Cointelegraph, Blockchain crypto media platform now in MENA in English and Arabic

Cointelegraph, Blockchain crypto media platform now in MENA in English and Arabic

Luna PR founder and CEO, Nikita Sachdev has announced that Luna PR, a PR and Marketing agency focused on blockchain and crypto has acquired the franchise for Cointelegraph MENA. As posted on her LinkedIn Feed, “We are celebrating a huge milestone! I’m proud to announce our acquisition of Cointelegraph MENA.”

She added, “The goal is mass adoption of blockchain, which will revolutionize the way every industry functions today. Building awareness of blockchain in MENA has always been of utmost importance to us. We want other web3 projects globally to know about what the Middle East has to offer. We hope to do just that.”

Nikita told LaraontheBlock, ” I did this because I realize the potential in the Middle East and I want more projects to see what this region has to offer. We will most likely officially launch by next month.”

Cointelegraph is a global Blockchain crypto emerging FinTech media platform that was launched in 2013. Its presence now in the MENA region is a testament to the growing role this region is playing when it comes to blockchain and crypto. Cointelegraph launched its franchise opportunities back in 2015 and has French, Chinese, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Turkish, and Korean and Portuguese websites.

The new franchise owner, Luna PR, has been in the crypto space since 2017 and was founded by American entrepreneur, Nikita Sachdev. It is headquartered in Dubai, with offices in Miami and Singapore, and houses over 100 employees. The blockchain-focused agency has worked with over 600 Web3 clients, including top crypto projects, government entities, and celebrities looking to enter the blockchain space.

As per Luna PR press release, Cointelegraph MENA will be published in both English and Arabic. It will cover Blockchain crypto news from the MENA region. Notably the Arabic website was already up and running before Luna PR took over, of course with different owners. 

Saudi Nuqtah NFT Marketplace partners with Ethereum Consensys

Saudi Nuqtah NFT Marketplace partners with Ethereum Consensys

KSA NuqtahNFT marketplace  has partnered with Consensys, an Ethereum blockchain company.

The agreement aims to transfer the knowledge and expertise of Consensys to empower Web 3 startups in Saudi Arabia in line with Nuqtah’s goal of accelerating Web 3 adoption, and in clear alignment with the Kingdom’s vision to become a hub for technology.

According to ConsenSys Partnership Lead Ian Wallis: “With Nuqtah’s existing Infura and Ethereum infrastructure, the potential in the Saudi market is huge and we are very excited to be launching this strategic partnership with NuqtahNFT, Saudi’s leading NFT marketplace to provide even more functionality and empowerment of creatives in the MENA region.”

Salwa Radawi, CEO of Nuqtah, commented: “Our mission is to spearhead the adoption of Web 3 in MENA, by tirelessly developing and enabling a complete and robust infrastructure, tailored specifically to the MENA region originators.”

Salwa also added: “This partnership is only the beginning of our opening. It not only opens a great deal of opportunities for us and fellow Web 3 startups within the industry but also ensures that we are able to transfer this knowledge and localize it for the region.”

Last week Nuqtah NFT Marketplace announced it would be raising 5 million USD in seed capital.

MENA Investors invest 5 million USD in TGV4 Plus 146 million Follow on Fund

MENA Investors invest 5 million USD in TGV4 Plus 146 million Follow on Fund

 True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV4 Plus) Fund has closed its US$146m Follow on Fund. The Follow on Fund will double down on the TGV4 base fund investments, the likes of Animoca, Sandbox, Forge, Chromaway, CoinHouse, GCEX, and others. Interestingly 40 percent of the Follow on Fund was raised from partners in Middle East, India and Asia. Investment from Middle East partners was 3.4 percent of the 40 percent making their total participation 5 million USD. While portfolio companies such as GCEX, Enjinstarter and IoMob have established operations in Dubai UAE. TGV4 Plus has been partnering with MENA based investors including Cypher Capital and Crypto Oasis among others. 

