NEC X announced the seven startups selected for Batch 15 of its Elev X! Ignite program, a 12-month accelerator designed to help early-stage founders transform innovative ideas into seed-ready companies.
Chosen through a competitive multi-phase selection process from hundreds of applications across 34 industries, Batch 15 highlights clear emerging trends in the startup landscape. More than 70% of applicants were building B2B AI solutions focused on operational efficiency, while about 15% were developing physical AI technologies involving robotics or real-world automation. NEC X also noted growing interest in AI governance, safety and infrastructure.

Batch 15 founders will work closely with NEC X’s venture studio team, engineers, advisors and business mentors to accelerate product development, validate market fit and prepare for pre-seed-stage investment.

“Across industries, founders are rethinking how complex systems operate, and AI is becoming the foundation for that transformation,” said Shintaro Matsumoto, President and CEO of NEC X. “Batch 15 represents a group of entrepreneurs tackling some of the most operationally intensive challenges, from healthcare triage to satellite coordination. Through Elev X! Ignite, we’re helping these teams rapidly test ideas, leverage NEC technologies and build scalable businesses ready for global impact.”
Batch 15 companies are:

• AriesView – AI-powered intelligence platform for institutional real estate investors – turning complex documents and portfolio data into faster, sharper investment decisions.
• Opscom – Turns frontline security operations into defensible, audit-ready evidence, reducing compliance burden and exposure to contract, penalty and dispute risk.
• Fishlert – An automated text and email communication solution that maximizes pricing and negotiation power for fresh catch sales.
• FlightSuite.ai – A universal CRM agent that lets sales teams update contacts, log deals and manage pipelines naturally via SMS or browser, eliminating manual data entry across GoHighLevel, HubSpot and Salesforce.
• HumanLens – AI governance infrastructure for regulated industries. From “where is this model?” to auditable compliance – in days, not months.
• Manifest Space – Space traffic coordination and satellite identification to prevent collisions, improve visibility, and grow the orbital economy.
• Renna Health Inc. – A virtual clinical teammate for Emergency Rooms that engages patients early and often while they wait and autonomously acts on those conversations for risk stratification, documentation, disposition planning and more.

Each startup benefits from NEC X’s comprehensive support network, gaining access to NEC’s 45,000 patents, world-class researchers, expert-led workshops, product development resources and specialized investor readiness training. Startups can also leverage NEC’s global reach across more than 55 international markets and its $8 billion annual R&D ecosystem.

Together, these resources equip founders with the tools and connections needed to accelerate growth, scale globally and bring transformative solutions to market. Graduates of Elev X! programs successfully raise funding, gain early traction and scale operations. Recent alumni include Yadag, WeWalk, Milkyway X AI, Multitude Insights, Verdi and more.

For more information about Elev X! Programs, click here.

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XCath, a medical device company pioneering neuro-endovascular surgical robotics, part-owned by Crescent Enterprises, announced the successful completion of the world’s first in-human telerobotic stroke procedure.

The landmark remote robotic mechanical thrombectomy was performed using the XCath Iris Endovascular Robotic (EVR) System by Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira, M.D. from a remote control room in Santiago, Panama, located 200 kilometers from the patient in Panama Clinic in Panama City. Local principal investigator, Dr. Anastasio Ameijeiras Sibauste oversaw the procedure and was situated with the patient at Panama Clinic.

Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, and a global health crisis that claims over 5 million lives globally every year, and leaves 80 million people worldwide to live with post-stroke disability. Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is the gold standard treatment for ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion (LVO); however this lifesaving treatment is out of reach for most people. According to an American Heart Association study, worldwide access to MT as measured by median MT Access was just 2.79%.

The XCath Iris System, first demonstrated at Abu Dhabi Health in 2025, has delivered submillimeter precision surgery operated over a long-distance connection, showing no latency in the successful MT procedure. XCath’s Iris System is the only endovascular robotic system in development to achieve a neurointerventional treatment and is also the world’s only triaxial neurovascular robot to perform treatment. Following the successful telerobotic aneurysm procedures held in November 2025, the MT procedure further solidifies XCath’s position as the global leader in neurovascular and endovascular telerobotics.

