Dazzle AI, a new company founded by entrepreneur, executive, and former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, announced it has raised $8 million in seed funding at a $35 million post-money valuation. The round was led by Kirsten Green of Forerunner with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Greycroft, Offline Ventures, Slow Ventures, and Bling Capital.

Leveraging her experience at Google, Yahoo, and in user-centered technology, Marissa is dedicated to Dazzle AI’s mission of making technology more intuitive and genuinely useful in everyday life. The company aims to close the gap between what people want to do and what they can do with AI, developing tools that make technology simpler, smarter, and more approachable.

“Throughout my career, I’ve loved making complex technology more intuitive,” said Marissa Mayer, Founder and CEO of Dazzle AI. “With Dazzle, our goal is to make AI feel simple, helping people get more done and delighting them along the way. Now that foundational models have reached a level of consistent excellence, they’ve become a reliable infrastructure. The new frontier is applications—leveraging that power to create real, tangible value. I’m thrilled to be building something new alongside an incredible group of investors and partners.”

“The builders of tomorrow’s winning platforms are not thinking in terms of incremental improvements or previous playbooks – they are thinking in entirely new ecosystems, with the courage to imagine paradigms that do not yet exist. As a leader, Marissa embodies the ambition and bravery that’s essential to taking this kind of big swing,” said Kirsten Green, Founding Partner at Forerunner. “We have barely scratched the surface of having AI integrated into daily routines in a way that feels human, enriching, and transformatively useful.”

This funding allows Dazzle AI to expand its team and prepare for its first product launch in the coming months.

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The Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF 2026) is expanding its support for founders by introducing a series of masterclasses designed to equip entrepreneurs, creators, and early‑stage startups with practical skills to build, grow, and sustain their ventures.

Hosted within the SEF Academy, the masterclasses offer applied, skill‑driven learning led by regional and international experts, covering funding, technology, branding, creative growth, leadership, and founder wellbeing. SEF 2026 will take place on January 31 and February 1 at the Sharjah Research Technology and Innovation Park (SRTIP), welcoming more than 14,000 global attendees, including founders, investors, and ecosystem leaders.

Building and funding a business A core focus of SEF 2026 is strengthening the fundamentals of venture building. ‘Demystifying the Mechanics of Equity Fundraising’ provides founders with a practical understanding of cap tables, equity structures, and investor readiness. ‘Money Mastery 101’ helps participants manage personal and business finances, while ‘Consumer Spending Behaviour: Patterns & Risks’ explores how market dynamics influence pricing and demand.

AI, technology, and automation Technology‑driven execution features prominently, with sessions on applying AI in real business contexts. ‘Artificial Intelligence Automation for Businesses’ examines how AI agents streamline operations and customer engagement, while ‘Building Your AI Workflow for Storytelling and Creativity’ shows founders and creatives how to integrate AI into ideation and content production.

Brand, communication, and creative advantage Masterclasses also address visibility and communication. ‘Personal Branding for Founders’ guides participants in shaping authentic narratives, and ‘From Fear to Confidence’ strengthens public‑speaking skills for high‑stakes settings.

Creative practice and creator‑led growth For founders and creators, SEF offers hands‑on photowalks using DSLR and mobile tools, reinforcing content as a business asset. ‘AI Prompt Engineering for Creatives’ provides structured creative workflows, while ‘How to Make a Full‑Time Income with a Part‑Time Audience’ reframes audience‑building as a sustainable growth model.

Wellbeing and founder sustainability Recognizing entrepreneurial pressures, the Academy integrates wellbeing through sessions such as ‘Beat The Burn,’ offering tools to manage stress and prevent burnout.

Belong pass holders can reserve masterclasses as paid add‑ons, while Premium pass holders receive full access. Passes are available at sharjahef.com, with complimentary Student passes offered upon registration.

Organized by Sheraa, SEF 2026 will take place under the theme Where We Belong, celebrating creativity, impact, and entrepreneurship.

