UAE crypto mining hardware retailer to invest $300 million in global expansions

UAE crypto mining hardware retailer to invest $300 million in global expansions

Amidst what some might consider as bearish markets especially for the crypto mining industry given high energy prices and decreased value in crypto markets, UAE’s crypto mining hardware retailer, Phoenix Technology is investing $300 million in crypto mining sites across the globe.

As per recent news, Phoenix Technology is developing a large scale site in the United States which will be launched in Q2 of 2023. The site will utilize the latest mining technologies including immersive cooling.

Carl Agren, CEO of Phoenix Technology, stated, “Phoenix Technology is aiming to switch from a regional player in the mining space to a global one. In other words, developing, maintaining, and operating sites all around the world. We have been currently focusing on the North American markets, mainly the US and Canada. However, we are planning on setting foot in other regions to try to identify opportunities in untapped mining areas. We are devoting $300 million to be invested in different sites that are development opportunities, under development, or currently operational.”

The company has also signed a strategic partnership with MicroBT, blockchain and AI entity, making it the exclusive sales partner of WhatsMiner in the MENA region.

Phoenix Technology has claimed that it will develop partnerships with other companies that are also pushing the boundaries of mining, such as gas flaring, to bring more technologically advanced solutions to the local market and globally.

Recently Munaf Ali, founder and CEO of UAE-based Phoenix Group, stated that he believes MENA is fast moving toward crypto and blockchain adoption. In the interview he explains, “The Middle East is fast helping the global diversification of jurisdictions which are friendly to operate in. This goes for countries where crypto firms can set up, whether they are crypto exchanges or mining operations.”

In November 2021, Phoenix Technology announced that it signed one of the world’s largest purchases on record for crypto mining rigs, worth US $650 million. In an interview Munaf Ali stated that Phoenix was part of a project that would be developing a large scale crypto mining farm in the UAE.

UAE VC Funds among strategic investors in the $20 million round for Saudi and UAE Web3 metaverse company

UAE VC Funds among strategic investors in the $20 million round for Saudi and UAE Web3 metaverse company

UAE Dubai Future District Fund, e&Capital ( formerly known as etisalat group) as well as other well renowned VC funds have invested $20 million in Web3 metaverse social app content provider VUZ. The series B investment round included international investors such as Caruso Ventures, Vision Ventures VC Fund, SRMG , Panthera Capital, Faith Capital and Webit Investment network.

In addition to the new investors, VUZ formerly known as 360VUZ is backed by investors such as Knollwood Investment Advisory, AlTouq Group, Impact46, UAE Shorooq Partners, KBW Ventures, Media Visions, Hala Ventures, 500Startups, DAI, Al Falaj, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, Jonathan Labin, DTEC Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Al Rashid family and other strategic angel investors.

With this round, VUZ is now backed by a mix of investors based in the US and EMEA that will play a major role in supporting VUZ in its international expansion.

VUZ bridges the gap between the physical and virtual worlds to offer premium immersive content library in the world with more than 20,000 hours of immersive content covering entertainment, creators, and sports segments, and XR, VR, and AR experiences from virtually anywhere in the world. VUZ’s vision is bringing people together and connecting the world by providing authentic immersive experiences while removing the constraints of (TTA) Travel, Time, and Access to billions of people around the world.

Khaled Zaatarah, the founder of VUZ, stated,  “Our mission is to build a hyper connected product to teleport, empower, and entertain millions of users globally. We are very thankful to have some of the strongest international investors as part of our journey to build a global social immersive platform while leading the new technology revolution, accelerating the future of media and trends such as the Metaverse, and XR (AR and VR) while building strong sustainable growth.”

The funds will be used to fuel VUZ’s expansion plans in growing its core, accelerate the growth of 10% growth month over month in its recurring subscription revenue, investing in top content, hiring additional key senior hires, new social features, launching Web3 products, NFT projects to own and trade virtual assets derived from the metaverse and scaling with asset-light operations into 8 additional new international markets, following its partnership and integration with 45 Telecom Operators globally.

Zaatarah  adds, “Our plans for the future are 10X stronger than what we have been building for the past 6 years. We have built the base and now we are ready for sustainable scalability and growth at a scale-up stage. Special thanks to everyone that believed in us and to every member of our team.”

