Shahbandr has partnered with Tabby to integrate flexible, interest-free payment options for online merchants in Saudi Arabia. The collaboration aims to boost conversion rates, enhance customer experience, and accelerate digital commerce growth across the Kingdom.

Aviva Investors has partnered with Ripple to tokenise traditional fund structures on the XRP Ledger. The collaboration aims to enhance efficiency, compliance, and scalability as institutional tokenisation moves toward large-scale adoption.

Delta40 raises $20 million to combine early-stage capital with hands-on operational support, backing founders across energy, mobility, agriculture, and fintech, while integrating AI solutions to accelerate scalable impact across the continent.

Firgun Ventures has made a strategic investment in Quantum Elements, a Los Angeles–based startup developing Constellation, an AI-powered digital twin platform for quantum circuit design. The company has secured partnerships with Rigetti, IBM, AWS, and leading research institutions to accelerate practical quantum applications.

Albatha Healthcare Group has acquired a majority stake in Insights Psychology, strengthening its footprint in psychological and mental health services. The move enhances integrated care offerings across age groups and aligns with the UAE’s National Strategy for Wellbeing 2031.

eToro (NASDAQ: ETOR) has partnered with Stockperks to deepen retail investor engagement through educational content, events, and direct access to leadership, reinforcing its mission to build a more inclusive, community-driven investing ecosystem.

Ripple, a blockchain enterprise solutions provider, has enabled its Ripple Prime platform to support Hyperliquid, a decentralized derivatives protocol. The integration allows institutional clients to access on-chain liquidity and cross-margin DeFi exposures alongside traditional assets, bridging centralized finance with decentralized markets for greater efficiency and innovation.

Revolut Business has launched a full‑suite 360 merchant acquiring product in Australia, enabling businesses to manage online, in-person, and account-to-account payments directly from their core business account. The platform consolidates multiple payment providers, offers same-weekend settlements in 30+ currencies, and aims to save Australian SMEs time while streamlining operations.

12 brands—from Everydae supplements to Aurenda apparel and California Fresh Home—are transforming daily life with wellness, sustainability, and creativity, offering practical, stylish, and purposeful solutions for home, travel, and self-care.

GoDaddy’s Agent Name Service (ANS) provides a trusted standard to register, verify, and discover AI agents, ensuring transparency, accountability, and safety as billions of agents emerge across the internet.

Rizon, active in 122 countries with 170,000+ installs, offers accessible digital dollar banking. Its $2M pre-seed funding from Market One Capital will accelerate global expansion and support borderless payments for freelancers and remote workers.

Final-year laboratory science students competed at LabQ, held at WHX Labs, with Gulf Medical University taking top honors. The event showcased pathology and lab medicine talent while connecting students with industry leaders in the UAE’s largest healthcare gathering.

iHerb has launched a new fulfillment center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, enhancing delivery speed, local inventory, and service across the Middle East and North Africa. The 40,000 sqm, climate-controlled facility strengthens the company’s regional e-commerce and logistics capabilities.

Zand, a UAE digital bank, partners with Ripple to advance blockchain-based stablecoin solutions, including AEDZ and RLUSD, enabling on-chain liquidity, tokenization, and regulated digital asset services to support the UAE’s growing digital economy.

Riyadh Air and Mastercard are partnering to create a fully digital travel ecosystem in Saudi Arabia, introducing branded credit and prepaid cards, virtual B2B travel payment solutions, and integrated rewards to enhance both consumer and business travel experiences.

Affirm and Virgin Media O2 are partnering to provide transparent, interest-free pay-over-time options for mobile devices and hardware, giving UK customers flexible, upfront, and hassle-free financing.

dLocal has partnered with DHL Express Brazil to automate Pix payments, eliminating manual reconciliation, accelerating parcel release, and boosting online payment adoption while aligning real-time payments with the speed demands of express logistics operations.

Property Finder reveals shifting buyer behaviour in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with rising homeownership, growing demand for premium and larger homes, strong apartment activity, and increased confidence driven by long-term residency policies and wealth inflows.

SumUp has introduced the Solo Lite card reader in the UK and Europe, offering small businesses a low-cost, portable payment device with Bluetooth connectivity, long battery life, and seamless integration with the SumUp app and Business Account.

N26 has introduced a debit card for children aged 7 to 17, allowing parents to manage spending, limits, and activity via the N26 app, supporting early financial independence within a secure, digital-first family banking ecosystem.

Incard has secured £10m in Series A funding led by Smartfin to expand its financial operating system, helping fast-growing digital companies centralise banking, payments, spend management, and AI-driven financial workflows across the UK and Europe.

Invest Qatar will showcase the country’s startup ecosystem at Web Summit Qatar 2026 through the Startup Qatar Pavilion, highlighting business setup support, funding access, and partnerships that help global startups scale into the region.

Africa’s growing data center market is transforming power investment, supporting cloud adoption, job creation, and technology ecosystems, with South Africa and Kenya emerging as regional hubs for digital infrastructure.

Up to $500 billion in value could be unlocked across the GCC by 2030 through real-world asset tokenization, with private markets, equities, and real estate leading adoption as regulation and infrastructure mature across the region.

ADX teams up with Saal.ai to create an AI-driven market data platform, enhancing real-time distribution, analytics, and governance. The initiative strengthens UAE financial infrastructure, promotes innovation, and improves accessibility for investors, brokers, and market participants.

Property Finder raised $170 million from Mubadala, a UAE sovereign fund, and BECO Capital, reinforcing its leadership in MENA’s property market and accelerating AI-driven innovation across the real estate journey.

CrowdStrike, in partnership with AWS and NVIDIA, selects 35 global startups for its 2026 Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator, offering mentorship, technical support, and funding to advance AI-driven cloud security innovations and prepare them for market impact.

Dubai SME has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Al Tadawi Healthcare Group to expand procurement access, commercial visibility, and growth opportunities for Emirati-owned SMEs. The partnership offers tailored procurement, discounted commercial spaces, and priority supplier opportunities, supporting the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) and strengthening the UAE’s SME ecosystem.

BARQ Systems, iOCO, and PortfolioTech have formed a strategic alliance to help MENA governments and enterprises modernize public services through secure, scalable cloud solutions, addressing legacy systems, cybersecurity challenges, and digital transformation needs.

DXC Technology and Ripple are partnering to help banks adopt secure digital asset custody and blockchain-based payments, enabling regulated institutions to scale tokenization, custody, and programmable payments without disrupting core banking systems.