News

Apple Close To Adding Diabetic Glucose-Tracking To Watches

The Cupertino company has been trialing the technology for a decade, and it now looks like diabetes sufferers will soon be able to monitor glucose using their Apple watch.

Published

2 years ago

February 24, 2023

Nour Nasir

Apple

The Apple Watch has become a popular health and fitness monitoring tool in recent years, with features including a heart rate monitor, body temperature sensor, blood oxygen monitoring, and women’s health tracking. However, despite a growing feature set, the watch does have one notable omission: blood glucose monitoring.

According to data from the World Health Organization, around 422 million people worldwide have diabetes. Currently, the disease is monitored using a finger-prick test to measure glucose levels or by attaching patches to the skin.

Apple is now reportedly close to adding a non-invasive glucose monitoring solution to its watches after testing various technologies for the best part of a decade. However, it could still be a few years before the device is ready for mass-market application.

If Apple’s monitoring sensors get the green light from medical professionals, its smartwatches could also be used to screen users for pre-diabetic indicators, as well as help long-term sufferers to manage their condition without the pain and inconvenience of skin-prick testing.

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Apple will use a chip-based solution called “silicon photonics” to measure glucose levels, combined with absorption spectroscopy, which measures reflected light to gauge insulin. Although the technology hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed by scientists, the Cupertino company is thought to be deep into the proof-of-concept stage of testing.

Once Apple’s technology has been evaluated by researchers, the company will have to work on reducing the size of the chips, as experts believe that early prototypes are still too large to fit into the compact frame of a smartwatch.

News

Rabbit Expands Hyperlocal Delivery Service In Saudi Arabia

The e-commerce startup is aiming to tap into the Kingdom’s underdeveloped e-grocery sector with a tech-first, locally rooted strategy.

Published

3 days ago

April 7, 2025

Nour Nasir

Rabbit

Rabbit, an Egyptian-born hyperlocal e-commerce startup, is expanding into the Saudi Arabian market, setting its sights on delivering 20 million items across major cities by 2026.

The company, founded in 2021, is already operational in the Kingdom, with its regional headquarters now open in Riyadh and an established network of strategically located fulfillment centers — commonly known as “dark stores” — across the capital.

The timing is strategic: Saudi Arabia’s online grocery transactions currently sit at 1.3%, notably behind the UAE (5.3%) and the United States (4.8%). With the Kingdom’s food and grocery market estimated at $60 billion, even a modest increase in online adoption could create a multi-billion-dollar opportunity.

Rabbit also sees a clear alignment between its business goals and Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, which aims to boost retail sector innovation, support small and medium-sized enterprises, attract foreign investment, and develop a robust digital economy.

The company’s e-commerce model is based on speed and efficiency. Delivery of anything from groceries and snacks to cosmetics and household staples is promised in 20 minutes or less, facilitated by a tightly optimized logistics system — a crucial component in a sector where profit margins and delivery expectations are razor-thin.

Despite the challenges, Rabbit has already found its stride in Egypt. In just over three years, the app has been used by 1.4 million customers to deliver more than 40 million items. Revenue has surged, growing more than eightfold in the past two years alone.

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CEO and Co-Founder Ahmad Yousry commented: “We are delighted to announce Rabbit’s expansion into the Kingdom. We pride ourselves on being a hyperlocal company, bringing our bleeding-edge tech and experience to transform the grocery shopping experience for Saudi households, and delivering the best products – especially local favorites, in just 20 minutes”.

The company’s growth strategy avoids the pitfalls of over-reliance on aggressive discounting. Instead, Rabbit leans on operational efficiency, customer retention, and smart scaling. The approach is paying off, having already attracted major investment from the likes of Lorax Capital Partners, Global Ventures, Raed Ventures, and Beltone Venture Capital, alongside earlier investors such as Global Founders Capital, Goodwater Capital, and Hub71.