 The extended reality immersive platform VUZ reached over 1 Billion Screen Views and is aiming to reach 3 Billion Screen Views in 2023.

VUZ, an Endeavor global network company built a lean and scalable business model providing an important revenue mix, driving value as well as growth and has strong plans to scale its platform. Some of the mega plans for VUZ is building on its current IOS and Android social mobile applications are new features such as the video immersive live chatting, social in-app gifting, social commerce for creators, creators monetization and gamification plans, XR virtual technology, launching it’s SDK, scaling on the full ecosystem with META/Oculus and Qualcomm, Immersive Avatars, as well as launching its Web Platform that is expected to reach 2Bn Screen Views per year, and its Smart TV platform.

Kushal Shah, Head of Venture Capital, e& capital, commented “We are excited about investing in a tech company like VUZ that supports the creation of virtual content as well as enables futuristic immersive experiences. This is in line with our commitment to collaborate with visionary tech businesses that we believe will contribute to building a better and brighter digital future. We will continue to invest into the company’s success, partnering with them to help them achieve growth and enable meaningful progress that moves this digital world forward.”

Maxya Proof of Useful Work Blockchain platform launches from Qatar

Maxya Proof of Useful Work Blockchain platform launches from Qatar

Two professors at Qatar university came together to build a blockchain network from scratch that would not only be utilized as a ledger but also as a super computer. They named it Maxya given that its consensus mechanism creates added value by solving optimization problems for business.

Lebanese-Canadian national Mazen El Masri, Co-Founder and CEO and  Syrian-French national Karim Yafi, CO-Founder and CTO, of Genesis Technologies, the tech company which developed Maxya, both Associate Professors at Qatar University started their project three years ago with a $2.6 million fund for an applied research program from Qatar National Research Fund, today they have launched MaxYa test net and are testing it with Qatar’s local sectors.

The duo developed their consensus mechanism which they called “Proof of Useful Work”.  The Proof-of-Useful-Work (PoUW)” is an alternative mechanism for transaction validation that repurposes the squandered computing resources to beneficial use. Their main premise was to replace the mathematical puzzle, which constitutes a fundamental part of the (PoW) Proof-of-Work mechanism, with NP-hard optimization problems whose solutions benefit the participants of the blockchain.

The PoUW prototype received interest from investors and customers which led Qatar University to register its Qatar University Holding Company (QU Holding) as a commercial umbrella for supporting the spinoffs of QU faculty. Genesis Technologies is their first spin off.  Qatar University currently owns 10 percent of Genesis Technologies.

Al Yafi explained to Laraontheblock the nature of their PoUW platform, “We wanted to develop a blockchain where the computation power necessary to maintain the validation of Blockchain to solve useful problems would give the blockchain a meaning beyond just hash values. Instead of spending a huge amount of energy and computation power to create a block, which once created is useless, we want to use the computation power for something useful, where miner who finds the solution, i.e. the block, gets rewarded.”

Maxya blockchain platform, which can be a permission or permissionless based blockchain, solves very difficult mathematical optimization problems. Examples can include portfolio optimization, scheduling, supply chain management routing, optimizing port operations, genetic sequencing and precision medicine and many more s. As Al Yafi explains, “The problem is given to the miners that then compete fairly amongst each other to solve it, it includes trial and error, and there is a randomness which keeps the network fair. The First miner to come up with a useful solution is rewarded. The Solution becomes part of the block. It is very secure because in order to hack the blockchain they have to solve all the problems that will happen after the block is hashed.” The first use case for Maxya PoUW was a useful output for a maritime transportation problem.

An interesting feature of Maxya blockchain is that anyone with a regular laptop can participate as a node. So whether you have a supercomputer or a laptop both can equally compete. El Masri states, “For the first time it is not the one with the better hardware that has a better chance of mining a block, but it is more democratic, everyone has a chance. This method reduces energy consumption which is good. But MaxYa becomes carbon negative when its consensus mechanism solves optimization problems in industries like supply chains and logistics. We proved that MaxYa can minimize the movement of cargo ships and at the same time reduce shipping cost and time on shippers. This is when MaxYa can become carbon negative. We are carbon negative because not only do we use minimum energy we also offer a useful solution which offsets the energy we do use. If launched with sufficient optimization problems to solve, MaxYa can use less energy than Polygon.”

