News

Orchid Plans To Find Out What’s Wrong With You Before You’re Born

According to CEO Noor Siddiqui, the company isn’t on a mission to make designer babies, but aims to beat genetic odds and relieve suffering.

Published

2 years ago

May 7, 2024

Nour Nasir

Orchid

Each day, around 400,000 babies are welcomed into the world. However, among those, a growing number will experience some kind of birth defect or inherited disease.

Noor Siddiqui, CEO of Orchid, hopes to “mitigate” unpleasant genetic surprises using genome sequencing technology to reveal a wealth of genetic information on which newborns will grow into healthy adults.

Until 2019, IVF specialists had access to under 1% of the human genome. The tests, called PGT-A and PGT-M, scanned a mere 1,000 data points in a genome comprising around 3 billion bases, offering a very limited dataset compared to the technology used by Orchid.

“Our chromosomes are like chapters in a book that make up the table of contents.” Explained Siddiqui. “[PGT-A and PGT-M tests] only examine the table of contents, whereas what Orchid is doing is like a spellcheck on the entire book.” Orchid’s genome sampling technology assesses “100 times the data, covering many more conditions.” In essence, an Orchid report covers three categories of common genetic issues: monogenic disorders, polygenic conditions, and de-novo mutations.

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Orchid’s technology raises many questions. Aside from the obvious ethical concerns, data privacy is the most obvious potential issue with the tests. Noor Siddiqui is keen to alleviate any concerns: “No data at Orchid is ever sold to any third parties. Parents are in complete control of their data. If they want to delete the data, we’re happy to delete it off of our servers. If they want to export the data, they can export the data. And if they want us to re-analyze the data, we can re-analyze the data”.

Compared to a lifetime of medical bills, gene therapy, and suffering, Orchid’s genome screening report has the potential to change the future lives of thousands of newborns worldwide.

News

LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE

Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.

Published

2 days ago

June 16, 2026

Joanna Melki

luved is a new curated preloved marketplace for the uae

Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.

The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.

Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.

An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.

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“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.

The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.