The Living Record of
Dubai's Founders.
Each one a numbered card: verified at the source, signed by the founder, anchored on Bitcoin. The record moves daily. One story is chronicled each Tuesday.
Almoayed
2021 · Raised $13M seed, then a $12M pre-Series A led by Tiger Global
2023 · Closed $32M Series A led by Pinnacle Capital, with Visa participating
2024 · Acquired London A2A payments platform Vyne with SAMA and FCA approval
Olsson
2019 · Uber agreed to buy Careem for $3.1B, the region's biggest tech deal
2023 · e& paid $400M for a 50.03% majority of the spun-out Careem Technologies
2026 · Uber bought back a 12.5% stake in Careem Technologies from e& for $100M
Hedberg
2019 · Closed $17.5M Series B led by Polymath Ventures and launched in Riyadh
2022 · Launched contactless peer-to-peer carshare in Saudi Arabia
2024 · Stepped back from day-to-day leadership; now chairman of Lynx Holdings
Shaar
2019 · Raised $6.2M Series B led by AddVenture, with Henkel as strategic investor
2023 · Declared first profitable year on roughly $3M EBITDA
El
Koussa
2017 · Raised a 20M pound Series B and began Middle East expansion
2020 · Raised over $5.5M led by Delivery Hero and doubled down on the UAE
2025 · Launched fulfilment and delivery in Saudi Arabia, targeting profitability by Q4
Prakash
2024 · Raised $4M seed led by Courtside Ventures; dubbed live MLS broadcasts
2025 · Closed $11M pre-Series A and became Ligue 1's official language partner via LFP Media
2025 · Opened Japan office to anchor APAC expansion
Benturquia
2020 · Closed $10M Series A, then MENA's largest healthtech Series A
2021 · Bupa Arabia took an equity stake in a strategic partnership
2022 · Raised $10M pre-Series B first close led by IGan Partners
Sajwani
2025 · Launched PRYPCO Mint with the Dubai Land Department; pilot drew over AED 18.5M into tokenized title deeds
2025 · Closed pre-Series A led by General Catalyst, the firm's first Middle East investment
2026 · Opened a regulated secondary marketplace for tokenized property resale
Bahoshy
2018 · Raised close to $1M seed led by 500 Startups and pivoted to subscription data
2025 · Tracked a record $1.2B quarter for MENA venture funding in Q3
Sheikh
2021 · Took $10M equity investment from Afterpay and AP Ventures
2022 · Signed debt financing deal with Commercial Bank of Dubai to fund GCC expansion
Hachem
2022 · Raised $41M led by Aljazira Capital to fund expansion into Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan and Ghana
2024 · Reported to have laid off nearly all Pakistan staff, leaving its Pakistan expansion in doubt
Khan
2021 · Closed $5M round after a pandemic slump, targeting fleet doubling
2022 · Expanded to Saudi Arabia with a Riyadh launch licensed by the Transport General Authority
2026 · Partnered with AGMC to add 100 MINI vehicles to its UAE fleet
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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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