Currently, Maxya Blockchain can carry out around 300 transactions within 8 seconds. While the block is heavy because it contains the solution being worked on, the team is compressing the data to make it lighter. Transactions happen on-chain, while data files are embedded in Maxya’s off-chain distributed cloud system.

Maxya’s prototype is in test net phase using a logistics problem. Yafi tells LaraontheBlock, “We are planning to utilize Maxya for logistics optimization with partners in Qatar. We also plan to help optimize stowing on ports. At the same time we are in conversations with entities in the USA to optimize sequencing for precision drugs and in Canada to launch MaxYa globally. Maxya can solve a range of problems. This means the value of Maxya as a blockchain is not just in managing transactions, but providing valuable solutions. It is a ledger and a decentralized computer.”

The founders envision that Maxya will be the blockchain that can fully support Web3 environments, given that miners are incentivized and the more the incentives the more sustainable the blockchain. Eventually both founders believe that at some point Maxya will move to become a public blockchain, with an open source code and Genesis Technologies will continue to build solutions on top of Maxya.

Al Yafi states, “ At the moment Maxya’s source code is closed as we register a couple of IPs and patents, but in the future if we want it to grow, we will have to make it public, Genesis technology will continue to be a part of the community, and we envision both private and public versions of Maxya.”

In terms of the recent Qatar Blockchain Blueprint, Yafi emphasizes, “We are at the center of this initiative and have been for the past five years, we have partners and strong cooperation from Qatar Financial center and various Ministries.”

Henk Jan Hoogendoorn, Chief Financial Sector Officer at Qatar Financial Centre Authority stated on LinkedIn, ” We are very proud of Qatar’s Blockchain development called Maxya, developed by Genesis Technologies and Qatar University and their team. Qatar Financial Centre ( QFC) and Qatar Fintech Hub are supporting them to commercialize Maxya to government and financial institutions.” 

UAE takes top spot globally in attracting crypto FDI in 2022

UAE takes top spot globally in attracting crypto FDI in 2022

According to a recent report by FDI markets published in FDI Intelligence, UAE topped the list of countries with most crypto related FDI projects. UAE had a whopping 15 projects making it number one. It was followed by the USA which attracted 11 crypto projects; Brazil came in third with 7 projects, followed by UK, Lithuania at 4th place with 5 crypto projects, then Singapore in fifth place with 4 projects, followed by Canada, Australia, ( 3 projects each) and France, Sweden with 2 projects 

Some 98 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects were announced in crypto related activities in the first half of 2022, an increase of 145% from the same period in 2021. This number was higher than any pre-recorded database since 2016. It was also double the figure for the whole of 2021.

Most of the companies who announced FDI projects in H1 of 2022 were those that involve crypto services, such as crypto exchanges, who set up new physical presence in foreign countries.

This is true of UAE which attracted the likes of Binance, OKx, Huobi, crypto.com, FTX, and many others in 2022 since it announced its virtual assets regulatory authority. Today the UAE boasts of over 1200 crypto blockchain related entities and is seeking to attract 5000 Blockchain and metaverse companies in the next 5 years.

Blockchain.com has applied for a crypto license in Dubai UAE

Blockchain.com has applied for a crypto license in Dubai UAE

 UK based Blockchain.com  secured regulatory approval from Italy’s Organismo Agenti e Mediatori (OAM) as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) allowing it to provide virtual currency and wallet services to Italian residents and institutional investors under the OAM’s regulatory framework. At the sametime Blockchain.com announced that it has a license underway in the UAE, through Dubai’s VARA. 

As per Blockchain.com medium article, “Through engaging with OAM we’ve been encouraged by the thoughtful approach to protecting consumers and preventing money laundering. A key growth market, Italy represents a significant economy in Europe with a high crypto adoption rate relative to its peer countries in the EU. Additionally, this milestone strengthens our position to offer services across Europe ahead of the forthcoming Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCAR), a landmark law expected to take effect in 2024/2025 that will create a single market for crypto through harmonized rules.”

Blockchain.com has additional registrations and licenses in process in the U.S., Germany, France, Spain, Dubai, Ireland and The Netherlands, providing an ever-expanding range of options for our retail and institutional clients.