Neeraj Agrawal, Executive Director of Crescent Enterprises and Board member at XCath said, “XCath has achieved what no other surgical robotics company has accomplished in stroke treatment, delivering a remote mechanical thrombectomy at the highest standard of care. As the UAE continues to invest in AI, robotics, and medical technology, XCath demonstrates how this ecosystem enables breakthrough innovation. This is truly technology delivered from the UAE to the world.

Agrawal added, “This milestone will help drive the regulatory and policy support needed to make remote treatment widely accessible. Telerobotics represent the future of surgery, and XCath is at the forefront of that transformation.”

Eduardo Fonseca, CEO of XCath said, “This is an important achievement for XCath as we pursue a world where access to lifesaving surgery is accessible no matter where you live through the power of telerobotics. This world-first telerobotic stroke procedure represents the collaborative efforts of neurovascular surgery and remote surgical robotics experts, in addition to funding and support of UAE-based Crescent Enterprises to enable XCath’s team of brilliant engineers and advisors including Dr. Fred Moll, Drs. Pereira and Sibauste and the incredible teams at the Panama Clinic in Panama City and Santiago to deliver this milestone.”

Dr. Vitor Mendes Pereira, who performed the surgery, said: “This surgery builds on the results of a demonstration held during Abu Dhabi Health last year to prove the technology and scale it up. Mechanical thrombectomy is proven to reduce mortality and disability in patients with ischemic stroke, but unfortunately access to the procedure is extremely low. That’s why the investment made in XCath’s technology, and the support of UAE’s innovation ecosystem is so critical to broadening access to mechanical thrombectomy for patients around the world.”

Dr. Periera noted: “The world changing experience of performing the first-in-human procedure matched the successful simulated procedures we performed previously, with imperceptibly low latency and no disruptions to the surgical workflow. It was a highlight of my career to be involved in this historic achievement.”

Telerobotic platforms can enable access to the surgery in places that would otherwise not be able to provide the treatment and may shorten time-to-treatment by bringing the surgeon to the patient, rather than the patient to a specialized clinic. Time-to-treatment is a critical determinant in stroke outcomes – “time is brain” and patients risk losing more than 2 million brain cells per minute until treatment is administered. In ischemic stroke, MT should take place typically within a few hours of stroke onset.

The successful surgery follows last week’s announcement that XCath secured $30 million in Series C funding co-led by Crescent Enterprises, bringing the total raised since the company’s inception to $92 million. The funds will support XCath’s ongoing efforts to bring the world’s first commercially-practical endovascular robot to the market as well as to perform a clinical telerobotic mechanical thrombectomy.

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Presight has unveiled the first six AI companies selected to receive investment through its AI Innovation Ecosystem, strengthening the pipeline of technologies designed to power next-generation intelligent systems at national and enterprise scale. 

The investments form part of the Presight–Shorooq Fund I (PSFI), a US$100 million global early-stage fund established in partnership with Shorooq.

The six companies to receive investment are located across the United States and UAE, and span sovereign AI infrastructure, vertical intelligence platforms for capital and industry, and edge-native intelligence systems. Together, these startups reflect Presight’s focus on identifying breakthrough applied intelligence systems primed for integration into complex, regulated environments where reliability, resilience, and governance are critical. 

World Model Architecture 

• AMI-Advanced Machine Intelligence advances world model AI architectures designed to help machines understand and interact with the physical world, enabling deeper reasoning, planning, and real-world interaction beyond traditional predictive AI architectures. Founded by Turing Award winner and former Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, AMI is developing a new class of AI systems that learn from spatial and real-world data to model cause and effect. Headquartered in Paris with offices in New York, Montreal, and Singapore, the company is initially targeting enterprise applications across manufacturing, aerospace, robotics, and biomedical industries. 

Sovereign AI Infrastructure 

• NodeShift gives enterprises a secure, on-premises AI platform that enables users to use and deploy AI models while keeping all data within their own infrastructure. A participant in Cohort I of Presight’s AI Accelerator Program,  NodeShift has now entered into a strategic commercial agreement with Presight to scale its solutions and pursue joint go-to-market initiatives, reflecting the continued collaboration between Presight and startups participating in the program.  

Vertical Intelligence for Capital and Industry 

• Hebbia enhances institutional research and financial workflows in regulated capital markets. 
  
• Candid Intelligence applies AI to optimize procurement and bidding processes across infrastructure and public-sector environments. 
  
