Startups

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LatestMENA Startups

Base28 Officially Launches Cohort 1 Onboarding 7 Selected Startups Across MENA

Regional startup accelerator Base28 officially launched its first pre-acceleration cohort (Cohort 1), selecting 7 early-stage startups from 5 countries across the MENA region.

RoboticsAugust 26, 2026

Robotics Startup Generalist Hits $3B Valuation on Series B Extension

Generalist raised nearly $200M more, extending its Series B to $600M total and pushing its valuation to $3 billion.

Robotics startup Generalist reaches $3B valuation, sources say

AI AgentsAugust 26, 2026

Stability AI Raises $76M With Backing From Major Music Labels

Stability AI raised $76 million in Series B funding, bringing total funding to $232 million since 2019

AI AgentsAugust 26, 2026

UAE's Stellaria Raises $6.8M to Build an AI OS for Satellite Data

Abu Dhabi startup Stellaria raised $6.8M (AED 25M) in a seed round from angel investors, valuing the company at $114M (AED 420M).

SharjahSat-2 Successfully Launched, Strengthening UAE’s Earth Observation Capabilities

RoboticsAugust 25, 2026

General Intuition Hits $6B Valuation Betting on Game Data for Robots

General Intuition is raising at a $6 billion pre-money valuation, up sharply from $2.3 billion just months prior

Valor, Point72 back General Intuition at $6B valuation as AI startup pushes into robotics

AI AgentsAugust 21, 2026

Saudi edtech AILA raises $3M as regional exam-prep bets grow

Riyadh's AILA raised $3 million in a pre-Series A round led by Rua Growth Fund, with Bunat Ventures, Fikr Ventures, and 500 Global's Sanabil-anchored MENA fund also participating.

AILA raises $3 million pre-Series A to expand personalised learning platform

AI AgentsAugust 21, 2026

Ex-Eigen Founder Raises $20M Seed for Legal AI Startup Twin1

Twin1, founded by ex-Eigen Technologies CEO Lewis Liu, raised $20M in a seed round co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners

Ex-Eigen Team Raises $20m Seed For Twin1

HardwareAugust 20, 2026

HUMAIN CEO Tareq Amin Unveils New AI Laptop Co-Developed with Qualcomm

HUMAIN and Qualcomm are jointly developing an AI PC integrating CPU, GPU, and NPU for on-device AI inference

#leap #humain #theendoflimits | Tareq Amin | 134 comments

AI AgentsAugust 20, 2026

Stripe buys AI gateway OpenRouter in deal valued over $7B

Stripe has acquired AI model gateway OpenRouter in a deal reported at more than $7 billion, though exact figures range from $7B to over $10B across outlets

Editorial image for Stripe buys AI gateway OpenRouter for more than $7 billion

LLMsAugust 19, 2026

Sam Altman and Amjad Masad launch Replit's Free Mode on OpenAI's Luna

Replit launched Free Mode on August 19, 2026, now the default for Core and Pro subscribers, running exclusively on OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Luna model.

AI HardwareAugust 19, 2026

Sandbar raises $23M Series A for its push-to-talk AI ring

Sandbar raised a $23 million Series A led by Adjacent and Kindred Ventures, bringing total funding to $36 million

Why Stream ring-maker Sandbar says the future of AI wearables is voice

AI AgentsAugust 19, 2026

HeyBreez Raises $2.5M as Voice AI Calls Top 1 Million a Month

HeyBreez closed a $2.5M oversubscribed seed round led by Lunara Partners, with Jabbar Group and DASH Ventures also participating.

AI AgentsAugust 19, 2026

Relay shuts down as its founder returns to Google's Chrome team

Relay, Jacob Bank's AI workflow automation startup, is shutting down; free users lost access August 15, 2026, and paid customers follow on September 14.

AI AgentsAugust 18, 2026

SpaceX Closes $60B Acquisition of AI Coding Startup Cursor

SpaceX has closed its $60 billion acquisition of AI coding startup Cursor, following an option agreement first announced in April 2026.

AI AgentsAugust 15, 2026

Ex-xAI Co-founder's River AI Raises $1.1B at Two Months Old

River AI, founded by ex-xAI co-founder Igor Babuschkin, raised $1.1 billion just two months after emerging from stealth

AI Startup River AI Raises $1.1B to Build Personally Trainable AI Agents

RoboticsAugust 15, 2026

China's Westlake Robotics raises fourth funding round in six months

Westlake Robotics raised nearly 100 million yuan (about $14 million) in a Series A led by Haiyuan Capital

AI AgentsAugust 13, 2026

Lovable Raises $400M Series C, Doubling Valuation to $13.3B

Lovable raised $400M in Series C funding at a $13.3B valuation, up from $6.6B eight months earlier

HardwareAugust 10, 2026

AMD Acquires Taalas, Maker of Chips With AI Baked Into Silicon

AMD is acquiring Taalas, a Toronto startup that embeds full AI models, architecture and weights, directly into silicon.

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