Friday, March 29

Tag: Middle East

Uber In Talks To Merge With Careem In Middle East
MIDDLE EAST

Uber In Talks To Merge With Careem In Middle East

Uber Technologies is in preliminary talks with the Middle East cab service company Careem Networks for the purpose of combining their ride-hailing services in the Middle East. Both the cab companies have discussed various considerable deal structures but have still not come to an agreement. According to the reports, current leaders of Careem would be managing the newly combined business, as well as retaining one or both of the companies' local brands. Another proposal that has been reported is that the Uber will be acquiring the Middle-East ride-hailing mobile application. If not acquiring Careem wholly, Uber stated that it would need to own more than half of the combined company. To this, Careem has yet not declined or accepted any comments. "Our ambition is to build a lasting inst...
Isreal seeks help from India and others to build cyber sheild
MIDDLE EAST, News

Isreal seeks help from India and others to build cyber sheild

Middle East country Israel is partnering with several countries including India to develop state-level cyber shields via its nodal agency Israel National Cyber Directorate (INCD). According to Yigal Unna, director general, INCD, Isreal garners 20% of the total global private investments in cybersecurity and is now looking to strengthen its partnership with global nations to make its cyber world safer and more robust. Speaking in the context of increasing cyber threats, Unna said that they are becoming “bigger in quality and volume”. Unna further said that country's securing cyberspace of the country is one of the main objectives of the directorate, which today is a consolidated body after the merger of the National Cyber Authority and the National Cyber Bureau. Isreal strongly ...
Qatar Approves Draft Law on Permanent Residency of Foreigners
MIDDLE EAST

Qatar Approves Draft Law on Permanent Residency of Foreigners

Arab Country, Qatar has moved a step ahead in granting permanent residency to foreigners after a senior legislative body approved the draft law, a move announced amidst ongoing Gulf crisis. According to the state media, Shura council has given its nod to the draft law that would grant residency to expatriates providing valuable service as well as to the children of Qatari women married to non-Qataris. Announced first after four Arab countries imposed sanctions on Qatar over support of terrorism, the draft law finally has been approved that will allow permanent residents to acquire free state education, healthcare and right to own property. This would notably be the first such law proposed by one of the energy-rich Gulf states. At present, current work realted laws in Qatar are suc...
How Middle East Is Performing as a Digital Economy
MIDDLE EAST

How Middle East Is Performing as a Digital Economy

Digital Technology and Internet of Things are deeply transforming businesses and governments in the Middle East and North Africa. Even the World Bank believes that Investment into digital transformation in the major Cities of the Middle East and North Africa region(MENA) can unlock huge potential for the service economy to drive growth and job creation across the region, as announced in its report that came in April 2018. There are a lot of factors that act in the favour of MENA making it particularly well-positioned to take advantage of digital opportunities. A young and tech-savvy population, advanced information and communication technologies, or ICT, infrastructure are some of the key ingredients that act as strong benchmarks for MENA countries such as such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, a...
India to give 50% stake to Saudi Aramco in Mega Refinery
BUSINESS

India to give 50% stake to Saudi Aramco in Mega Refinery

Saudi Aramco, an alliance of India state refineries has agreed to build a mega refinery based petrochemical project on India's west coast for an estimated $44 billion, as per the sources involved in the oil deal. The move will grant 50 percent stake to Saudi Aramco, in a planned 1.2 billion barrel per day amount granting the oil kingdom a new outlet for its oil. Khalid al-Falih, Saudi oil minister is expected to visit Delhi for International Energy Forum post which the preliminary agreement on the deal will be announced by Wednesday. We see India as a priority for investments and for our crude supplies,” Saudi Arabia Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said. "We see India as a priority for investment as well as crude oil.We are very much interested in retail and want to be consumer...
Five Major Economic Changes of Middle East to Look Into
MIDDLE EAST

