“I got tired of reading startup headlines and not understanding what any of them actually do.”
— The person behind Riwa
I'm a high school junior. I've spent two summers as a research intern in labs, which taught me how to read papers and constantly ask myself — how far in the future will this science take us? Will it stand the test of time? That curiosity eventually led me to startups. I found myself on the a16z news and content page, reading their breakdowns and thinking: this is incredible, it's global, it's engaging. And then I wondered — what do we have in MENA that's like this? If I can't find it, why not make it?
When reading about startups and their underlying research, I stumbled and struggled to understand unfamiliar jargon, tried and tried to read through context clues hoping to understand the companies better — and I noticed something continual:
The same confusion kept showing up, and there wasn't a good place to go for clear answers.
Every time a startup raised a round, I'd see the same press release: "[Company] raises $30M to leverage AI-powered solutions for seamless enterprise transformation." I'd click on their website and leave more confused than before. So I started doing my own digging. I'd read the filings, find the actual product, look at the competitive landscape, and then explain it to my friends like: "They basically built Plaid but for Saudi banks."
My goal is to build a platform that shines a light on the MENA region and bridges the knowledge gap, so that audiences of all backgrounds in Saudi and the wider Middle East can understand what's going on. Most people don't have access to insider resources — they don't understand how the ecosystem works, how startups get funded, or what VCs actually do. By sharing stories of founders, investors, and ecosystem builders, I want to demystify this industry and provide people with the tools I wish I had. I'm learning as I go, and I want to take you through this journey with me.
When you read about a startup here, you should walk away thinking "damn, I get it now." Analogies, examples, plain language.
Is the business model Sharia-compliant? Are AI safety guardrails being dropped for the right reasons? We dig into the law and ethics.
Most people don't have insider access. By sharing real stories from founders and ecosystem builders, we give everyone the tools to understand.
We're not pretending to be experts. Student-led, learning in public, building instinct one story at a time — and inviting you along.
Riwa launches. First blog post published. The newsletter goes live. This is where it starts.
More milestones will appear here as we hit them. This is a journey we're building in real time — follow along.
I'm building this in public, learning as I go, and sharing everything along the way. If you're curious about the MENA startup ecosystem — whether you're a student, a founder, an investor, or just someone who wants to understand how things work — come along for the ride.
Want to be interviewed? Have a startup we should cover? Just want to say hi? Reach out.