The Mastercard Economics Institute forecasts the Middle East and North Africa economy will expand by 3.6% in 2026, ahead of the global growth rate of 3.1%.

The $20 billion partnership will invest in AI infrastructure in Qatar and select international markets, with government-backed support for skills and supply chains.

A new agreement in Abu Dhabi will expand funding and advisory support for family-owned and emerging SMEs.

Hypemasters, operating from Abu Dhabi, secures $1 million in a round led by Impact46 to fuel new strategy game launches.

Confluent brings cloud‑native data streaming behind the firewall in the Middle East, with new Tableflow integrations spanning hybrid and multicloud.

The new FIDA cluster will expand Abu Dhabi’s financial ecosystem, supporting fintech, insurance, digital assets and alternative investments as part of the emirate’s long-term economic strategy.

The $100 million agreement aims to widen access to finance for MSMEs across Egypt, with a focus on youth- and women-led businesses and broader private-sector growth.

Founded in 2024 Qwacks is building a unified layer for game development as demand for Saudi-made infrastructure grows.

Binance has secured full regulatory approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market, marking the first such global licence granted to a major crypto exchange under its framework.

Digital Islamic bank ruya, in partnership with asset infrastructure provider Fuze, has rolled out a regulated, Shariah-compliant Bitcoin trading feature in its app, a global first for Islamic banking.

This funding round represents one of the largest allocations in the region’s B2B financing space.

The AI-driven tailoring platform unveiled a redeveloped app and is targeting GCC expansion in 2026 and 2027.