• Crunched turns complex company/market data into faster modeling, deeper insights, and decision-grade analysis for investors and operators, using its advanced AI financial intelligence platform 

Secure, Edge-Native Systems 

• Blue utilizes a voice-action model layer powering voice agents that can complete multi-step tasks directly on phones, avoiding APIs and integration overheads. 

A Structured Pathway from Innovation to Intelligent Systems 
Presight’s AI Innovation Ecosystem is the company’s growth engine, designed to identify, acquire, invest, accelerate and incubate the next generation of breakthrough AI intellectual property to ensure that emerging technologies are developed with deployment in mind from day one. Presight’s AI Innovation Ecosystem consists of an AI Investment Fund, an AI Accelerator Program, and Research and Development Labs. 

Through the Presight AI Accelerator Program, companies receive structured mentorship, access to world-leading compute infrastructure, fast-track commercialization pathways with enterprise and government clients within the G42 and Presight ecosystems, and technical integration support. This model ensures alignment with real operational and commercial requirements — enabling integration, contracts, and the development of defensible moats. 

Strategic capital vehicles such as PSFI strengthen this pathway by providing early-stage funding aligned to the same thesis, enabling companies to scale within sovereign and regulated environments. 

Together, incubation, capital, and deployment create a coordinated model for translating AI innovation into intelligent systems that deliver real-world impact. 

Magzhan Kenesbai, Chief Growth Officer of Presight, commented: “AI only creates lasting value when it can operate within real systems. These first investments reflect that conviction – spanning secure AI infrastructure, vertical intelligence platforms for capital and industry, and edge-native systems. Each of these companies is building technology designed for integration into complex, regulated environments. By combining operational environments, structured incubation through the Presight AI Accelerator, and strategic capital via PSFI, we are creating clear pathways from innovation to implementation – translating frontier AI into intelligent systems at scale.”  

Dr. Bilal Baloch, Partner at Shorooq, said: “When we launched this fund, our vision was to connect world-class AI innovators with the capital, regulatory support, and market access that our region offers. To have invested in six highly promising companies, after assessing over 1,000, outside our home market alongside leading peers in the US and Asia in 120 days is a marker toward that vision. We were most impressed that these founders are pushing the boundaries of what AI can do – from giving every app a voice interface to automating billion-dollar industries – and thereby allowing us to back varying theses across the AI stack. This is just the beginning; we believe the fund can be a bridge between East and West for AI, and we’re committed to accelerating more breakthroughs that will transform businesses and communities.” 

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Ajman NuVentures Centre Free Zone (ANCFZ) today signed a MoU with the DIFC Courts to strengthen the legal infrastructure underpinning its fast-growing business ecosystem and enhance investor confidence.

This cooperation aims to enhance value-added services for ANCFZ clients by enabling them to access a range of public services offered by DIFC, including DIFC Courts services such as the Small Claims Tribunal, Court of First Instance, Court of Appeal, Enforcement, Specialised Divisions, Probate, Hearing Room Rentals, Notary Service, Mediation Service, Wills service, Tejouri Digital Vault, Registration of Practitioners, the Pro Bono Programme (PBP), and the Volunteer Lawyer Service.

The MoU reflects ANCFZ’s forward-looking approach to building a globally competitive free zone environment supported by legal clarity, regulatory transparency, and institutional collaboration. As the Free Zone continues to scale, the partnership will enhance awareness among investors and businesses of the UAE’s internationally recognized dispute resolution mechanisms, while providing clearer pathways to trusted legal services through DIFC Courts.

Under the terms of the agreement, both entities will collaborate on joint outreach initiatives including seminars, conferences, and investor awareness programmes. The MoU also provides for the exchange of relevant legal publications, regulatory developments, and operational insights, ensuring greater alignment and knowledge-sharing between the two institutions.

The collaboration comes at a time when the UAE’s free zone ecosystem continues to play a central role in national economic diversification. The country is home to more than 40 multidisciplinary free zones offering 100% foreign ownership and tailored business services to global investors, particularly in logistics, technology, finance, and manufacturing. Industry projections indicate that free zones are expected to contribute approximately AED 257 billion to the UAE’s non-oil GDP by 2030, reinforcing their importance as drivers of foreign direct investment and international trade.

At the same time, established financial and legal hubs such as the DIFC continue to expand their global footprint, with registered firms rising nearly 40% in 2025 to over 8,800, supported by a robust legal and regulatory infrastructure that enhances investor certainty and dispute resolution reliability.

