The Obsession
Behind the City.
The record of the founders building MENA from Dubai. One admitted every Tuesday. Permanent, and alive.
Doudin
2023 · First VARA broker-dealer licence
2024 · Acquired by CoinDCX, leadership stays
2024 · Full VASP licence, December
Duraisamy
2022 · $2.5M seed, emerge from stealth
2023 · Profitability at $10M ARR
2025 · $48M Series A, one of MENA's largest
Shawky
2025 · 400 hotels, 1,000 holiday homes signed
2026 · Pre-seed closed, Plus VC and Orbit led
Samiev
2017 · Wing.ae acquired by Souq, Amazon
2023 · Founded Comfi
2026 · $65M pre-Series A, April
Bolurfrushan
2022 · Headquarters moved to Abu Dhabi
2025 · $55M Series A, G42 led
Lahyani
2007 · Launched Property Finder platform
2026 · $170M raised, Mubadala led
Antoun
2024 · 20x growth in Spanish operations
2025 · $59M Series B, Balderton led
Hutchinson
2026 · $7.5M seed, Tether led, March
Iraqui
$17M · Raised, Partech led
3 · Active markets
Epure
2026 · $5M seed, Prosus Ventures led
6 days · Average hiring timeline
Sheikha
2018 · Super-app: food, payments, courier
2020 · Acquired by Uber for $3.1B
Al
Rifai
$41M · Raised, NEA landmark round
7 · MENA markets served
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Chronicle
No. 015 · Comfi
The Delivery Founder Who Sold to Amazon and Stayed to Fix the Invoice
After co-building Wing.ae and selling it to Amazon's Souq in 2017, Sanjar Samiev had one unresolved question: why did every supplier in that network spend months waiting to collect what they were already owed.
No. 014 · AppliedAI
The Goldman Banker Who Taught Machines to Read the Fine Print
Arya Bolurfrushan left Wall Street, took an oil company public in Oslo, then moved to Abu Dhabi to build the AI platform that automates the most compliance-heavy industries on earth.
No. 013 · Property Finder
The Swiss Outsider Who Built the Gulf's Real Estate Operating System
Michael Lahyani left a consulting career in Geneva because he saw something nobody in Dubai's property market wanted to admit: the entire industry was flying blind.
No. 012 · Huspy
The Man Who Became Dubai's Mortgage
Jad Antoun didn't set out to fix real estate. He set out to fix the moment everyone almost walks away from it. The mortgage.
No. 011 · Utexo
The Founder Who Put the Digital Dollar on Bitcoin's Rails
Utexo raised $7.5M to put USDT on Bitcoin. Instantly, privately, for near-zero cost. Tether led the round. That's the whole signal.
No. 010 · Revibe
The Founder Betting $17 Million That Refurbished Beats New
Revibe just closed a $17M round led by Partech to become the most trusted refurbished electronics marketplace in MENA and Africa. Because the real barrier was never price. It was trust.
No. 009 · Qureos
Alexander Epure Is Replacing the Hiring Stack With a Single AI
Dubai-based Qureos just raised $5 million to prove that AI can compress enterprise hiring from months to six days. Alexander Epure built the platform that 1,000+ organizations are already using to find talent faster.
No. 008 · Careem
Mudassir Sheikha Built a $3 Billion Super App for a Region the World Forgot to Map
Careem started as a corporate car service in Dubai. It ended as the most important technology acquisition in MENA history. Because Sheikha refused to stop at the obvious answer.
No. 007 · Fetchr
The Operator Who Made the Customer the Address
Fetchr raised $41M to crack the last-mile delivery puzzle across a region where most people don't have a street address. By making the customer the address.
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