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Egypt’s startup ecosystem is entering a more mature phase, driven by stronger institutional partnerships and rising founder ambition. A central force in this progress is the three‑year collaboration between ITIDA and 500 Global, which has helped build a more connected, performance‑driven environment for technology entrepreneurship.

ITIDA CEO Eng. Ahmed Elzaher highlighted the agency’s focus on accelerating Egypt’s tech sector, expanding digital services and offshoring exports, and nurturing startups and freelancers as pillars of the digital economy. He credited the partnership’s success to clear performance metrics, trust, and the transfer of global best practices into Egypt’s ecosystem.

A major outcome of the collaboration is the Bootcamp for Accelerator Managers (BAM), which strengthened accelerator capabilities nationwide. More than 125 managers from over 55 accelerators participated, with follow‑up assessments showing improvements in leadership roles, strategy clarity, program quality, and measurable KPI gains.

The partnership has also delivered strong results for founders. Across nine cohorts, 380+ entrepreneurs representing 197 startups participated in 500 Global’s Seed Bootcamp and Scale Up programs. These startups secured $6M in direct investment, raised over $54M in follow‑on funding, achieved two exits, won $1.3M in grants, and created more than 1,300 jobs.

The event showcased success stories from startups such as Rahet Bally, ILLA, Dayra, Amanleek, Blnk, Settle, Bluworks, Khazenly, Nowlun, and Enza, alongside founders who completed exits or mergers.

Looking ahead, ITIDA and 500 Global plan to expand their focus to deep‑tech and AI, strengthen investment readiness, and extend programs beyond Cairo through the nationwide Creativa Innovation Hubs.

500 Global’s leadership emphasized Egypt’s strong talent pool and the value of the partnership in enabling mentorship, education, and global knowledge transfer—positioning Egyptian startups to build advanced technologies and scale internationally.

Bedy Yang, Managing Partner at 500 Global, said, “We work to empower entrepreneurs worldwide through a global innovation and knowledge-transfer network. In Egypt, our partnership with the government has created clear added value for both parties, and the results have exceeded expectations”.

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Sohar International has signed a series of MoUs to establish a unified national cooperation framework supporting the creation of the Consumer Cooperative Society—an integrated pathway that guides Omani youth, freelancers, and early‑stage ventures from ideation to incubation, financing, scaling, and eventual listing on the Muscat Stock Exchange. By aligning public and private sector partners under one structured model, the initiative reduces fragmentation and ensures entrepreneurs receive consistent support at every stage.

CEO Abdulwahid Mohammed Al Murshidi said the framework reflects Sohar International’s commitment to building a credible, system‑level pathway that connects financing, regulation, skills development, and market access, enabling young entrepreneurs to progress from early ideas to commercially viable, investment‑ready enterprises.

The agreements were signed with key national institutions, including the Ministry of Labour, the Strategic and Defence Studies Academy, the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Oman LNG Development Foundation, and Petroleum Development Oman.

The Consumer Cooperative Society model provides mentorship, technical enablement, tailored financing, and market‑readiness support, helping formalise economic activity, create jobs, and strengthen SME and freelance contributions to non‑oil GDP—advancing Oman Vision 2040.

The cooperation framework integrates capabilities across the entrepreneurial value chain, including a new entrepreneurship centre with UTAS and HKUST, support for the “Estidamat Mu’asasati” platform, 14 insurance solutions for freelancers and SMEs, pre‑listing programmes with the Muscat Stock Exchange, and financing frameworks for startups and SMEs.

Sohar International continues to position itself as a catalyst for national economic progress, driving innovation and building the foundations of a dynamic, future‑ready entrepreneurial ecosystem.

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42 Abu Dhabi has signed an MoU with ADGM Academy to advance digital skills development and strengthen Abu Dhabi’s technology talent pipeline. The partnership aligns both institutions’ commitment to expanding access to future‑focused learning and supporting the emirate’s long‑term innovation and human capital goals.