Sheikh Dr. Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Sultan Al Nuaimi, Chairman of ANCFZ, said: “As we continue to expand our investor base and global reach, strengthening the legal and regulatory ecosystem surrounding our Free Zone is essential. This partnership with the DIFC Courts reinforces our commitment to transparency, governance, and international best practices, in line with Ajman Vision 2030 and the UAE’s broader economic diversification agenda.”

H.E. Justice Omar Al Mheiri, Director of the DIFC Courts, commented: “This Memorandum of Understanding reinforces legal certainty and investor confidence across the UAE’s free zone ecosystem. By extending access to the DIFC Courts’ internationally recognised services, the partnership strengthens the legal infrastructure supporting high-growth business communities.

Aligned with the DIFC Courts’ strategic priorities of international reach, judicial excellence, and effective enforcement, this collaboration further positions DIFC Courts as a leading global hub for dispute resolution and commercial certainty.” 

Rishi Somaiya, CEO of ANCFZ, added: “Investor confidence is built on clarity, speed, and legal certainty. By formalizing cooperation with the DIFC Courts, we are enhancing the value proposition of ANCFZ and ensuring that businesses operating within our ecosystem benefit from greater awareness of robust dispute resolution frameworks available in the UAE.”

For ANCFZ, this partnership builds on a year of accelerated growth and strong investor uptake. Established in October 2024, the Free Zone has successfully registered over 6,500 companies within its first year of operation, positioning itself as one of the UAE’s fastest-growing free zones and a notable contributor to foreign direct investment inflows.

ANCFZ’s fully integrated digital platform enables entrepreneurs to obtain a business license within two hours and complete visa processing within 24 hours. Its hybrid operational model, which combines advanced digital infrastructure with dedicated client support, ensures seamless regulatory compliance and efficient business setup, allowing investors to focus on scaling their operations.

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Nahda Capital Partners, a newly established private equity platform headquartered in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), has filed for the registration of its inaugural private equity fund this week as it prepares to launch investment activities across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Nahda” in Arabic refers to a renaissance — a renewal and resurgence. The firm chose the name to reflect its long-term mission of building enduring partnerships and contributing to the development of the region’s real economy, with a particular focus on supporting local founders, families and institutions.

Nahda Capital Partners is led by Iñigo de Luna, Founder and Managing Partner, and is building a control-oriented mid-market private equity strategy focused primarily on the UAE, Saudi Arabia and wider GCC. The firm will target resilient founder-led and family-owned businesses benefiting from structural regional growth and increasing institutionalisation, particularly companies undergoing generational transition or seeking institutional capital and operational support to accelerate their next phase of expansion across the GCC.

The founding partners bring significant international experience across private equity and investment banking, with a historical track record generating approximately 36% gross IRR across multiple economic cycles.

Key highlights of the strategy include a majority-investment approach in partnership with founders and family shareholders, and an operational value-creation model focused on professionalisation, operational improvement, governance strengthening, and selective buy-and-build expansion.

Nahda expects to focus on sectors including food production and distribution, healthcare, education, and industrial technology. The firm’s investment approach is guided by principles aligned with Sharia-compliant investing, including a focus on real-economy assets, prudent use of leverage, and disciplined governance.

“Nahda Capital Partners was established to partner with high-quality mid-market businesses across the GCC that can benefit from long-term capital and hands-on operational support,” said Iñigo de Luna. “These are difficult days and the priority is safety and de-escalation. At the same time, we view this as a severe but temporary shock rather than a change in the long-term trajectory of the UAE and the region. Our conviction has not changed: the GCC is structurally strengthening as a place to build businesses and allocate long-term capital.”

Subject to regulatory approval, the firm expects to commence fundraising in the coming weeks, targeting approximately $300 million for its inaugural fund to be managed from ADGM.

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Applications for the second cohort of the Madinah Tech Cultivator will close on March 22, 2026, marking the final call for founders, innovators, and technologists looking to deploy real-world solutions in one of the world’s most historically significant and strategically evolving cities.

Launched in partnership with Madinah Amanah, the Madinah Tech Cultivator is designed to bring together global innovators to address real urban challenges facing the city today. Unlike traditional accelerators focused primarily on mentorship and investment readiness, the Cultivator is built around a different premise. Technology should be implemented, tested, and scaled within real environments where it can create meaningful impact.