Valerie Hawley, Affiliate Founding Partner, Middle East True Global Ventures 4 Plus , told LaraOntheBlock, “More than 40% of the Follow on Fund has been raised from partners based in the Middle East, India and Asia, of those 3.4 percent were from Middle East Partners in particular. This just goes to show the increasing importance this region has to play in the Venture Capital space.  Numerous portfolio companies from our base fund, GCEX, Enjinstarter and IoMob, have established operations in Dubai, and we expect many more to do so given the crypto friendly environment the UAE has established with the creation of VARA (Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority).”

The TGV4 plus Follow on Fund  whose 15 General Partners (GP), lead the fund and its Investment Committee, put in more than US$62m of their money into the fund. This is a total GP commitment of over 40% of the total fund size and over US$4m per GP on average. The first capital call of the fund has been fully paid in.

The TGV 4 Plus base fund invested in serial entrepreneurs leading globally ambitious Blockchain start-ups. It covers 20 cities in North America, Europe and Asia. The fund is dedicated to Web3 companies, primarily in late-stage Series A, B and C across 3 verticals: Entertainment & gaming, financial services, infrastructure & data analytics / Artificial Intelligence (AI).

It has invested in some of the leading Web3 companies such as Animoca Brands, The Sandbox, Forge, Chromaway, Coinhouse, GCEX, Chronicled and others. 

The new Follow on Fund will focus on investing a majority of its capital into selected TGV 4 Plus base fund companies. It might also invest in other late stage Web3 deals opportunistically.

“The base fund has been a fantastic success, but we are still only in the starting blocks of Web3. We believe that our early winners will grow even stronger and with the Follow on Fund, we give our partners an opportunity to invest more into these companies” says Fredrik Adolfsson, General Partner.

“After some years of growth, our best portfolio companies are looking to expand even further. We want to help and assist them with the Follow On Fund, as we are ready on the starting blocks, when many growth funds focus on regaining investors’ trust during this period”, says Konrad Wawruch, General Partner.

General Partner Dušan Stojanović adds, “We raised the money in record time in 4 months and we believe this is the best time to invest during market corrections. I would say that it is much easier to see more clearly who the winners are now. This has created a high level of confidence amongst our investors who have seen a large GP Commit and the first call being executed very quickly”.

UAE Private Fintech firm invests in UAE Decentralized Digital asset exchange

UAE Private Fintech firm invests in UAE Decentralized Digital asset exchange

UAE Blockchain enabled LedgerFi, valuated at 6.3 million USD has just completed its seed round investment from a UAE private Fintech firm. As per their website LedgerFi which utilizes XDC blockchain network, wants to become the world’s first Decentralized Digital Asset Exchange ( DDAX) where users can transfer all types of digital assets.

LedgerFi IT Solutions is disrupting the traditional ways of exchanging digital assets, digital energy & digital property by enabling the users of Web 3.0 to adopt & adapt a peer-to-peer, censorship resistant and decentralized ecosystem. It is also extending the use case of transfer of digital assets beyond crypto currencies and enabling users with a seamless platform for exchange of emails, messages, data, files, information, digital currencies and even NFTs.

LedgerFi recently launched its flagship product called as LedgerMail which is the world’s first blockchain email service operating on a hybrid blockchain platform of XDC network. So far LedgerMail has onboarded more than 750,000 users and also partnered with big tech enterprises for secure, private & encrypted email communication.

Founder and CEO at LedgerFi, Mr. Vinay Krishna quoted, “We are thrilled to complete our Pre-Seed Investment round. Now we are working on benchmarking the Web 3.0 communication ecosystem and build a futuristic, simplistic and transformative ecosystem for the individuals and businesses.”

As per the pressrelease, LedgerFi will utilize this investment for catalyzing the technological development of new solutions which will complement the existing products, and LedgerFi will also operationalize its entity with business expansion in the UAE.

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.”