Blockchain.com currently has 83 million wallets in more than 200 countries

With 83 million wallets in more than 200 countries, and have transacted more than $1.2 trillion in crypto to date.

Major exchanges Binance and U.S.-based Coinbase Global Inc , as well as Singapore-based Crypto.com and German investment platform Trade Republic, are among those to have already secured registration with the OAM.

Crypto platforms are looking to increase their bases in Europe before ground-breaking crypto rules agreed last month by the European Union come into force. Under the rules, expected to go live after 2024, crypto firms will need a licence and customer safeguards to issue and sell digital tokens in the bloc.

UAE ranks third globally in terms of number of Blockchain startups

UAE ranks third globally in terms of number of Blockchain startups

The 2022 Worldwide crypto readiness report looks into the number of crypto ATMs, legislations, taxes surrounding cryptocurrencies, as well as the number of blockchain start-ups and the level of interest in crypto in order to find the most crypto ready countries. The 2022 report revealed that the UAE ranks third globally when it comes to the number of blockchain start-ups. The UAE has close to 120 blockchain start-ups or 1.2 blockchain startups per 100,000 people.

As per the 2022 report, Hong Kong was number one on the list in terms of crypto readiness, The country was crowned the most crypto-ready as it ranked in the top three for three of the categories looked at, including the number of blockchain start-ups per 100,00 people and the number of crypto ATMs proportional to the population. Hong Kong also doesn’t tax capital gains on crypto, making it appealing to investors.

Next up was the United States; the US took second place thanks to the huge number of crypto ATMs in the country, more than ten times that of its closest competitor, or 3.6 more per 100,000 people.

In third place was Switzerland. Switzerland ranked high due to its high number of crypto ATMs per 100,000 people and no capital gains tax, ranking in the top five for both factors. The country is also one of the most enterprising, took number one place for the number of blockchain start-ups.

Switzerland was crowned as the country with the most blockchain start-ups, boasting 12.9 blockchain start-ups per 100,000 residents, or 1,128 in total.  This has been due to the proactive approach taken by the Swiss financial authorities, which has lead to a booming blockchain industry with 14 of its start-ups worth over $1 billion.

While the United Arab Emirates took fourth place globally in the overall crypto readiness ranking, it also grabbed 3rd place with regards to the number of Blockchains start-ups. The UAE boasted of 1.2 blockchain start-ups per 100,000 people. UAE has a population of approximately 10 million which would mean that the UAE has 120 blockchain start-ups residing in the country.

UAE was preceded by Hong Kong who took second place with three blockchain start-ups per 100,000 people.

In terms of the countries which have the most interest in cryptocurrencies, Australia took first place, with 4,579 “cryptocurrency” searches per 100,000 people, just under 18% of Australia’s population owning crypto in 2021.

Second place went to Ireland which has 3,472 “cryptocurrency” searches per 100,000 people, followed by United Kingdom in third place with 3,409 “cryptocurrency” searches per 100,000 people. UAE took fourth place with 3, 342 ‘cryptocurrency’ searches per 100,000 people.

Crypto is under the influence of two Weather fronts warm and cold

Crypto is under the influence of two Weather fronts warm and cold

Unlike previous crypto winters, this time we are witnessing two weather fronts hitting crypto at the same time. One is sunny and warm and inviting, the other is cold, dreary and repellent.

If you are in the UAE for example crypto is under a warm summer spell. I mean let us take the first drop of news where MENA based Trust Smart Solutions (TSS), a payment tech service provider just partnered with PayScript global company focusing on digital assets, to enable the Crypto Payment Acceptance on Point of Sales Terminals. This is huge, as Payscript is an all-inclusive Crypto Solutions-as-a-Service platform that aims at bridging the gap between the merchants’ accepting cryptocurrencies and the owners of cryptocurrencies. The platform will allow users to do crypto payment via different channels including sending and receiving payments, accepting payments on E-commerce stores and online websites, as well as physical Point-Of-Sale transactions in Retails Stores and Cafes.

The platform will be delivered in a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model in TSS’ operating markets, which brings an element of efficiency and scalability to banks that participate in the platform ecosystem. The platform comes with a core focus to accelerate the adoption of Crypto Payments, providing the platform to bank/Financial Institution and Merchants as an alternative payment channel and additional revenue streams.

