Saudi Arabia
50% Of Employees in the UAE Fear Losing Their Jobs to AI
AI use is on the rise, which poses a risk to the existence of many jobs across regions. Recently the ChatGPT bot was made available to the public – it can maintain a coherent conversation, explain complex scientific concepts, artistically
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Regtech Startup Konsentus Launches in Saudi Arabia
Open Ecosystem RegTech provider, Konsentus, establishes its MENA regional base in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide open data infrastructure and technology services to regulators and financial services providers in the Kingdom and surrounding territories. The team is led
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Dubai Accounting Startup Wafeq Raises $3 Million Seed Round
Wafeq, a modern and easy-to-use accounting platform, has announced the completion of its $3 million seed round. The Dubai headquartered company’s seed round was led by Raed Ventures and saw participation from Wamda Capital, both of which are two of
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Saudi Licenses Two Additional Debt-Based Crowdfunding Fintech Startups
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the licensing of two finance companies specialized in debt-based crowdfunding, namely: Forus and Tameed. The licenses were granted to the companies after successful testing of their solutions in SAMA’s Regulatory Sandbox; an experimental environment
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Saudi Central Bank Continues CBDC Trials
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) continues to experiment on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as it is currently working on a phase of a project that focuses on domestic wholesale CBDC use cases in collaboration with local banks and fintechs.
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VC Funding Soars in Saudi Arabia, Propelled by Fintech
2022 was a record-breaking year for venture capital (VC) investment in Saudi Arabia. Startups in the country secured a total of US$987 million across 144 deals, representing a staggering 72% increase in funding volume compared with 2021, according to a
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Saudi Central Bank Launches Open Banking Lab
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the launch of the Open Banking Lab according to the Open Banking Framework issued by SAMA November 2022. The Open Banking Lab aims to enable innovation and accelerate the development of open banking services
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Temenos Partners With NdcTech to Expand Its Market Reach in the Gulf Region
Banking software company Temenos announced that it will be granting license rights to NdcTech, a wholly owned subsidiary of Systems Limited and one of its largest regional system integrators partners. This will allow NdcTech to further develop and market the
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Saudi Arabia Fintech Funding Jumped 54% This Year
Despite a global startup funding pullback, Saudi Arabian fintech industry continued to grow and mature this year. Companies in the sector have, so far, secured a total of US$367 million in financing this year as of September, a sum which,
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Saudi Central Bank Licenses New Fintech Company Specialized in Debt-Based Crowdfunding
The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced the licensing of Manafa – a finance company specialized in debt-based crowdfunding in the Kingdom. Manafa is a closed joint-stock company with a capital of SAR 40 million. The license was granted to the
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