The Middle East is a region known for its high liquidity and its concentration of high-net worth individuals – and not for its tech sector. This is mainly due to the fact that the regional tech sector is underdeveloped. Entrepreneurship is hindered by complicated regulations and restrictions, bureaucracy, geopolitical and economic instability, and the lack…
The GCC, or Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman) has many advantages as a tech market. Its benefits include its comparatively high proportion of youth, and its strategic location – Dubai, which is emerging as the regional tech hub, is within a four-hour flight radius of one-third…
Chinese investors have been spending billions on foreign technology opportunities. By July 2016, Chinese entities had made investments into Silicon Valley worth over 6 billion USD (excluding real estate investments). More than half of this figure was invested over the past 18 months alone. Investors have been driven largely by growing wealth in China and…
As China continues to undergo a focused shift from a manufacturing-based economy to one that relies heavily on service sectors and technology, Chinese investors are sourcing innovative technology through investments into tech companies abroad. Media.net, an advertising technology startup based in Dubai and New York, has been acquired for around 900 million USD in cash…
The Middle Eastern technology market is growing rapidly, and there is now a significant risk that demand will soon begin to outpace supply. The e-commerce market in the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is set to be worth 15 billion USD. Homegrown e-commerce enterprises like Souq.com have already caught the attention of…
Cloud computing has been slowly but surely taking over the hospitality industry over the past few years. In 2012, it was touted as “the today and tomorrow of hosted hospitality”. Its reach is extensive, covering every type and size of hotel accommodation. This variety was highlighted in an article in the Journal of Instructional Pedagogies:…
The UAE’s financial sector is set for major changes ahead of what Bloomberg has called the biggest M&A deal in the Middle East. The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and First Gulf Bank (FGB) have agreed to merge, creating “the region’s largest lender”. The merger is expected to become effective in Q1 2017. According…
Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows peaked in 2015 to 1.76 trillion USD – the highest investment levels seen since the financial crisis of 2008-2009. The UN expects this figure to decline by between 10 and 15 percent this year. When FDI is broken down by sector, however, certain sectors are expected to do very well…
Venture capitalists based in the US are increasingly passing up the chance to invest in young startups, and choosing to invest into mature companies, preferably with proven business models. According to a report by research firm PitchBook Data, Q1 2016 saw the fewest number of seed-stage venture deals since 2013, with over half of all…
The recent 3.5 billion USD investment by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) into Uber has been the topic of heated discussion since its announcement in June. The investment gave the PIF’s Managing Director, Yasir Al Rumayyan, a seat on Uber’s Board of Directors, and this aspect of the deal has been criticised by some.…