startupnews.qa
Startup News
127 posts
124 stories
3 Founder of the Week

Startup News

Follow on Instagram

News from Qatar's startup ecosystem

Deals · Funding · Programs · Events · Founder of the Week

Made in Qatar, shared with the world 🇶🇦

startupnews.qa

Weekly digest

Latest stories

Sections

From TASMU Accelerator to the region's stages 🇶🇦
TASMU: FROM SMART QATAR TO A COGNITIVE QATAR
MWC26 DOHA: SECOND EDITION THEME: THE AGE OF INTELLIGENCE
REVIO BETS ON DEVICE SUBSCRIPTIONS IN QATAR
TAKWEEN CITY WORKSHOPS AT THE QITAF QURANIC FORUM
3D PRINTING & SMART MANUFACTURING CONFERENCE 2026
Register
NASA Space Apps Challenge comes to QSTP: 14–15 November, 80 seats, free to join 🚀🇶🇦
Register
Coffee & Community in Lusail, plus an Aster Privilege Card for the Startup Grind Doha community ☕🇶🇦
Register
SNOONU LEADER REPORTS BEST ARAB ENTREPRENEUR AWARD
WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS COMMUNITY FROM IDEA TO EXPANSION
MYRI HEALTH FOUNDER JOINS QSTP × MERCK FEMTECH ACCELERATOR
UPDATED .QA DOMAIN POLICIES REGISTER FOR UP TO 10 YEARS
Four Startup Qatar companies pitch at Web Summit Lisbon 🚀🇶🇦
Indica Amarasinghe speaks at MWC26 Doha 🎤🇶🇦
GRAPHEAL EXPLORES QATAR WATER MONITORING
⏳ It starts tomorrow!
Register
Founder of the Week | Ali Abbas 🇶🇦
Perfect your pitch and impress investors 🎤🇶🇦
Register
WAFIR'S AISHA ALBINALI JOINT WINNER, INNOVATION AWARD
SMALL PROJECTS FORUM QATAR UNIVERSITY · 9 NOVEMBER
SKEEK AL DOHA CALLS QATAR'S VENDORS & FOUNDERS
Register
COFFEE & COMMUNITY LUSAIL · SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER
Register
FINJAN MAJLIS MEETS IN LUSAIL PAYLATER PITCHES ITS GROWTH ROUND
STUDIO 5 WRAPS UP DIGITAL ECONOMY CODERS
NEXT-GEN NAVIGATORS: ROBOTICS & AI WORKSHOP CONCLUDES
QIC'S LAQTA HACKATHON ONE DAY, ONE AI-BUILT CAMPAIGN
Register
GROWTHX CAPITAL TO LEAD $5M AI FIRM ALPHA10X MOVES TO QATAR
AI FOR STARTUPS: FIRST WORKSHOP TODAY
Register
PAYLATER OPENS SERIES A AFTER QAR 1.2BN IN GMV
DOWNTOWN TECH SUMMIT DOHA · 17 NOVEMBER 2026
INVEST QATAR WINS 2026 UN INVESTMENT PROMOTION AWARD
BUILD YOUR STARTUP ON A SOUND LEGAL FOUNDATION
FOODICS LINKS RESTAURANT DATA TO AI ASSISTANTS VIA MCP
FUNDABLE TODAY, ACQUIRABLE TOMORROW
Register
Vodafone Qatar names tpay its exclusive direct operator billing aggregator 📱🇶🇦
Qatar establishes a National Center for AI 🤖🇶🇦
QDB's Pre-seed Investment Program: up to QAR 250,000 for early-stage startups 💼🇶🇦
Book a meeting
Turn your idea into a working product: QSTP × Replit Buildathon, 28 October 🛠️🇶🇦
Register
EO Qatar and the Young Entrepreneurs Club are now strategic partners 🤝🇶🇦
World Investment Forum in Doha, 25–27 October, with an entrepreneurship track 🌐🇶🇦
WISE EdTech Accelerator: applications close 31 October 🎓🇶🇦
Apply now
MWC26 Doha opens 8 November, with Vora’s founder among its speakers 📡🇶🇦
Snoonu founder Hamad Al Hajri speaks at Downtown Tech Summit, 17 November 🚀🇶🇦
QSTP and Microsoft: 47 startups now active on Microsoft for Startups 🚀🇶🇦
Rafeeq and Startup Grind Doha partner to back Qatar's next tech founders 🤝🚀🇶🇦
Barzah Capital joins the QFC Digital Assets Lab 🏢🔗🇶🇦
Snoonu acquires BiteSight in its first international deal 🎬🍽️🇶🇦
Law is the foundation of a lasting venture ⚖️🇶🇦
Founder of the Week | Hamad Mubarak Al-Hajri 🇶🇦
QFTH names 11 startups for Wave 8 Pre-Acceleration 💳🇶🇦
QBIC picks 17 startups for the Pre-Accelerator Program 2026 🚀🇶🇦
NextGen Founders Hackathon: tech for food and packaging 🌱🇶🇦
QDB raises its Logistics Support Fund to QAR 400 million 🏭🚢🇶🇦
Qai × Hugging Face Hackathon 01: 48 hours to build in Doha 🤗🇶🇦
AI Tinkerers Doha is back for round 4 🤖🇶🇦
Register
QSTP is launching Pitch to The 300: Investor-Startup Connect, a biweekly session that puts startups in front of The 300, its community of women impact investors. Four to five startups pitch each time, and the investors decide who earns their investment.
GenAI in Practice for Startups 🤖🇶🇦
Register
Qatar Development Bank is development sponsor of the Doha International Conference on AI & Security 2026, and invites companies in the sector to exhibit at the accompanying exhibition with support from its Local Exhibition Sponsorship grant.
In her first media interview since becoming QSTP President about a year ago, Rama Chakaki told Al-Sharq that applications to join the park rose from about 670 in a year to more than 4,600 the following year, after a new direction set in May 2025.