UAE Cypher Capital joins Huobi Ventures investing 2 million USD in Blockchain gaming SAAS platform

UAE Cypher Capital joins Huobi Ventures investing 2 million USD in Blockchain gaming SAAS platform

UAE Based Cypher Capital among leading global Venture Capitalists to have invested in Blockchain gaming platform, MetaOne. UAE Cypher Capital, Huobi Ventures, LD Capital and GSR Capital have invested 2 million USD in MetaOne, a SAAS ( Software as a Service) platform that is working to onboard games and guilds onto blockchain gaming.

“We are beyond enthusiastic about our new investment, MetaOne, the service platform that enables massive gamer communities,” MetaOne is solving key problems in the current Web 3.0 GameFi market by creating a single platform that attracts Web 2.0 gamers to Web 3.0 GameFi and empowers the gaming guilds to take data-backed decisions. By leveraging on our strong influence in the region, MetaOne is looking to tap into the Middle East market to convert more gamers into GameFi, stated, Vineet Budki, Managing Partner and CEO of Cypher Capital.

With more than 242 guilds, over 72,000 gamers onboarded, 33 GameFi titles partnership in the pipeline and NFT asset management across 7 chains, the platform is eager to work with more partners to realize the vision of GameFi empowerment and to become the mainstream adoption platform from Web2 gaming to Web3 GameFi over the globe.

Furthermore, MetaOne  is seeking to localize the platform through their relationship in East-Africa as a MOU has been recently signed with East-African partners who are associated with Mpesa and Sports-Pesa. The partnership looks forward to providing a seamless onboarding experience for the gaming communities in the region.

“We are so excited about communicating this vision to all geographical regions and realizing it into real executable plans where guilds, gamers, GameFi studios and the retail investors can see and feel the tangibles.” said Marrtin Hoon, CEO of MetaOne.

The project is expected to have its official platform roll and utility token launch by year 2022.

Prior to this Cypher Capital invested in Iomob, a Blockchain company developing a decentralized protocol for mobility marketplace and token.

UAE Minister of AI and Digital Economy looks at converging Metaverse, Blockchain, and AI

UAE Minister of AI and Digital Economy looks at converging Metaverse, Blockchain, and AI

During the World Economic Forum in Davos, CoinDesk carried out an interview with UAE Minister Omar Sultan AlOlama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work.

Some big takeaways from his interview that I found interesting were the following. First he noted that he was pleased to see more and more governments embracing crypto and finding use cases for it. He also noted that Blockchain had become more popular and as he stated, “This is good for everyone because you can build a more trust based society that will take us into Web3.0”

He also made a comment that while most governments just talk about AI (Artificial Intelligence), the UAE is actually walking the talk. He states, “The UAE is taking a proactive role to regulate and deploy AI in environments and is working to attract AI startups.” He believes given the diversity in UAE demographics AI systems developed in UAE will be less biased towards specific ethnicities, genders, etc.. He also states that the UAE with its cutting edge infrastructure and its diverse economic sectors has a volume of data that could create a globally first AI Company from UAE.

According to Olama, the digital economics will be enabled by AI and Blockchain.

When asked if UAE was seeking to become a crypto hub, he stated that it was already a crypto hub in the region and one of the few leading crypto hubs globally. He noted, “ We need to do what people want and for some reasons people have chosen to embark on a crypto journey, some have invested their life savings in crypto. Today crypto is high risk but eventually it will mature, so as governments we either take a back seat or we become leaders. We need to ensure there is no money laundering, no pump and dump trading schemes. Yet given that this market is nascent there will be mistakes and we need to inform public as much as possible to the risks, ensure no illegal activity is happening.”

Olama believes that the biggest aim is to attract crypto talent which is among the best globally because they are building and securing Web3, building metaverse, payment gateways, and other solutions. UAE wants to enable them and create the right environment for them. He notes how both Polygon Blockchain and Binance crypto exchange have relocated to UAE.

He believes that the regulatory environment in UAE, is one where the regulator views companies and entities as innocent until proven guilty, ensuring the right checks and balances while being agile and nimble.

In his final remark, he notes that at Davos, ” I am  interested in seeing how the metaverse converges with Blockchain and AI and how this will look and use that to launch the right strategies and programs back in the UAE.”