“Right now it’s the market that I’m seeing have the most exciting growth relatively. I think Dubai remains the epicentre in terms of number of deals, size of deals and the underlying maturity of the start-up ecosystem, but there’s no doubt that Saudi is sprinting forward, really propelled by this combination of a compelling, deep, local market that’s hungry for tech-enabled solutions; along with a new fuel of venture funding that’s blossomed in the last year or two.”

-Muhammed Mekki, founding partner of AstroLabs, which has been developing the digital ecosystem in the Middle East for the last seven years, discusses the Saudi fintech environment. [Arabian Business]