Under the agreement, the two academies will jointly deliver programmes in coding, AI, machine learning, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, combining 42 Abu Dhabi’s project‑based model with ADGM Academy’s Skills Lab for practical, industry‑aligned training. The collaboration will also include workshops, talks, and community programmes, as well as co‑designed hackathons and innovation challenges to build a highly skilled, market‑ready talent pool.

The MoU further supports entrepreneurship through mentorship, venture‑building, and specialised sessions that prepare founders to contribute to Abu Dhabi’s growing startup ecosystem. It also enables new academic and industry‑led pathways across fintech, digital transformation, and cybersecurity.

Leaders from both institutions highlighted the MoU as a key step in strengthening Abu Dhabi’s digital ecosystem, expanding access to advanced skills, and supporting national priorities under the UAE Digital Economy Strategy and Abu Dhabi Economic Vision.

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500 Global announced it has been selected to support the Ministry-led Startup VB initiative, a flagship program under the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy. This announcement marks a significant milestone in 500 Global’s continued expansion across the African continent and its work collaborating with governments to strengthen national innovation ecosystems.

Launched by the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform (Ministry) and deployed by TAMWILCOM, the Startup VB initiative is a flagship program under the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy. Startup VB aims to strengthen Morocco’s innovation and digital competitiveness by accelerating high-potential founders and providing the training and financing pathways needed to launch and scale globally. The Ministry’s goals include enabling the development of innovative and impactful technology solutions, mobilizing founder-led financing, and advancing the country’s digital transformation. As a selected implementation partner, 500 Global is eager to help operationalize these ambitions through founder support, network access, and early-stage capability development, while strengthening Morocco’s national innovation systems.

Demola Adegbite, Partner at 500 Global, who is leading the firm’s venture investments across Africa, emphasized how this builds on more than a decade of 500 Global’s work across the continent. With over 20 years of experience in private equity, investment banking, and venture capital, Adegbite noted that closing Africa’s growth gap requires strengthening early-stage ecosystems while ensuring founders can access the right capital and capabilities as they scale. “Our work across emerging markets has shown that ecosystems accelerate fastest when public-sector leadership and private-sector expertise move in lockstep,” he said. “By supporting the Digital Morocco 2030 strategy, we look forward to connecting Moroccan founders to our global growth networks across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, where we believe the country is uniquely positioned to serve as a bridge for global expansion.”

As Africa moves toward 2030, we see its demographic trajectory underscoring both the urgency and opportunity of investing in market-shaping innovation. With rapid urbanization and the world’s fastest-growing workforce, we believe the continent demands private capital that builds more than companies—it must also strengthen the foundations of talent, infrastructure, and policy that enable scalable, technology-led growth. By expanding its footprint across Africa, building localized teams, and supporting government initiatives such as Digital Morocco 2030, 500 Global aims to unlock strategic resources that transform emerging ecosystems into investable innovation hubs and supports the continent’s long-term development ambitions.

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Ras Al Khaimah Economic Zone (RAKEZ) has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Russia-UAE Business Council (RUBC) to strengthen cooperation, expand bilateral trade and support long-term partnerships between businesses in Russia and the UAE.

The agreement was formalised on the sidelines of the Russia-UAE Business Forum, in the presence of UAE Minister of Economy, H.E. Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, and Russian Minister of Industry and Trade, H.E. Anton Alikhanov.

RAKEZ Group CEO Ramy Jallad and RUBC Chairman Alexander Vinokurov signed the MoU, establishing a structured framework to support the Council members and RAKEZ clients in exploring new commercial opportunities. The partnership focuses on increasing and diversifying bilateral trade, with particular emphasis on non-oil goods and services, while positioning RAKEZ as a competitive platform for Russian and Emirati companies looking to support two-way trade flows and access third markets.