Qatar Leadership Centre holds the third Leadership Innovation Forum, its flagship annual convening, on Wednesday 28 October, 8:30am–2:45pm, at Raffles Doha, Katara Hall. The theme: "Strategy Before Activity: Building Institutions That Outlast the Leader."
Rasmal Ventures, Qatar's first institutionally backed investment firm, trusted by sovereign wealth funds including QIA, has signed a three-year MoU with Bilişim Vadisi, one of Türkiye's largest technology development zones, at GITEX Türkiye in Istanbul.
Qatar ranks 5th in MENA and 46th globally on the new AI-Human Skills Synergy Index in Coursera's Global Skills Report 2026. The first index of its kind covers 98 countries, measuring AI skills built alongside the human skills needed to apply them.
Nama Social Development Center, part of Qatar Foundation for Social Work, is running a Digital Marketing for Entrepreneurs course, built to help participants understand their market and audience, produce effective digital content, choose the right platforms, and measure and improve their campaigns.
Register
Qatar-based student platform Talebhub has raised a $250K pre-seed investment from GrowthX Capital, the investment platform founded by Snoonu Founder and CEO Hamad Al-Hajri. The deal also brings Talebhub into the Snoonu Startup Factory.
Snoonu has launched the Tamkeen Growth Fund, QAR 5 million in interest-free growth capital for local merchant partners on its platform: restaurants, cafés, retailers and specialty stores.
Snoonu Academy wrapped "Build Your Own App in Two Days" at Qatar Chamber on 29–30 September, in partnership with Lovable, teaching people to build websites and apps with no coding background.
San Francisco early-stage VC firm Alif is hosting a mixer with Qatar Science & Technology Park, a member of Qatar Foundation, during SF Tech Week.
Anthropic announced on 6 October that it is expanding Claude Startups, opening the program to more companies building on Claude.
Apply now
GrowthX Capital is taking startup pitch decks through its website, and has published a step-by-step guide after a wave of questions on how to send one in.
Qatar launches two new cyber risk frameworks 🔐🇶🇦
Finland courts Qatari capital for its €250bn tech goal 🇫🇮🇶🇦
FinTech Stars: QAR 95,000 in prizes for fintech students 🏆🇶🇦
Up to $5.5M to move your startup to Qatar 🇶🇦
Apply now
Madad CEO: AI-native fintech can speed up SME finance in the GCC 💳🇶🇦
Qai and MEEZA team up on AI infrastructure in Qatar 🖥️🇶🇦
Vora wins the Startup World Cup Qatar Regional 🏆🇶🇦
Doha AI Security Summit 2026 🛡️🇶🇦
EO Qatar invites founders to apply 🤝🇶🇦
Apply now
Studio 5's October: tech for climate and sustainability 🌍🇶🇦
Qatar's Digital Incubation Center: 411 startups 🚀🇶🇦
Founder of the Week | Mohammed Al-Delaimi 🇶🇦
QIA joins Crusoe's $3.9 billion Series F ⚡️🇶🇦
Najah Qatari returns for its 8th edition ✨🇶🇦
Scale Now opens Cycle 5 🚀🇶🇦
QFEX 2026 in Doha: who will lead whom? 🤖💹🇶🇦
Your Game is My Idea hackathon 2026 🎲🇶🇦
Aligator raises $1.2M to bring AI agents to PR 🇶🇦
Empowering SMEs to adapt to regional change 🇶🇦
AI is moving into Qatar's key sectors 🇶🇦
What does it take to build a company that lasts? 👀
Invest Qatar has signed an MoU with Aurion Capital, a global investment group, and LG NOVA, LG Electronics' Silicon Valley-based North America Innovation Centre.
Al Thakhira Girls' Forum, part of Al Thakhira Youth Centre, has wrapped up She Innovates, an event for young women's projects, in collaboration with the Young Entrepreneurs Club (YEC), supported by Qatar Chamber and sponsored by Snoonu.
GrowthX Capital, the Doha investment platform founded by Snoonu founder Hamad Al-Hajri, has invested $1M combined in two Qatar-based startups, Hired Valley and Talebhub, and brought both into Snoonu Startup Factory.
MCIT, with Google Cloud and through Qatar Digital Academy, has launched a national upskilling initiative with 50,000+ training seats by 2030 in AI, cloud and advanced digital tech.
Meet the three experts leading the Angel Investors Bootcamp 2026, run by SCALE7, the Creative & Cultural Industries Hub founded by Qatar Development Bank, with Business Angels Europe.
MOCI has launched a revamped Qatar Business Map.
We're hiring developers.
Inc. Arabia and Msheireb Properties bring the Best in Business Awards to Qatar for the first time on 18 November 2026 at Msheireb Downtown Doha, after editions in Dubai and Riyadh. Winners are named at an awards gala dinner.
Nominate
