News

Farfetch Aims To Bring Web3 To The World Of Fashion

What does Web3 offer to fashion? Farfetch CEO and founder José Neves is on a mission to blend the real world with the virtual.

Published

4 years ago

August 11, 2022

Nour Nasir

farfetch aims to bring web3 to the world of fashion

José Neves is no stranger to innovation. The Portuguese billionaire and owner of online luxury fashion platform Farfetch revolutionized eCommerce back in 2007, creating a business model that blended boutique shopping with online retail.

Today, Neves is using his innate knowledge of both haute couture and technology to explore how Web3 can enhance the world of fashion. Web3 describes the blockchain-integrated internet, where crypto and NFTs are built directly into platforms, creating a new online world owned by its users. On a recent Most Innovative Companies podcast, Neves explained his enthusiasm for Web3, explaining that “If Web1 was about ‘read’ and Web2 was about ‘read and write’, then Web3 is about ‘read, write, and own’.’’

Neves aims to take the Farfetch brand into the new Web3 environment using their Dream Assembly Base Camp accelerator program, which according to a press release back in July, will:

“Provide a cohort of the most promising Web3 startups in the luxury fashion and lifestyle sectors with a curated program of mentorship, networking, and support in order to help drive the future of Web3 luxury commerce.”

Also Read: Intro Platform Connects Users To Celebrity Experts

The 12-week program is a partnership with Outlier Ventures, which has backed startups since 2014. The platform will focus on “digital fashion, tokenized loyalty, immersive experiences, and the creator economy”, with participating startups having direct access to a network of investors and mentors.

Neves believes that with Web3, the potential is endless, with the application of principles of user control and decentralization being a perfect fit for fashion, where people’s styles often act as second personas, or even masks. The entrepreneur now hopes that emerging technology will increase interaction between creators and users, as Farfetch becomes actively involved in the Web3 luxury commerce space with its new accelerator program, yet again standing at the forefront of fashion, culture, and technology.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.