Saudi startups to see $608m investment; Navya, Electromin sign MoU

Good morning!

Here’s your weekly roundup of Middle East AI News!

And there's a lot of it!

French driverless shuttle startup Navya signs up a distributor for Saudi Arabia, GM's Cruise shows off the first Origin autonomous vehicle in Dubai, a new data and AI glossary from the SDAIA, plus lots of startup and funding news, Scroll down to check out these and more stories below!

If you have an interest in AI in education, you may be interested to know that UNESCO is launching its Arabic language guidance for policymakers today at 12PM GST. More info and registration for the Zoom event here.

Lastly, MIT Technology Review Arabia has published a list of the '30 leading Arab experts in AI'. You'll find the original list in Arabic here and the list of their profiles on Linkedin in my post here.

Stay safe and have a great day!

/Carrington

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Startups

Saudi Arabia's start-up sector to see $608m in investments and 2,400 new jobs — www.thenationalnews.com

#Saudi #startups - Saudi Arabia issued licences to six start-up entities that have collectively pledged to invest up to $608.25 million and create 2,400 jobs, The companies include imVentures, a Riyadh-based venture capital fund, and Silicon Valley-based early stage accelerator Plug and Play. (The National)

AI-based health platform Altibbi raises $44m to drive growth in Saudi Arabia and Egypt — www.arabnews.com

#Saudi #funding - Digital health platform Altibbi has announced raising $44 million in series B fund, led by Foundation Holdings, Hikma Ventures and DASH Ventures, to drive its growth in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. (Arab News)

Israeli bee tech startup Beewise pulls in $80m investment for robotic beehives — www.timesofisrael.com

#Israel #UAE #funding - Israeli startup Beewise, a developer of robotic beehives, pulled in an $80 million investment for its automated solution aimed at saving global bee populations. New York-based Insight Partners led the Series C round, which also included Sanad Abu Dhabi. (Times of Israel)

Egypt FlapKap received$1.2M in funding — furtherafrica.com

#Egypt #funding - FlapKap, an Egypt-based startup that provides AI-powered analytics for e-commerce, has raised $1.2 million in a funding round led by Egyptian venture capital firm A15. (Further Africa)

Robo-advisory startup Xpovi raises $300,000 pre-Seed round — www.wamda.com

#Egypt funding - Egypt-based robo-advisory startup Xpovi, has launched after raising a $300,000 pre-Seed round led by a group of angel investors led by StrategicAngel Investors. (Wamda)

First Israeli-Emirati VC fund Synaptech Capital launches — www.jpost.com

#Israel #UAE #funding - A new venture capital fund with a target of $100 million was launched last week by Synaptech Capital. Pitched as the first Emirati-Israeli venture capital fund, it plans to invest in Israeli and Emirati start-ups developing cybersecurity, smart city, insure-tech, fintech and public safety technologies. (Jerusalem Post)

Dubai attracts 57 percent of scale-up funding in MENA region: Report — wam.ae

#UAE #funding - Dubai accounts for 57 percent of scaleup funding in the Middle East and North Africa, and it is home to 39 percent of the region’s scaleups, according to a new report from Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. (Emirates News Agency)

MISA issues 6 new business licenses, signs 2 MoUs at Global Entrepreneurship Congress — saudigazette.com.sa

#Saudi #startups - Six new business licences and two MoUs were announced by Ministry of Investment in Saudi Arabia (MISA) at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC), including an agreement with the Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) to support startups. (Saudi Gazette)

Abu-Ghazaleh Global and Stallion Group launch AI Entrepreneur Championship programme — www.zawya.com

#Jordan #startups - Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Global (TAG.Global) in cooperation with Stallion AI Group launched the ‘Artificial Intelligence Entrepreneur Championship’ in Jordan. The programme is certified by the US-based Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and the AIQOM Platform. (Zawya)

Saudi-based Taffi to launch its fashion AI-empowered platform — www.arabnews.com

#Saudi #startups - Saudi-based AI-powered fashion marketplace startup Taffi Inc. is planning to launch its new platform, following a recent seed funding round. The marketplace allows stylists to manage their clients online and acquire new ones. (Arab News)

Autonomous Vehicles

Navya & Electromin sign MoU for KSA sales and distribution of Navya products — www.businesswire.com

#Saudi #AVs - Navya Group, the French autonomous mobility systems startup, has signed a distribution agreement for its driverless shuttles with Electromin, a Saudi emobility turn-key solutions company wholly owned by Petromin Corporation, Saudi's leading lubricants company. (BusinessWire)

Dubai's RTA unveils region's first Cruise Origin driverless shuttle at World Government Summit — www.linkedin.com

#UAE #robotaxis - Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority and Cruise yesterday unveiled the Cruise Origin for the first time in the Middle East, on the first day of the World Government Summit at Expo 2020 Dubai. (Linkedin)

Arabic language

SDAIA publishes Arabic data and AI glossary — www.linkedin.com

#Saudi #Arabic - The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) has published an Arabic / English language glossary of artificial intelligence and data terms. Download glossary here. (Linkedin)

Education

Khalifa University first in UAE to make courses globally available on Coursera — gulfbusiness.com

#UAE #digitaleducation - Khalifa University will launch six specialisations on Coursera in the second half of 2022, including machine learning and deep learning methods: from data to decisions; and AI for executives. (Gulf Business)

Synaptech Capital is pairing up with ADGM to reskill UAE labour force — www.itp.net

#UAE #skills - Synaptech Capital is in the process of setting up with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) a coding, hacking, cyber, AI and distributed ledger technology education academy. (ITP)

UNESCO to launch Arabic version of AI and education guidance for policy-makers

#UAE #GCC #AIpolicy - UNESCO's Regional Center for Educational Planning and UNESCO Headquarters are launching an Arabic language version of tjhe guidance for policy-makers in AI and education today at 12PM GST. (UNESCO)

AI Ethics

Morocco, UNESCO pledge to strengthen artificial intelligence ethics — www.moroccoworldnews.com

#Morocco #ethics - Morocco has implemented the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendations on the ethics of AI. (Morocco World News)

Smart Cities

New Mastercard report outlines smart city opportunities for Saudi Arabia — www.zawya.com

#Saudi #smartcities - A new white paper on Urban Tech, commissioned by Mastercard in partnership with Arabnet, is shining a spotlight on how Saudi Arabia’s e-government, tourism, healthcare, and transit sectors stand to benefit from smart city use cases in the Kingdom. Download the report here. (Zawya)

Economy

Greater adoption of AI by UAE could bring up to $200 billion in productivity gains : IBM CEO — www.zawya.com

#UAE #WGS2022 - Chairman and CEO of IBM Arvind Krishna, told Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Teleworking Applications that greater adoption of AI in the UAE could bring up to $200 billion in productivity gains by 2030. (Zawya)

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About Carrington Malin — www.carringtonmalin.com Carrington Malin helps large organisations, digital brands and fast growing tech ventures with brand, communications and go-to-market strategies.