season 1Omar is the CEO & co-founder of Trella, a leading regional trucking platform. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Economy from the University of Oregon and then went on to work at CI Capital as an Investment Banking Analyst for three years. After this, he joined Uber as the Community Operations Manager in Cairo and then transitioned to serve as the Launch and Expansion EMEA Manager in the UK, where he set up the operations for UberEATS across EMEA in Dubai, Cape Town, Riyadh, and 40+ cities in the UK. He left Uber in 2018 to co-found Trella....2023-04-0848 min
Startups ArabiaAyman Ashour, Corporate vs Startup world, challenges in fundraising, and insights about mergers and acquisitions - Ep.7, Season 1Ayman S. Ashour is the Founder and Principal of NewtonInternational Management, an advisory and investment firmfocused on technology with special focus on mobility, payment,identification and security markets since 2000.Ashour served as Chairman and CEO for Identiv, (US:INVE,FRANKFURT:INV) which he joined in January 2010 following thecombination of Bluehill ID and SCM Microsystems. Ashour earlierfounded Bluehill ID AG, an RFID technology company in 2007.Ashour’s professional experience includes several executivepo...2023-03-251h 07
Startups ArabiaTambi Jalouqa, Product first and encouraging regional collaboration - Ep. 6, Season 1Tambi Jalouqa is the CEO and Managing Partner at Propeller, the Jordan-based venture capital firm. He was on the founding team at POSRocket which ended up being Propeller’s first exit. Tambi is passionate about all things product, from customer discovery, refining the user experience and all the way down to system architecture.We talked to Tambi about his opinions on regional opportunities, why he thinks product comes first, and the startup ecosystem in Jordan.—-----------------------------------------------------------The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the most...2023-01-211h 05
Startups ArabiaNoureddine Tayebi, Founder of Yassir on hypergrowth, building in the region and other observations - Ep. 5, Season 1Noureddine Tayebi holds a Diplôme d'Ingénieur from Ecole Polytechnique of Algiers and a PhD in Engineering from Stanford University. He also holds three Master Degrees in various disciplines of Engineering and Management. After a rich entrepreneurial and corporate experience in Silicon Valley, he returned to the region to found Yassir which is the leading super App service for on demand and payment services in the Maghreb region with recent expansions into Sub-Saharan Africa. He holds over 50 patents and scientific publications.Yassir was founded in 2017 in Algeria as a ride-hailing app. Since then, Ya...2023-01-071h 11
Startups ArabiaMai Medhat, A founder’s journey: Taking Eventtus from a base in Cairo, to Dubai, to the US (with Bevy) - Ep. 4, Season 1Mai Medhat is the CEO and co-founder of Eventtus; an events engagement platform and the leading event technology company in the Middle East. Eventtus has been acquired in July 2021 by Bevy, a California-based enterprise software startup for virtual conferences and community events.Mai is an Egyptian tech entrepreneur who holds a Computer Engineering degree. She co-founded Eventtus with a mission to mobilize events after a personal experience at some events that used to be managed manually. The company raised +4M in VC funding and is successfully serving 20,000+ events in 60+ cities. Mai was named “Entrepreneur of the Year" by...2022-12-241h 07
Startups ArabiaAfnan Ali, Business with a purpose, Eureka Tech Academy, and having a lasting impact - Ep. 3, Season 1Afnan Ali is the founder of Eureka Tech Academy. Eureka Tech Academy prepares kids to be engineers, innovators, and tech entrepreneurs, and she's had an impact on thousands of kids in the process. Afnan started her career as an electrical communications engineer and has worked in research and development before starting Eureka Tech Academy. She has also won many awards including the UN's UNCTAD award for best female tech entrepreneur in 2020 and best Arab entrepreneur in 2015. We got to hear from Afnan about the story of Eureka Tech Academy and it’s impact, what she finds most important when st...2022-12-1031 min
Startups ArabiaTarek Fahim, What is different about making investment decisions in the Arab region? - Ep. 2, Season 1Tarek Fahim is the managing partner at Endure Capital. Tarek has invested in some of the most prominent startups of the region like Careem, Breadfast, and Wuzzuf as well as investing in North American companies like Boom Supersonic and Aspect Biosystems. Tarek’s broad exposure gives him a strong insight into the world of venture. We got to hear from Tarek about his best tips for founders and investors, his experiences abroad from interacting with funds like YC, and the most promising prospects for startups in the region.TIMESTAMPS:00:00 Introduction01:42 Ea...2022-11-261h 33
Startups ArabiaAyman Rashed, The Otlob Story and MENA region’s opportunity for startup founders - Ep.1. Season 1As the founder of Otlob (which later became part of Talabat), Ayman Rashed is behind one of the first startups and first exits of the region. Starting Otlob in 1999 and going from idea to acquisition within a span of less than a year, Ayman stands out as one of the pioneering startup founders in the region. We got to know from Ayman about his journey as founder of Otlob, how he sees the MENA startup region today and how he predicts its growth into the future.The Startups Arabia Podcast connects you to the...2022-11-1059 minStartups ArabiaStartups Arabia TrailerCheck us out here: https://www.startupsarabia.com/Follow us on our social media platforms to stay updated and get in touch:Twitter: @ArabiaStartupsLinkedIn: Startups Arabia PodcastFacebook: @startupsarabiaYoutube: Startups Arabia Podcast2022-07-0701 min
HazCastعلي زويل عن ريادة الأعمال في مصر وهدفه لمنافسة فيسبوكAli Zewail is one of the most hard working entrepreneurs in Egypt. He went from working in well known multinationals, like Intel, to starting his own social media company, Chaino. In this episode, he gives great advice to entrepreneurs, and he doesn't think it's crazy to compete with Facebook.2019-04-141h 35