Author: Arabian Media staff
Image: Aramco Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and energy giant Aramco have reached a landmark agreement, outlining plans for Aramco to acquire a minority stake in HUMAIN, the PIF-backed artificial intelligence (AI) company. The agreement, announced today, marks a strategic move to accelerate the growth of HUMAIN and position Saudi Arabia at the forefront of global AI innovation. Under the non-binding term sheet, both PIF and Aramco will contribute their AI assets, expertise, and talent to HUMAIN, creating a powerhouse for AI research and development. While Aramco will take a minority stake, PIF will maintain majority ownership, ensuring continued…
Image credit: Dubai Media Office/Website The ninth edition of the Dubai Fitness Challenge (DFC), an initiative of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, is set to launch on November 1, 2025, renewing Dubai’s quest to be recognized as one of the world’s most active cities. Exuding a universally appealing vibe with its ‘Find Your Challenge’ theme, DFC 2025 invites residents and visitors alike to commit to 30 minutes of daily physical activity for 30 days, transforming…
Image: Supplied As Amazon’s VP for the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey (MEAT), Ronaldo Mouchawar oversees one of the e-commerce giant’s most diverse and fast-evolving territories. Tasked with driving growth across markets ranging from the Gulf’s advanced infrastructure to Africa’s emerging digital economies, he has centered his leadership on Amazon’s core tenets: customer obsession and innovation at scale. In this interview with Gulf Business editor, Neesha Salian, he discusses how this philosophy has made the region a global launchpad for services such as Amazon Now, details the unique localisation challenges, from navigating non-traditional addresses to managing cash payments, and explains…
After two days full of live demos and pitches, it’s time to announce the five finalists at this year’s Startup Battlefield. These finalists were selected from an initial pool of thousands of applicants, with TechCrunch’s editorial team narrowing the field down to the 200 companies that all joined us here at Disrupt, with the Top 20 competing on the Disrupt Stage. With feedback from our expert judges, we’ve now selected our finalists, who will take the stage one more time at 11:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday to compete for our grand prize of $100,000 in equity-free funding, as well as…
If you were wandering the Expo Hall at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, or watching our pitch stage earlier Tuesday, you might have noticed a familiar face from Pied Piper. Thomas Middleditch, who starred in HBO’s popular “Silicon Valley” show that prominently featured Disrupt back in 2014, had a planned takeover of Australian startup (and Battlefield 200 competitor) Othelia’s presentation at the pitch showcase stage. You can take a look at his full rundown below, including the actual pitch for Othelia’s mission to build a Cursor-like platform for storytellers. Middleditch, amid being pitched, photographed, and mildly swarmed at the Expo hall, also…
Even after reviewing résumés, cover letters, and interviews, choosing the right candidate for a job can be a mysterious process. Hiring managers often rely on their biases about the world or gut feelings to inform their decision, making the process far from an exact science. That’s why Sarah Lucena built Mappa, an AI-powered behavioral intelligence platform that aims to take some of the guesswork out of hiring. Mappa trained an AI model to detect voice patterns that correlate with certain traits, such as communication style, empathy, and confidence. Applicants simply answer some questions from Mappa’s AI agent, and then the…
As companies push to increase efficiency and stay competitive, they’re encouraging, or in some cases outright requiring, workers to know how to use AI tools. However, the push for AI use has exposed a training gap. “There are few solutions available on the market that are dedicated to non-technical people,” Aureliusz Gorski, founder and CEO of Warsaw-based CampusAI, told TechCrunch. CampusAI’s solution? An educational platform focused on making learning accessible to everyday people who want to bring AI into their everyday workflows — whether that’s to help improve sales, HR, legal, or just give your personal branding a boost with…
Tutoring is one of the most effective tools for improving a child’s education, yet very few kids in the U.S. receive it. A 2023 survey of the nation’s largest school districts found that fewer than 10% of students received tutoring. One factor is that tutoring is too expensive for many families, often costing hundreds or thousands of dollars a month. Tim Novikoff, a former Google product manager and educator, wants to change that. His startup, Super Teacher, offers an AI-powered tutoring app for elementary school students that costs $15 a month, or $10 with an annual plan. Super Teacher aims…
If every good startup begins with a problem, this one may have begun with a bad Slack conversation. As CEO and co-founder Tom Bachant tells it, he remembers seeing the chaos of Slack-based support — the haphazard ticketing, the jumble of DMs, and little chance for insight into the underlying problems. “The first point was just seeing that Slack was this kind of chaotic beast that needed to be tracked better,” Bachant remembers, “and then seeing that the actual work that’s being requested by these teams could easily be automated.” His new company, Unthread, is the result of that realization.…
Katie Hill’s dream home isn’t on the market — but one day, it will be, and she wants dibs. That, and a bit of neighborly envy, is how she got the idea for her startup, Unlisted Homes, which is a Top 20 Startup Battlefield finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. “I’ve always imagined myself as an old lady with a big hat and big sunglasses, sipping a martini by the pool,” said Hill, a longtime entrepreneur. As her children grow into adults and move away from home, her neighbor’s lot across the street seems perfect: It’s a smaller home that’s perfect…