Mr. Tamim Halawani, Deputy General Manager of Trust Smart Solutions commented “Crypto is at the forefront of payment innovation globally, addressing high-impact use cases across the merchant-consumer ecosystem. We firmly believe that our partnership with Payscript will democratize access to the crypto universe and drive seamless adoption across various payment channels”.

Mr. Nadeem Shaikh, CEO of Payscript commented “Cryptography is going to be the future of money, whether it’s Bitcoin or Stable Coin or Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) still needs to be seen but it’s inevitable. Crypto provides a better, transparent, secure framework for managing money. Our partnership with Trust Smart Solutions will enable merchants across Middle East and North Africa to accept crypto payments on the point-of-sale terminals directly in addition to cards! Isn’t that amazing? I am super excited about the partnership and the opportunities lying ahead”.

But that’s not all that is happening in MENA, an entity called crypto and Properties has launched allowing anyone to purchase properties in the UAE via cryptocurrencies. As per their website their vision is to be recognized as Dubai’s most trusted and established real estate brokerage brand. They are the authorized agents of names such as Emaar, Meraas, Dubai Holding, Omniyat, Damac, Kempinski, Nakheel, and others. If crypto is dead then why so many outlets popping up supporting crypto payments?

Even globally According to a Bank of America Global Research survey of U.S. crypto users and prospective users 91% of respondents said they intend to buy cryptocurrencies in the next six months despite a sharp decline in prices. The same number of respondents also reported purchasing coins and other digital assets over the past six months.

Circle Internet Financial has announced a USD coin custody partnership with the American bank holding company New York Community Bancorp (NYCB). Under the agreement, NYCB’s subsidiary, New York Community Bank, will become a custodian for the company’s stablecoin reserves.

It is also interesting to see that even though China through its state run media has noted that Bitcoin is heading to zero amidst its previous ban on cryptocurrency transactions and mining, China is once again the second biggest crypto mining market in the world, superseded by the USA. China has reemerged as a major Bitcoin mining hub, taking second place after USA with 21 percent of market Share. USA holds 37.8 percent of market share. It seems like an oxymoron of sorts coming from a country that seems to officially despise crypto but inherently embrace it.

So there are a lot of interesting good weather news for crypto around the globe, even Luna2, the child of failed Luna seems to be skyrocketing.  The price of Terra (LUNA2) recovered sharply after falling to its historic lows of $1.62. On June 27, LUNA2’s rate reached $2.77 per token, thus chalking up a 70% recovery when measured from the said low. Still, the token traded 77.35% lower than its record high of $12.24, set on May 30th 2022.

In other areas the crypto winter is upon us. Three Arrows Capital just got struck by an arrow right in its heart. A court in the British Virgin Islands has ordered the liquidation of Singapore-based Three Arrows Capital as per a Sky News report. The order reportedly came on the same date that Voyager Digital issued a notice of default to 3AC for its failure to pay its 15,250 Bitcoin and 350 million USDC loan.

Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase Global have been downgraded by analysts at Goldman Sachs after plunging cryptocurrency prices affected the exchange’s underlying business, underscoring the challenges posed by the bear market.  The reason for the downgrade stems from the “continued downdraft in crypto prices,” Goldman analyst William Nance said in a note that was obtained by Bloomberg. Coinbase is also laying off 18 percent of its staff.

In MENA as well crypto exchange BitOasis announced a layoff of 5 percent of its employees. This comes after RAIN Crypto exchange carried out its own layoffs in May.

In the meantime, crypto mining operations globally are facing liquidity issues pushing them to sell their crypto assets or lose their operations all together such as in the case of Compass Mining.

So there is a lot of news hovering within the storm of the crypto winter, but in the end it all depends on how you want to look at it. So for example when you read a newspiece that says 80,000 Bitcoin millionaires wiped out in the great crypto crash of 2022, in that same article it also reads, the bear market has seen more than 13,000 new “wholecoiners”, a wallet that contains one or more BTC , bringing the total number of wholecoiners to just over 860,000. This significant spike in the number of whole coiners would suggest that retail investors are accumulating large amounts of BTC while prices tank.

It is up to you the reader to assess whether it is truly a crypto winter or the likings of a crypto spring.