Through this initiative, innovators gain the opportunity to pilot and deploy solutions directly within Madinah’s urban ecosystem, working alongside government stakeholders, infrastructure leaders, and city operators.

“As cities evolve, innovation cannot remain confined to labs or pitch decks,” said Saad Shafee, Co-Founder of Madinah Tech. “The Madinah Tech Cultivator exists to bridge that gap. Our goal is to bring global innovators into the city, connect them with the right stakeholders, and create an environment where technology can be tested, implemented, and scaled to solve real challenges that impact everyday life.”

As Saudi Arabia continues its transformation under Vision 2030, cities like Madinah are becoming critical testbeds for technologies that support sustainable growth, intelligent infrastructure, and improved quality of life for residents and visitors.

The Madinah Tech Cultivator focuses on innovations across key sectors shaping the future of urban living:

• Sustainability and ecology
• Smart city and urban life
• Energy and climate technologies
• Mobility and connectivity

Madinah Tech is operated by Gingo Foundation, whose mission is to support tech‑driven innovation ecosystems and challenge the status quo of the global startup and venture capital ecosystem by redefining how innovation is built, funded, and scaled.

“Programs like the Madinah Tech Cultivator demonstrate how cities can become living laboratories for innovation,” said Anna Shevchenko, CEO of Gingo Foundation. “Our role is to help bring the right founders, knowledge, and ecosystem connections together so solutions are not just imagined but actually implemented where they matter.”

The program offers selected startups:

• Direct market access to pilot solutions in Madinah
• Hands-on mentorship from global technology leaders and Saudi market experts
• Strategic support to localize and deploy technology within the Kingdom
• An equity-free model with no participation fees

By connecting innovators with public institutions, infrastructure leaders, and industry experts, the Cultivator aims to accelerate technologies that can serve both Madinah and other cities across Saudi Arabia and the wider region.

With the second cohort nearing capacity, organizers encourage qualified innovators from around the world to apply before the March 22 deadline.

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As the United Arab Emirates advances its digital tax transformation agenda, organizations across the country are preparing for the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing regulations in 2026. This landmark shift is set to redefine how businesses generate, exchange, and report invoices, reinforcing transparency, compliance, and operational efficiency across the national economy.

Positioning itself at the forefront of this transition, Business Line, a SAP partner, is enabling enterprises to navigate the evolving regulatory landscape with future-ready e-invoicing solutions and integrated SAP digital transformation services. By combining deep regulatory understanding with enterprise technology expertise, the company is helping organizations align their financial processes with the UAE’s next phase of digital governance.

The UAE’s e-invoicing initiative, led by the Ministry of Finance in collaboration with the Federal Tax Authority, is designed to standardize invoice reporting, enhance tax compliance, and enable real-time data exchange between businesses and authorities. As companies prepare to adopt structured electronic invoicing frameworks, the need for seamless integration with existing enterprise systems has become a strategic priority.

Business Line is supporting this transition by enabling organizations to integrate compliant e-invoicing capabilities within their SAP environments, ensuring automated invoice generation, secure data exchange, and alignment with regulatory standards. The company’s solutions are designed to help enterprises modernize legacy processes, improve financial visibility, and ensure readiness ahead of regulatory deadlines.

“E-invoicing marks a transformative step in the UAE’s digital economy journey,” said Ali Jafri, AVP – Sales, Middle East, Business Line. “Our focus is on helping organizations not only meet compliance requirements but also leverage this shift to strengthen their digital core through SAP-enabled automation and intelligent financial processes.”

By embedding compliance directly into enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, Business Line enables businesses to streamline operations, reduce manual effort, and enhance accuracy across financial workflows. This integrated approach ensures organizations can respond to regulatory requirements with agility while building scalable, future-ready digital infrastructures.

As the UAE continues to strengthen its position as a global hub for innovation and digital excellence, e-invoicing is expected to play a pivotal role in driving efficiency and transparency across industries. With compliance timelines approaching, early adoption is critical for organizations seeking to mitigate risk and maintain business continuity.

Business Line remains committed to supporting enterprises throughout this transition, empowering them to achieve compliance, accelerate SAP-led transformation, and unlock new opportunities for growth in an increasingly digital business environment.

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