The Arab Energy Fund becomes the first MENA multilateral institution approved to issue RMB-denominated Panda Bonds, enhancing funding diversification, fostering China-MENA capital market collaboration, and supporting long-term energy investment strategies.

WeRide and Uber have launched Level 4 fully driverless Robotaxi operations in Abu Dhabi, the first outside the U.S. Passengers can now book autonomous rides via Uber, marking a milestone in the Middle East’s self-driving mobility expansion.

The 2025 Discovery Series by Heriot-Watt University and Grant Thornton highlights women’s representation in UAE financial services boards, CROs, and HIAs, revealing progress while identifying gaps to accelerate gender-balanced leadership and inclusive governance across the sector.

In this episode of Born to Disrupt, hosts Grant Niven and Mark Walker sit down with Ulf Zetterberg, the founder of Seal Software and now the driving force behind Digital Mirror. Recording from the US, Dubai, and the UK, the trio dives into the next evolution of legal tech: moving beyond static contract management to dynamic performance tracking.

Aveni’s report explores AI adoption in UK financial services, revealing uneven maturity, operational gains, and the need for governance, explainability, and regulatory alignment to scale AI responsibly across wealth, insurance, advice, and consultancy sectors.

Chargebacks911 warns romance scams are rising ahead of Valentine’s Day, with UK losses exceeding £106M and reports up 35% in early 2025. Victims face low recovery rates, highlighting the need for vigilance across dating apps and social platforms.

Unbox Robotics has secured $28 million in Series B funding led by ICICI Venture to expand its robotics platform, strengthen engineering teams, and scale intelligent warehouse automation across India and international markets.

Datawave secures majority investment from Cerberus to develop the SING subsea cable system, linking the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The 16-fibre-pair network will deliver high-capacity, low-latency connectivity to support AI, cloud, and hyperscale infrastructure growth.

Huawei’s Allen Tang outlines how 5G-Advanced, Standalone networks, and mobile AI can drive telecom growth in the Middle East. Operators can unlock new revenue, immersive experiences, and AI-driven operations, positioning the region as a global leader in 5G innovation.

Silicon Valley chipmaker d-Matrix raised $275M in Series C funding, backed by Qatar Investment Authority, to scale its in-memory AI inference platform. The company aims to cut latency and power costs as global demand shifts from training to large-scale AI deployment.

Ant Group enhances its AI-native health assistant AQ with DeepSearch, offering clinicians rapid access to evidence-based guidelines, structured research, and clinical decision support. The platform integrates 36M+ publications and supports high-quality, reliable medical recommendations across China.

Street Child streamlines multi-currency fund management, donor reporting, and real-time financial visibility using Aqilla cloud accounting software, enabling faster month-end close, improved audit readiness, and full transparency across its 15 international offices.

NEO PAY and Wio Bank partner to offer a PoS lending solution for UAE SMEs, providing quick, sales-linked financing. The initiative simplifies access to working capital, empowering merchants to grow, manage cash flow, and seize new business opportunities.

ADX marked the UAE’s first 2026 financial listing with the Boreas S&P Absolute Luxury UCITS ETF, expanding investor access to global luxury brands and reinforcing Abu Dhabi’s position as the Middle East’s most active ETF market.

Property Finder and Stake join forces to enable fractional property investment in the UAE, starting from AED500, making real estate accessible to a wider audience while accelerating the digitalisation of the region’s real estate ecosystem.

Lloyds Banking Group introduced the AI Academy to provide practical AI skills across all roles, enabling colleagues to implement AI responsibly, improve customer services, simplify processes, and prepare the workforce for future AI-driven transformation.

Two flagship KAFD restaurants, Benoit and Il Baretto, earn MICHELIN Guide recognition, highlighting Riyadh’s growing culinary scene and the district’s commitment to world-class dining experiences as part of its Vision 2030 transformation.

Mastercard, L’Oréal, and Clara launch a credit card for beauty professionals in Latin America, driving financial inclusion, digital empowerment, and business growth for underbanked entrepreneurs across the region.

Taranis Capital Limited has received formal acknowledgement from the DFSA for the establishment of the Taranis Disruptive Tech Fund LP, marking a key regulatory milestone in its growth across innovation-led investments.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank launched the UAE Cybersecurity Innovation Challenge, bringing together startups, regulators, and tech leaders to accelerate AI-driven cybersecurity solutions, strengthen digital resilience, and enhance the UAE’s financial and national cyber infrastructure.

Wio Family lets households manage money together with shared accounts, virtual cards, and smart tools, helping families save, spend, and plan collaboratively while teaching children financial confidence.

Intuit partners with SISS Data Services to roll out open banking feeds for QuickBooks customers, enabling real-time data sync, improved cash flow insights, and paving the way for AI-driven financial solutions across Australia’s small businesses.

Ivo has secured $55M in Series B funding to accelerate its AI-driven contract intelligence platform, helping enterprises extract insights, reduce review time by up to 75%, and transform contracts into strategic business assets.

Multiply Labs is revolutionizing cell therapy production with robotic systems and AI-driven digital twins, cutting costs by up to 70%, increasing throughput, and reducing contamination risk, making life-saving therapies more scalable and accessible.

For Men’s Health Month, Dubai’s Harley-Davidson Chapter goes viral with a humorous, heartfelt campaign promoting early screening for prostate and testicular cancer, engaging men across the GCC and sparking vital conversations on male health.

A strategic collaboration worth up to $1 billion unites NVIDIA and Eli Lilly to harness AI for drug development, speeding up discovery and research with advanced biomedical models.

UrbanChain teams up with Low Carbon Hub to connect community-owned renewable energy directly with local consumers, creating fair, transparent trading, boosting local returns, and accelerating Oxfordshire’s transition to a low-carbon energy system.

NVIDIA has expanded its BioNeMo platform with new models, tools, and partnerships, enabling autonomous, AI-driven biology and drug discovery while reducing R&D costs and speeding up scientific breakthroughs.

Hub71 teams up with the UAE–India CEPA Council to onboard winning Indian startups into Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem, providing mentorship, market entry support, and pathways for regional scale under the Start-Up Series.

A new Vertiv™ Frontiers report reveals how AI-driven workloads are reshaping data center design and operations, accelerating trends such as high-voltage DC power, distributed AI, energy autonomy, digital twins, and adaptive liquid cooling to support gigawatt-scale AI infrastructure.