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Flat6Labs Is Seeking The Next Big Levant Region Startups
The program will focus on women, minorities, and internally-displaced entrepreneurs.

Flat6Labs, the MENA venture capital and accelerator, hopes to boost underserved demographics based in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Levant region. Announced this week, Flat6Labs’ program will focus on women, minorities, and internally-displaced entrepreneurs.
Open to people aged 18-45, Flat6Labs is searching for entrepreneurs in “education, fintech, financial inclusion, healthcare technology, agriculture, environment, and information and communication technology”.
The program will comprise three main tracks: StartMashreq Academy, the Growth Support Program, and the Incubation program, with the latter featuring interactive sessions, seminars, training courses on specialized topics, and articles from leading regional experts.
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“The Arab world, and the Levant region in particular, has always been full of promising young people with big ambitions. Unfortunately, many of the youth in our region lack access to the tools, resources, and opportunities they need to succeed. Through this initiative, we hope to inspire an entrepreneurial movement and provide the tools and resources necessary to nurture that movement,” says Yehia Houry, Flat6Labs Chief Programs Officer.
For the startup incubation part of the program, four cycles will take place, helping participants to build business plans and growth strategies, along with various mentorship sessions.
News
Checkout.com Brings Visa Direct Push-To-Card To The UAE
The payment company is the first acquirer in the UAE to launch Visa Direct’s solution, enabling safe, instant money transfers.

Checkout.com has taken the UAE a step closer to its goal of a fully digital economy by becoming the first acquirer in the country to offer Visa Direct’s Push-to-Card solution. The new service will streamline money transfers for both businesses and consumers, enabling near-instant transactions across local and international markets.
Visa Direct connects over 190 markets and supports over 8.5 billion endpoints, including cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets. Push-to-Card transactions enhance efficiency for business users and consumers by allowing money to be sent quickly and easily to eligible Visa cards while leveraging the company’s secure network for reliability.
“Visa Direct is transforming the way money moves globally, and we are excited to see Checkout.com leverage this technology to meet the evolving demands of businesses and individuals alike by offering them a faster, more convenient, and secure way to send and receive funds,” said Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, CEMEA.
The UAE has been at the forefront of digital payment adoption, driven by a national push toward a cashless economy. Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com, emphasized this shift: “By providing seamless, secure, and real-time payout capabilities, we’re empowering merchants with the agility to thrive in this fast-evolving landscape, while effectively meeting the growing consumer demand for speed and convenience. The Push-to-Card solution not only reinforces our commitment to powering payment performance but also showcases our agility in bringing yet another innovation to the UAE market.”
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Checkout.com’s latest MENA eCommerce data highlights the region’s increasing engagement with financial technologies, with around 80% of consumers participating in activities beyond basic online payments, such as money transfers and personal wealth management. The growing demand for real-time financial transactions has made fast, seamless payment solutions a priority.
To meet this demand, Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) have gained traction in the UAE. By integrating AFTs with Visa’s Push-to-Card services, Checkout.com is helping merchants offer secure, real-time account top-ups. Currently processing over one million AFTs per month with Visa, Checkout.com is now playing a leading role in modernizing financial transactions in the region.
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