Five Major Economic Changes of Middle East to Look Into

Middle East region has always been a conflicted area ever since its inception. Whether it is the continuously growing mass killing of Syrian refugees, or it is never ending regional, religious issues in Jerusalem, or the threats posed by ISIL groups over Syria and Libya, the problems just never seem to seize. In the midst of all the negative occurrences hovering and circumscribing the middle east, let’s have a sharp look at the positive advances of the economic aspects of the middle east region.   Booming Startups & Tech Middle east is now becoming one of those countries, which is attracting a lot of business with a wide range of start-ups and entrepreneurship enthusiasts. JustMop, Talabat, Souq.com, are some of the expanding start-ups with brilliant innovative ideas, that ar...
The Growth of Fintech Startups in MENA
MIDDLE EAST

The Growth of Fintech Startups in MENA

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the home of oil and Arab princes, the fintech sector is penetrating its roots in the country. Over the past decade, fintech startups in MENA region have raised over $100 million total funding, which is expected to get double by the year 2020. The net funding raised by these fintech startups in the year 2017 is $24 million alone, an increase of 13percent on the $18 million in disclosed investments in 2016. Among these it PayTabs raised the highest funding of $20 million last year, a fintech startup that provides business solutions to online businesses across the globe. Adding to the sector, YallaComapare (former Comareit4Me) raised a funding of $3.5 million and $1.46 million investment received by Now Money. Among the latest happenings in the fi...
World’s First Automatic Transportation Pods Tested In Dubai
MIDDLE EAST

World’s First Automatic Transportation Pods Tested In Dubai

Technology drives Innovation or Innovation drives Technology, in both case there is an invention. An invention to make a better product than before. Speaking about inventions in transport sector, we have come a long way from bicycle, motorcycle, scooter, car, trains, metro that depends on human labor to work. Although, Driver-less carry pods in Dubai is ready to add a new feather in the transport facilities available. The Emirate's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced to test independent pods in the country, since it is planning for 25% of the public transport journeys to be driverless by 2030. This is being done in collaboration with US technology firm Next Future Transportation. The agreement seems to build in late 2016, when the Dubai ride hailing service Careem annou...
Saudi Prince Invested $62 Million Dollar in Middle East Based Taxi Aggregator Careem
FUNDING

Saudi Prince Invested $62 Million Dollar in Middle East Based Taxi Aggregator Careem

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC) chaired by HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud, acquired a 7% stake in ride hailing service Careem through a Secondary Share purchase as well as participating in the latest Round E funding to a total transaction value of $62M. The transaction makes KHC one of the largest holders of Preferred Shares in Careem and will grant KHC a board seat on Careem's board of directors. KHC's CEO Eng. Talal Ibrahim Al Maiman said, "Our investment in Careem is a continuation of our strategy to invest in new technologies as we have done with our investments in Twitter, JD.com and Lyft. As the leading ride hailing company in the region, and positioned with excellent growth prospects, Careem sets an example for regional businesses by providing employment opport...
Robocop Joins Dubai Police to Fight Real Life Crime
MIDDLE EAST

Robocop Joins Dubai Police to Fight Real Life Crime

A robotic policeman which can help identify wanted criminals and collect evidence has joined Dubai's police force and will patrol busy areas in the city, as part of a government program aimed at replacing some human crime-fighters with machines. If the "Robocop" experiment is successful, Dubai Police says it wants the unarmed robots to make up 25 percent of its patrolling force by 2030. Clad in the colors of the Dubai Police uniform, the life-size robot, which can shake hands and perform a military salute, is the lighter side of a government plan to use technology to improve services and security ahead of Dubai hosting Expo 2020. "These kind of robots can work 24/7. They won't ask you for leave, sick leave or maternity leave. It can work around the clock," said Brigadier Khalid Na...
Delivery Hero Acquires Kuwait Based Food Delivery Service Carriage
ACQUISITION

Delivery Hero Acquires Kuwait Based Food Delivery Service Carriage

Delivery Hero Group (“Delivery Hero”), the leading global online food ordering and delivery marketplace, announced today it has agreed to acquire Carriage, a young and fast-growing food delivery platform based in Kuwait and operating in the Gulf Council Countries (GCC). Carriage operates a hybrid business model offering both, delivery marketplaces and own delivery services in the Middle East, allowing it to add restaurants to its marketplaces that either do not offer deliver services themselves or intend to discontinue their own delivery services. This hybrid business model reflects a wider shift across several regions with a growing demand of customers and restaurants for such combined services. The acquisition ensures that Delivery Hero will stay at the forefront of this shift. Nik...