We talk to founders, VCs, operators, and regulators. Every interview is a window into how things actually work — not how they look on LinkedIn.
General Partner, Nuwa Capital
Dubai, UAE
Omar has deployed over $50M across 30+ MENA startups. We talked about what he looks for in a pitch, why he thinks Saudi founders are underestimated, and the pattern in every startup that failed.
“Most people pitch me the market. I want to know why you — specifically you — are the person who should build this.”
Co-founder & CEO, FinFlow
Riyadh, KSA
Sara built FinFlow from a university project into a Series A fintech processing $200M in transactions. She walked us through getting Sharia certification, why it took 8 months, and what she'd do differently.
“Getting the fatwa was harder than getting the funding. And I say that as someone who got rejected by 40 investors.”
Founding Partner, Desert Ventures
Riyadh, KSA
How he raised his first fund at 23, what he looks for, his biggest miss, and the one thing he thinks every student interested in VC gets wrong.
“Everyone wants to be a VC until they realize it's 90% saying no to people you genuinely like.”
VP of Operations, Kitopi
Dubai, UAE
Layla told us what breaks when you scale a food operation across borders, and why most food startups die from logistics — not demand.
“In food tech, the product isn't the app. The product is whether the chicken arrives hot. That's it.”
Every Sunday: the biggest deals decoded, one startup explained, the ethics behind the headlines. No fluff, free forever.
Join 0 readers. We're just getting started.