VC React Podcast VC React MENA E61: Qatar Joins AI Race with Qai, Reno: Renovate Now-Pay Later, COGNNA's Agentic SOC
VC React Podcast - MENA:
Every week, we bring you insights and reactions from top VCs, LPs, & Angel Investors, reacting to the latest news on MENA startups, funds, and investment rounds.
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Hosts:
- Ahmad Takatkah, VCpreneur. Sign up to VCpreneur Newsletter on https://www.vcpreneur.com/
- Jamie Lane, FWDstart. Sign up to FWDstart Newsletter on https://archives.fwdstart.me/
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Available on:
- Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/@VCReactPodcast
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4O6gOT7eoMxf5M7qy3HVMp
- Apple:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/vc-react-podcast/id1764834384
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Guests:
1. Beau Seil, Managing Director of Atta, former VC, and one of the few couples in venture, his wife is Sonia Weymuller of VentureSouq.
- LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beauseil/
- Company Website:
2. Timur Daudpota, Founding Partner at 2080 Ventures
- LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timurdaudpota/
- Company Website: https://www.2080.ventures/
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Sponsors:
💸This week’s episode is brought to you by:
- OCTA – the AI-powered accounts receivable platform trusted by hundreds of companies like Careem, Lean Technologies, and ZenHR to automate collections, resolve disputes, and unlock financing with zero hassle.
Visit: www.weareocta.com/fwdstart to get your first 6 months free.
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News of the week brought to you by FWDstart.
This Week On The VC React Podcast:
- Qatar jumps into the sovereign AI race with Qai, joining G42 in Abu Dhabi and HUMAIN in Riyadh. Are we actually building a regional AI super-cluster here—or just three neighbouring countries spending billions to rebuild the same stack three times under different flags?
- UAE startup Reno wants to own home renovation end-to-end: design, contractors, project management and ‘Renovate Now, Pay Later’ financing. Is this the future—one startup controls an entire vertical with software, marketplace and credit—or is doing everything in one stack just adds complexity and risk too early?
- Saudi cyber startup COGNNA raises a $9.2M Series A to build an AI-led, ‘agentic SOC’ that promises deployment in under 30 minutes. Can Saudi really build cyber products that compete globally, or will companies like COGNNA mostly win by being the local, compliant, on-the-ground vendor?
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