Revio, a Qatari startup founded in early 2025, lets you subscribe to your next phone instead of buying it.
Qatar Science & Technology Park has welcomed 15 professionals as the first cohort of its Fellowship Program, launched in September 2026 for four months.
Doha hosts the Startup World Cup regional final on 29 September, on the Global Innovation Stage at QFEX 2026, Hilton Doha, before regional venture capitalists and technology executives.
Apply now
Ghanim AlSulaiti, founder and CEO of Enbat Holdings, spoke at Qatar University today as part of Shell Intilaaqah–Qatar, telling the students about the beginnings and the setbacks rather than a finished success story.
Qatar Development Bank has opened its Talent Community Program to founders and specialised talent worldwide: free housing and temporary residency to work from Qatar.
QVenture Capital Association brought members, sponsors and partners together at The St. Regis Doha. Nearly a dozen venture funds were represented, alongside professional services firms and other stakeholders, plus newcomers to Qatar joining the local venture community.
Qatar Science & Technology Park published a piece by Ali Abusheikh on 20 September 2026 on the Founder-Market Fit workshop led by entrepreneur and investor Youcef Oudjidane during the Sprint phase of its redesigned Fall 2026 Incubation Program.
On 14 September 2026 the South China Morning Post reported that Qatar is moving to capture China's growing Gulf logistics push as war disrupts trade routes, quoting Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Thani, co-founder and CEO of Qatar's WareOne: "Diversification of supply chain is going ahead anyway, right across the world."
Doha hosts the third round of AI Tinkerers tonight, run by Scale AI with Qatar Science & Technology Park and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.
HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, launched Doha Investment at the Qatar Economic Forum: UNGA Special Edition in New York on 20 September 2026.
The FCC cleared three Gulf sovereign wealth funds on Thursday 17 September 2026 to take equity in Paramount Skydance's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
The QRDI Council, with Innovation Cafe, has opened applications for the Strategic Product Management Bootcamp for SMEs in Qatar.
Qatar opens an e-commerce licence: 194 approved activities, a QR500 issuance fee.
PayLater has partnered with First Response Healthcare Center, making home healthcare in Qatar payable in instalments through the app.
Google Cloud has launched Masar (مسار), a free technical training track for developers across MENA, delivered entirely in Arabic: 100% hands-on coding, zero slides.
Register
SCALE7, the Creative & Cultural Industries Hub founded by Qatar Development Bank, is running the Angel Investors Bootcamp 2026 with Business Angels Europe as Knowledge Partner.
Y Combinator has published the Fall 2026 edition of its Request for Startups — thirteen ideas it would like founders to tackle. RFS is a long-running tradition: a signal of what gets funded, not a requirement to apply, and a fraction of what YC backs.
From payments to restaurants 🇶🇦🇸🇦
GCC partnerships for the future 🇶🇦🇸🇦
The Reyada Portal from Qatar Development Bank is the unified digital gateway to every enterprise development service the bank offers. It launched on 26 January 2026 at Scale7 Studio in Msheireb Downtown Doha.
The annual Google Cloud Summit lands in Doha on Tuesday 22 September 2026, starting at 8:30 AM at the Qatar National Convention Centre, Exhibition Halls 8 and 9, Al Rayyan.
Qatar's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, today launched Corporate House — the body that registers and licenses companies in the economic zones and unifies those procedures.
Invest Qatar Gateway has added a Venture Capital Funding Module, developed with the Qatar Investment Authority and open to every Gateway member.
Qatar FinTech Hub closes applications for Wave 8 of its Acceleration Program on 15 September — two days from now.
Money20/20 Middle East opens today in Riyadh, 14 to 16 September, at the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham.
Nama Social Development Center, part of Qatar Foundation for Social Work, has opened the third edition of its Social Entrepreneurship Award.
Qatar Investment Authority has joined Positron AI's $875 million Series C, valuing the US inference-chip company at $5 billion.
Dawraty 4-slide
Dawraty