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European And UK Startups To Dominate Expand North Star 2024
The October event in Dubai will feature the largest-ever European and UK startup presence, including 400+ companies and 30% of all investors.
The world’s largest startup event, Expand North Star, is set to return from October 13-16, 2024, at Dubai Harbour. This year, more than 400 startups from Europe and the UK will attend the exhibition — the largest presence yet from the region. In total, over 2,000 startups will showcase their innovations at the ninth edition of this standout 4-day event.
Organized by the Dubai World Trade Centre and hosted by Dubai Chambers, Expand North Star forms part of GITEX GLOBAL — the largest tech event worldwide. The exhibiting startups will present solutions in diverse fields such as Agritech, AI, Climate Tech, Fintech, Health Tech, and more. Germany will lead the new country pavilions with 40 startups making their debut, followed by countries including Ireland, Poland, Latvia, Austria, and Portugal.
Among the returning countries is the United Kingdom, whose participation has doubled to 50 startups compared to 2023. Other key countries represented include France, Italy, and Turkey. Omar Hassan, Managing Director of Global Growth Hub in the UK, said: “We are thrilled to have the fastest-growing technology companies joining this year’s delegation, spanning across FinTech, AI, Sustainability and EdTech”.
Hassan also highlighted that “Expand North Star provides UK tech with a great path and connectivity both into local markets in the region and beyond, particularly in Asia and Africa. The delegation is ready to explore expansion into the UAE, and that will be the biggest takeaway for many participants”.
Investors & Unicorns Explore New Opportunities At Expand North Star
European startups saw a surge in funding in Q2 2024, with a 31% rise to nearly $16 billion, marking a 17% year-on-year growth, according to Crunchbase. At Expand North Star, around 30% of the 1,200 investors attending will be from Europe, offering tremendous startup opportunities.
Among the notable investors are SpeedInvest, one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors, and H Tree Capital, a UK biotech fund. Investors will participate in a series of panels, meetings, and the Supernova Challenge, the largest pitch competition in the world, offering a $200,000 cash prize.
Additionally, the event will connect attendees with over 65 global unicorns, including Volocopter, BitPanda, and Climeworks, who will showcase innovative solutions and discuss industry trends on the main stage.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget
The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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