Iraqi American Beauty Entrepreneur discusses investing in NFTs and Women

Iraqi American Beauty Entrepreneur discusses investing in NFTs and Women

When Huda Kattan, an Iraqi American beauty Blogger launched her blog in 2010, she didn’t imagine that in 2022, she would head one of the fastest growing beauty brands in the world with over 50 million followers on Instagram and a net worth of 500 million USD.

Her success actually started in Dubai UAE, when Huda and her sisters Mona and Alya created a collection of false eyelashes under the Huda Beauty brand name which later launched at Sephora in Dubai Mall.

Recently Huda was invited to speak at Gary Vaynerchuk’s Web3.o and NFT conference Veecon, at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.  

Only a handful  of women were present at the event, including Mila Kunis and Eva Longoria, Kattan spoke on her recent investments into NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) and how few women are involved in the crypto space.

Kattan currently owns hundreds of NFTs, including those from the project  World of Women NFT. As per their website, WoW’s vision is to build an inclusive web3 through its collection and community. According to research published in Nov. 2021, female artists accounted for just 5% of all NFT art sales in the prior 21 months. WoW is on a mission to change this. Kattan’s investment into digital art NFTs stems from her passion and is not based on pure financial gain.

In her interview with Yahoo Finance, Katan who discussed investing in NFTs states, “Passion is essential you with passion you can be patient when the market goes up and down. I know not everybody feels that way, but I do believe that when you have passion you bring so much more to the NFT community, more than just the value of buying NFTs, the community part is so important.”

“As much money as I’ve made, I’ve lost a lot of money,” Kattan said about her new investments. “And it’s very easy to be like, ‘Oh my god buy this lipstick. There’s no real downfall if you don’t like it, you lost $20. If you invest in an NFT project, you become part of the community, you invest so much time. And if that doesn’t go well, that’s your wealth that is your livelihood.”

The Veecon event had a ratio of 50 to 1 in terms of men versus women. Huda hopes that will change in the future with the help of NFT communities. She states, “The NFT space reminds me of the beauty space in the beginning. Things are shifting and changing.”

At the moment only 2 percent of VC money goes to women. Women still represent fewer than 15 percent of the crypto space.  “I am a strong woman, I’m a very confident woman, I have a lot of personality and am rarely uncomfortable in any situation and I am intimidated with that space so I can’t imagine how other women must feel,” she said. “Getting more women here needs to be a very conscious effort.”

Kattan’s presence in the NFT domain comes at a time in the MENA when institutions such UAE Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) has partnered with Web3 identity platform and NFT domain provider Unstoppable Domains to provide free crypto domains to all women residing in Abu Dhabi. The giveaway aims to provide opportunities for more women to learn about and ultimately participate in Web3, a space where only 5% to 7% of all cryptocurrency users are women and just 12% work in blockchain.

The initiative was announced during a delegation visit to Abu Dhabi by the ‘Women of Web3′, a powerhouse group of disruptive female tech entrepreneurs from the United States exploring the emirate as a gateway for global expansion.

Eng. Abdulla Abdul Aziz Al Shamsi, Acting Director General of ADIO, said: “Abu Dhabi is ensuring the future of Web3 is built around powerful infrastructures that appeal to all members of the community. By supporting initiatives that invite and uplift women, we can champion diversity early in the Web3 era. The partnership with Unstoppable Domains to provide frees crypto domains to all women in Abu Dhabi and embodies the emirate’s promise of inclusion, while creating opportunities for private sector participation in a fast-growing space.”

Sandy Carter, SVP of Unstoppable Domains and Founder of Unstoppable Women of Web3, stated: “It’s great to see Abu Dhabi leading the mission to bring Web3 opportunities to women in the Middle East. It has been an honor to be a part of the ‘Women of Web3’ delegation, and I am grateful to Access Abu Dhabi and ADIO for providing such an immersive look into Abu Dhabi’s business and technology ecosystem.”

Sarah Omolewu, Managing Partner of Maven Global Access and founder of Access Abu Dhabi, said, “In a market of expats from more than 200 countries, this initiative could potentially impact the lives of generations of women around the world.” She added, “This is the legacy-building impact I envisioned for the Access Abu Dhabi program. While the financial gap between male and female founders still exists, the game is changing, and more women recognize the value of emerging technologies in growing and funding their businesses.”