Marhaba, fintech friends;
Reporting from Dubai - still here, eyes still peeled toward the sky.
Three weeks in and the economic reality is, on the surface, murky:
Oil & the Straight of Hormuz: The narrow waterway that carries roughly a fifth of the world's oil has become effectively off-limits. Over 150 vessels are idling in or near the strait, with insurers sharply restricting war-risk cover for Gulf routes. Regional oil output has dropped significantly, and Brent crude has spiked above $100 a barrel. The longer the disruption runs, the harder it becomes to offset through alternative routes and reserves.
Trade & logistics: Shipping costs are rising fast. War-risk premiums are up as much as 50%, and container lines have introduced new surcharges that directly raise import and export costs across the region. Longer, costlier Cape routes are becoming the default.
Growth & markets: Goldman estimates that if the conflict runs to end-April, Qatar and Kuwait GDP could contract by around 14%, with the UAE and Saudi shrinking by roughly 5% and 3% respectively. Regional markets remain volatile. Global investors are pricing in a higher risk premium for Gulf assets, which translates into higher borrowing costs and more cautious FDI.
Tourism & aviation: Flight cancellations, rerouting and weaker forward bookings are hitting Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. Higher insurance and security costs are rippling into hospitality and retail.
Cloud & infrastructure: The AWS data center attacks two weeks ago have put the region's broader infrastructure ambitions under scrutiny, including the 5 GW Stargate cluster in Abu Dhabi, Microsoft's $7.9bn commitment, Khazna's 1 GW pipeline.
It’s too early to tell what the long-term repercussions will be. From the outside, the alarm bells ring loud but on the ground, the show goes on (with a few more media breaks in between).
💸 Fundraises and Exits
🇸🇦 Saudi’s Muhlah raises $7.5 million in seed funding led by BIM Ventures and SBI Group
🇦🇪 Utexo, a UAE-based blockchain infrastructure provider, closes a 7.5 million seed funding round, led by Tether
🇦🇪 Kudwa, UAE-USA-based AI finance manager, raises $1.1 million in funding from 1818 Venture Capital, F6 Ventures, Sparked VC, IM Fndg and IVP.
💰 Funds
🇴🇲🇺🇿 Sovereign funding entities from the Sultanate of Oman invest in Uzbekistan-based fintech group, Uzum.
🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches
🇦🇪 Liabify partners with Mawarid Finance to launch LiaPay: a prepaid Platinum Mastercard for middle-income workers in the UAE
🇪🇬 Fawry partners with Erada Finance, allowing the latter’s beneficiaries to access funds through Fawry’s nationwide branch network
🇪🇬 Network International and ADCB Egypt launch FICO Falcon Fraud Manager in Egypt: an AI-powered, real-time system for the detection and prevention of transaction fraud
🇦🇪 Ziina collaborates with Virtuzone, allowing the latter’s clients to access Ziina’s payment gateway and acceptance capabilities
🇯🇴 AB Xelerate, Arab Bank’s fintech accelerator, partners with Fuze to strengthen Jordan’s digital financial infrastructure
🇪🇬 Basata launches a cash-in cash-out service for all mobile wallets across its POS network.
🏛 Licensing & Regulations
🇸🇦 Saudi’s Central Bank licenses Aij Company for Financing for SME and consumer financing; and Wukad Solutions for finance aggregation services
🇪🇬 Egypt’s FRA introduces new regulations for securities borrowing
🇪🇬 Egypt’s FRA grants Granite Financial Holding, a digital asset management company, approval to launch a USD-denominated fixed income fund in partnership with Al Naeem Holding for Investments
🇦🇪 The UAE’s Central Bank grants emergency waivers on data residency rules, allowing banks to use overseas data centers after disruption to local AWS facilities
🇸🇦 Saudi’s CMA introduces new regulation for the establishment of simplified investment funds
🇸🇦 Saudi’s CMA approves a regulatory framework for robo-advisory services
🇦🇪 Dubai’s VARA orders entities operating under the KuCoin brand to cease all unlicensed virtual asset activities
🇪🇬 Egypt’s FRA gives Lumin Soft preliminary approval to join its Fintech Regulatory Sandbox
🇦🇪 The Central Bank of the UAE green lights a 5-pillar Financial Institutional Resilience Package to insulate the banking sector from global volatility.
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Until next week,
Salam ✌🏼