Commenting on the agreement, Jallad said, “This MoU reflects the growing depth of economic engagement between the UAE and Russia and our shared focus on translating opportunity into tangible business outcomes. RAKEZ provides an integrated ecosystem that supports efficient market entry, scalable operations and access to key regional and global trade corridors. Alongside our participation in the Russia-UAE Business Forum, this partnership with the Russia-UAE Business Council creates a practical channel to support companies as they expand trade, build resilient supply chains and develop long-term collaborations.”

As part of the Forum, Jallad participated in a panel discussion on the future of trade and logistics, where he highlighted how Russian companies can benefit from setting up in Ras Al Khaimah, and outlined the specific measures RAKEZ has in place to support investors entering and expanding within the UAE market.

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Luma AI, the frontier artificial intelligence company building multimodal AGI, introduced Ray3 Modify – a next-generation workflow that allows real-life actor performances to be enhanced with AI, enabling creative teams to produce Hollywood-quality performances and scenes.

Ray3 Modify allows editing recorded footage in incredible new ways and is a visual effect powerhouse rolled into a single model. Available now on Luma AI’s Dream Machine platform, Ray3 Modify addresses one of the fundamental limitations of early AI video systems: their inability to reliably follow and preserve human performance.

Historically, in AI-generated video, it has been difficult to preserve timing, motion, and emotional intent during acting and scene transformations. Ray3 Modify generates content in direct response to human-led input footage, enabling brands to work with actors to promote products and personalize content while maintaining alignment with the original performance. For filmmakers, this enables directors to film actors in any world, scene, or style.

With Ray3 Modify, the human performer, camera operator, or physical input becomes the source of direction for AI. This enables AI to follow real-world motion, timing, framing, and emotional delivery. By conditioning AI generation on human-led input footage, Ray3 Modify significantly reduces guesswork and enables creators to guide shots closer to their original intent.

Ray3 Modify enables a new class of AI workflows for production, where predictability, continuity, and repeatability are essential. Ray3 Modify preserves original performance while allowing creators to change environments, styling, cinematography, and visual interpretation with intentional, scene-aware fidelity.

“Generative video models are incredibly expressive but also hard to control. Today, we are excited to introduce Ray3 Modify that blends the real-world with the expressivity of AI while giving full control to creatives”, said Amit Jain, CEO and co-founder of Luma AI. “This means creative teams can capture performances with a camera and then immediately modify it to be in any location imaginable, change costumes, or even go back and reshoot the scene with AI, without recreating the physical shoot.”

Ray3 Modify introduces four major advancements designed for real creative pipelines across media, advertising, film VFX, and creative professionals:

Keyframes (Start & End Frames)
Ray3 Modify introduces Start and End Frame control to the video-to-video workflow for the first time. This allows creative teams to guide transitions, control character behavior, and maintain spatial continuity across longer camera movement passes, reveals, and complex scene blocking.

Character Reference
Apply any custom character identity onto an actor’s original performance: a crucial functionality for actor-led projects with AI. For the first time, the feature allows locking the likeness, costume, and identity continuity of a specific character across an entire shot.

Performance Preservation
Ray3 Modify preserves an actor’s original motion, timing, eye line, and emotional delivery as the foundation of the scene, while allowing visual attributes and environments to be intentionally transformed.

Enhanced Modify Video Pipeline
A new high-signal model architecture delivers more reliable adherence to physical motion, composition, and performance. Scenes now change in ways that respect the human-led input footage, enabling intentional edits without destabilizing continuity or identity.

Together, these capabilities establish Ray3 Modify as a next-generation AI video tool purpose-built for hybrid-AI, where creative authority starts with the performer or camera, and the AI extends, interprets, or transforms that direction.

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Vikas Panchal, General Manager for MENA at Tally Solutions, says TallyPrime 7.0 empowers Middle East SMEs with automation, bilingual workflows, secure cloud continuity, and built-in compliance—enabling faster decisions, fewer errors, and confident digital transformation.

