Mobileye to power UAE robotaxis; Egypt's Elves raises $2 million
Good morning,
Here’s your weekly Middle East AI News!
Not quite as much news to share as last week, but some interesting announcements and deals nonetheless. This week saw a few more deals come to light inspired by the Israel-UAE Abraham Accords. Among these is yesterday's announcement of Al Habtoor Group's deal with Israeli autonomous vehicle company Mobileye (now owned by Intel) to start a robotaxi service in Dubai by 2023.
There are also a few funding deals below, including one of the latest investments from Abu Dhabi's AI and cloud company Group 42. The company has invested in the $133 million Series C round of industrial AI company Beyond Limits. Last year Group 42 disclosed investments in Chinese companies HeyGears , Mena Mobile and Jollychic.
Meanwhile, in corporate news Huawei has named it's UAE CEO Shi Li as the new President of the Huawei Cloud & AI Business Group for the Middle East region. Huawei created the new business group at the turn of 2020.
Scroll down for these stories and more.
Have a great weekend!
/Carrington
Startup News
AI company Beyond Limits closes $133 million Series C round — news.crunchbase.com
#USA #UAE #funding - Abu Dhabi AI and cloud computing company Group 42 has invested in the $133 million Series C round of industrial AI company Beyond Limits together with existing investor BP Ventures. (Crunchbase)
Egypt's Elves raises $2 million for its app-based concierge service — www.menabytes.com
#Egypt #funding - AI-powered concierge app Elves has raised $2 million from one of Egypt’s leading VCs Sawari Ventures and its existing investors. The new investment takes Elves’ total funding to-date up to $5 million. (MENABytes)
AREA 2071 hosts Founder Institute’s global startup accelerator programme — wam.ae
#UAE #startups - Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) has announced its hosting of The Founder Institute global startup accelerator programme for the first time at the regional level in AREA 2071, the innovation ecosystem in Dubai. (Emirates News Agency)
Autonomous Vehicles
UAE’s Al Habtoor partners with Israel's Mobileye to operate robotaxis and autonomous vehicles — www.thenational.ae
#Israel #UAE #robotaxis - Dubai-based business conglomerate Al Habtoor Group is joining forces with Intel autonomous car technology company Mobileye with a view to operating a fleet of 1,000 autonomous vehicles and robotaxis in Dubai by 2023. Plans will move ahead from the beginning of next year. (The National)
Education
ICT minister releases details on Digital Egypt Builders Initiative — mcit.gov.eg
#Egypt #education - Egypt's Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology has launched its Digital Egypt Builders Initiative. The one year programme will train 1,000 Egyptian graduates in data science and AI, cybersecurity, robotics and automation, and digital arts. (Egypt Today)
Robotics
A new robot recruit has just joined the team at Dubai International Airport — whatson.ae
#UAE #robotics #Covid19 - Dubai Health Authority has deployed a robot called Rahal in Dubai International Airport Terminal 3. The robot will greet travellers on arrival into Terminal 3 to answer questions about Covid-19. (Whats On)
Huawei
Huawei appoints new president for Cloud and AI Business Group in the Middle East — www.zawya.com
#UAE #Huawei - Huawei UAE's CEO Shi Li has been appointed to a new role as President of the Huawei Cloud & AI Business Group for the Middle East region, effective immediately. Huawei created its Cloud & AI Business Group at the turn of 2020. (Zawya)
Abraham Accord
Israel’s most active VC firm courts UAE investors — www.thenational.ae
#Israel #UAE #VC- OurCrowd, an Israeli crowdfunding and venture investment company courted UAE investors in a virtual meeting on Tuesday co-host by Emirates Angels Investors Association, touting opportunities to fund start-ups in areas like healthcare, mobility and artificial intelligence. (The National)
UAE's HBK ties up with Israeli firm to launch telehealth product — www.zawya.com
#Israel #UAE #healthcare - Abu Dhabi-based Hamad Bin Khalifa Department of Projects (HBK DOP) has partnered with Israeli technology firm Sure Universal to launch HBKiCare, a remote healthcare solution in the IoT market. (Zawya)
Israel based Fintech Fintica teams up with UAE-headquartered CEO of Barker and Booth — www.crowdfundinsider.com
#Israel #UAE #fintech - Mohammed Al Beloushi, CEO at Barker and Booth Commercial Agency LLC, has confirmed that his company will make a strategic investment into the operations of Israeli Fintech firm Fintica AI LLC. (Croudfund Insider)
AI Policy
Egypt’s new data protection law and what it means for business — dailynewsegypt.com
#Egypt #dataprotection - In July, Egypt joined the exclusive club of Middle Eastern countries with national data protection laws, publishing the Personal Data Protection Law (Law No 151 of 2020). Coming into force on 14 October 2020. (Daily News Egypt)
Drones
Aerodyne Group partners with Al-Babtain LeBlanc to transform Middle East drone inspections — www.suasnews.com
#Bahrain #Malaysia #drones - Malaysia-headquartered international Aerodyne Group is teaming up with infrastructure provider and system integrator, Al-Babtain LeBlanc, to accelerate the adoption of drone-based solutions in the region. (SUAS News)
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About Carrington Malin — www.carringtonmalin.com
Carrington Malin is a UAE-based entrepreneur, marketer and writer who focuses on emerging technologies.