News
Egypt’s Flat6Labs Picks 24 Startups For Growth Track Program
The initiative is known as StartMashreq, and welcomes companies from the FinTech, eCommerce and HealthTech sectors.
Flat6Labs, the Cairo-based venture capital company, has chosen 24 companies for its StartMashreq Growth Track program, which aims to boost early-stage startups in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The startups from Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq operate in sectors including FinTech, HealthTech, AgriTech, and eCommerce. In addition, five of the chosen companies were cofounded by female entrepreneurs.
Collectively, the winning startups generate annual recurring revenue of over $20 million and have raised nearly $40 million in funding, according to Flat6Labs. Perhaps most importantly, the 24 companies in the StartMashreq program have also generated around 700 job opportunities.
“We are confident that [the startups] have what it takes to succeed in their markets. Through our program, we will offer them tailored support and guidance to help them overcome their challenges and achieve their goals. We look forward to working with them over the next six months and beyond,” said Ragia Amr, program director of StartMashreq at Flat6Labs.
Started in June, StartMashreq will run until December 2024, giving the selected startups access to new markets plus allowing them to scale operations and increase their impact on their respective economies.
As for the program itself, StartMashreq will include workshops and mentorships by international experts, networking events, and roadshows.
Also Read: Saudi Arabia’s Gaming Sector Is Quickly Gathering Momentum
Since its launch in 2011, Flat6Labs has been a major player in the MENA region’s entrepreneurial scene, managing a number of seed funds whose assets exceed $95 million.
In February, Flat6Labs announced a $20 million startup seed fund in Saudi Arabia aimed at supporting entrepreneurs in the Kingdom by investing in early-stage startups in the technology and innovation sectors.
The selected startups are:
Lebanon
- Compost Baladi: A social enterprise that provides waste management solutions.
- Ecomz: An e-commerce platform that enables merchants to create online stores.
- KamKalima: An edtech platform that helps Arabic teachers and students.
- Moodfit: An online interior design service that connects clients with designers.
- Presentail: An online gift delivery service that connects expats with local shops.
- Purpl: A proptech platform that simplifies property management.
- Shelvz: A retail intelligence platform that helps brands optimize their shelf presence.
Iraq
- KESK: A fintech platform that provides digital banking services.
- Lezzoo: A super app that offers delivery, e-commerce and payment services.
- Midient/Padash: A cloud kitchen platform that enables food entrepreneurs to launch online brands.
- Orderii: An online marketplace that connects customers with local service providers.
- Toolmart: An e-commerce platform that sells tools and hardware products.
Jordan
- Algebra Intelligence: A healthtech platform that provides AI-powered medical diagnosis.
- Arab Therapy: An online platform that connects users with licensed therapists.
- Dinarak: A fintech platform that offers mobile wallet and payment services.
- Hello World Kids: An edtech platform that teaches coding to children.
- InvoiceQ: A fintech platform that provides invoice financing solutions.
- Jordilight: An energy tech company that produces solar-powered street lights.
- Konn Technologies: A fintech company that offers blockchain-based solutions.
- Little Thinking Minds: An edtech company that creates digital learning products for children.
- Nestrom: An agritech company that provides farm management software.
- Palmear: An e-commerce platform that sells handmade products from local artisans.
- Repzo: A mobile CRM platform that helps sales teams manage their activities.
- Shop4Me: An e-commerce platform that delivers groceries and other products.
News
At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.
The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.
Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.
The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.
Also Read: DJI Teases Dual-Camera Osmo Pocket 4P For 2026 Launch
Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.
What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.