Why do you see TallyPrime 7.0 as a game-changer for SMEs in the Middle East, especially in today’s digital-first business environment?
TallyPrime 7.0 arrives at a time when SMEs in the Middle East are gearing up to operate faster, stay compliant, and make decisions based on accurate data. The release brings a stronger digital foundation, whether through secure cloud-enabled continuity, bilingual workflows, or effortless adoption of evolving compliance norms. In markets like the UAE, where digital transformation is a national priority, TallyPrime 7.0 allows SMEs to modernise without complexity. It gives business owners the confidence to automate, access data securely, and respond quickly to customers and regulators, making it a timely upgrade for a digital-first economy

What were the key customer challenges that guided the innovation and R&D behind TallyPrime 7.0?
We are consistently focused on delivering solutions for real obstacles that SMEs face daily. Whether it is managing compliance changes without technical support, protecting data securely as digital operations scale, or accessing the right information at the right time. We Customers need continuity without depending on IT teams, instant access to records across companies, and simple localisation for Arabic workflows and the national currency symbol. TallyPrime 7.0 is our attempt to remove friction from routine work and help SMEs navigate regulatory and operational demands more comfortably.

How does TallyPrime 7.0 support SMEs in the GCC as they progress on their long-term digital transformation journeys?
In the GCC, digital adoption is accelerating under national economic strategies, and SMEs are expected to adapt at the same pace. TallyPrime 7.0 supports that transition by combining automation with simplicity: secure backups through TallyDrive, intuitive data access via Smart Find, bilingual financial documentation, and compliance-aligned features. These capabilities help SMEs move steadily toward digital maturity without the burden of complex training, heavy IT infrastructure, or high switching costs.

Can you elaborate on how automation and intelligent features in TallyPrime 7.0 help reduce human errors and improve operational efficiency?
TallyPrime 7.0 removes manual effort at the source. Automated backups eliminate the dependency on individuals remembering to secure financial data. Smart Find allows teams to instantly locate entries across multiple companies, reducing delays and reconciliation errors. Localised compliance, whether VAT, Corporate Tax, or updated currency formats, minimises the risk of misstatements. These improvements don’t just save time; they elevate accuracy, reduce rework, and allow teams to process information confidently.

In what ways does TallyPrime 7.0 simplify compliance and financial management for growing SMEs across diverse regional regulations?
Compliance in the GCC is evolving rapidly, and SMEs don’t have the luxury of large finance teams. TallyPrime 7.0 brings compliance into everyday business operations. VAT-ready features for the UAE, bilingual invoicing, connected return upload capabilities, and automated adherence to Central Bank currency symbol guidance. Businesses remain aligned with rules by simply using their Business Management Software, without specialised configuration or additional cost.

For auditors, bookkeepers, and financial consultants, this means cleaner books, easier reconciliations, faster access to supporting data, and fewer end-of-period corrections. In short, TallyPrime 7.0 delivers everyday compliance rather than end-of-period stress for business owners and their financial partners alike.

What role does customer-first innovation play in ensuring TallyPrime 7.0 remains relevant for fast-evolving SME needs?
Customer-first innovation is at the core of every release. We don’t build technology for the sake of novelty. We solve real usage challenges. The currency symbol update, bilingual interface strength, and smarter automation all reflect direct market feedback rather than assumptions. We listen to how SMEs behave in their environment, fast-moving, resource-constrained, and compliance-driven, and design to match their reality. That philosophy ensures every enhancement stays practical and relevant.

Looking ahead, how do you envision TallyPrime helping SMEs stay competitive and resilient in an increasingly digital and automated economy?
Competitiveness today depends on the ability to move quickly, protect financial integrity, and comply without distraction. TallyPrime gives SMEs those fundamentals—automated continuity, accurate data, simple compliance, and instant insight. As automation expands and regulatory frameworks digitise further, SMEs will need platforms that work quietly in the background while they focus on growth. That is our long-term intent: technology that reduces complexity, builds resilience, and allows SMEs to scale with confidence in a digital-first GCC economy.

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