gcc
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Ahmed Al Rawi and the WhatsApp message that travelled
Before Calo, Ahmed Al Rawi helped launch a football app with a WhatsApp broadcast. The customers passed it on. His career since has been an extended investigation into what deserves that kind of response.
Manuel Milan Reyes and the unfinished business of retirement
After thirty years at GCC, Manuel Milán Reyes left the chief executive’s office. His next chapter led through startups, regional competitiveness and a classroom in Chihuahua.
Davis Parakal and the small print of sending money home
From building banking apps in India to leading Remitly in the UAE, Davis Parakal has worked on the machinery of moving money. Now he wants the industry to explain itself as plainly as a cereal box.
Anurag Byala and the art of starting again
Before he built e-commerce systems in the Gulf, Anurag Byala waited a month for his first student in Punjab. His route from technical training to Dubai, South Africa and a podcast microphone keeps returning to the same habit: becoming a beginner again.
Sid Dhamija and the business of getting a meeting
Cadena’s founder built his career around enterprise buyers, procurement and the Gulf. His company pairs AI prospecting with a distinctly personal proposition: someone local who can start a useful conversation.
Anass Boumediene and the company that began over coffee
Before eyewa had a network of stores, Anass Boumediene built a network of people. His route from consulting to Gulf retail runs through shared lunches, a tested partnership and a willingness to keep changing the business.
Taoufik El Jamali and the things that get in the way
From a self-updating address book to the data behind digital advertising, Taoufik El Jamali keeps returning to the same question: what is stopping growth from working? At Journify, the answer lives between a purchase and the platform meant to learn from it.
Calo puts healthy eating on autopilot
The Bahrain-born company turned the daily chore of eating well into a meal subscription. Its retreat from Britain reveals how much work sits behind that simple promise.
Ahmed Rawi and the business of wanting more
A wedding photo booth, a football app, and a $2,000 experiment led Ahmed Rawi to Calo. His next lesson arrived after the company crossed into Britain: ambition also needs a return ticket.
palm.hr
palm.hr is a Riyadh-born, cloud-based HR and payroll platform built for small and mid-sized businesses across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC. It brings employee data, time and attendance, WPS-compliant payroll, and employee engagement into one system that plugs directly into local government rails like GOSI and Mudad, so companies can run people operations that comply with regional labor law out of the box. Founded in 2019, it raised a $5M pre-Series A in 2023 to expand across MENA and pairs its software with an outsourced HR concierge service.
Bonat
The Riyadh startup that turns a coffee-shop punch card into a data engine - and just raised $6 million to teach every merchant in the Gulf how to keep a customer.
Bayzat
Reduce HR admin time, run payroll in minutes, streamline all your payments, and deliver world-class employee experiences - unified on one platform hyperlocalised for the GCC.
eyewa
eyewa is the Middle East's largest omnichannel eyewear retailer, selling prescription glasses, sunglasses, blue light glasses and contact lenses through its e-commerce platform, mobile app and a growing network of physical stores across the GCC. Founded in Dubai in 2017 by former Bain consultants Anass Boumediene and Mehdi Oudghiri, the company pairs affordable in-house brands with technology like AI-powered virtual try-on, and reached roughly 150 stores before raising a $100M Series C led by General Atlantic in late 2024 to fund a 100-store expansion.
Holo
Holo is a Dubai-based digital mortgage platform that lets home buyers and homeowners compare, apply for and track mortgages across 20+ banks in one place. Founded in 2020 by mortgage veterans Michael Hunter and Arran Summerhill, it pairs proprietary automation software with human advisors to cut the paperwork and opacity out of home financing. The company is profitable in the UAE, has helped tens of thousands of clients, processes over AED 1 billion in applications monthly, and raised a $22M Series A in 2025 to expand across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC.
Mnzil | منزل
Mnzil is a Riyadh-based proptech company that provides integrated housing, transportation, and catering solutions for Saudi Arabia's blue-collar and migrant workforce. Through a hybrid model of subleasing, purpose-built development, and a C2B marketplace, Mnzil lets companies outsource the housing and movement of their workers, offering furnished, regulated, and serviced accommodation at scale. Founded in 2024, it operates 60+ facilities across 13+ cities, serves 100+ corporate clients including Amazon, Nestlé, and SIXT, and raised an $11.7M Series A led by Founders Fund in November 2025.
TachyHealth
TachyHealth is a UAE-based healthcare AI company that helps hospitals, clinics and insurers close the gap between clinical care and payment. Founded in 2018, it builds AI-driven tools for medical coding, claims review and auditing, and clinical decision support - branded AiCode, AiReview and AiGuide - aimed at reducing administrative burden, controllable revenue loss and claim denials while advancing value-based care across the Middle East and Africa. In October 2025 it raised a $5M Series A led by Saudi insurer Tawuniya.