Welcome to this week’s Fortune Gulf Brief. We’ll be covering:
- Why the Gulf’s startup industry is missing half the picture
- Geopolitical tensions fail to diminish UAE’s appeal among wealthy expats
- Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island gets $3.3 billion boost
- How the UAE is putting billions to work—from German AI to Indian aluminium
- And, the three we enjoyed reading this week (including the launch of the 2026 Fortune 500 Europe ranking)
As I reported last week, the Middle East and North Africa region’s gender funding gap remains stark, with male-founded startups accounting for more than 96% of the $375 million in capital that was deployed in August.
Female-founded startups secured just $8.5 million with a total of two transactions.
It made for puzzling reading, given that the region’s startup ecosystem, particularly in the Gulf, is thriving, with more women choosing to launch their own businesses.
Abu Dhabi alone recorded 3,058 new business licenses issued to Emirati women in the first half of 2026, highlighting the growing role of women entrepreneurs in the emirate’s economy.
So, I decided to dive deeper into the topic to gain clarity on why the disparity persists and spoke to several key players in the ecosystem to help me do so.
What quickly became apparent was the underrepresentation of women allocating capital.
“Gulf investor networks are still very male-dominated, especially at decision-making levels,” Lucy Chow, who serves as secretary general in the UAE office of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, told me.
“That matters—because deal flow follows networks.”
That’s not to say that progress isn’t being made on the ground.
In May last year, Aliph Capital, the Gulf’s first women-founded private equity firm, closed its debut fund at $200 million. Aliph Fund I will invest $15 million–$40 million in Gulf-based companies across high-growth sectors, providing capital to drive scale and operational efficiency.
In recent years, both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have been particularly proactive in making capital more accessible.
The Women in Tech Accelerator, orchestrated globally by Standard Chartered and executed regionally via partners such as the UAE’s Village Capital and Saudi Arabia’s Falak Holding, has often served as the primary financial lifeline for early-stage female-led tech startups.
Last week, Standard Chartered and Falak Holding awarded three Saudi women-led start-ups equity-free grant funding totaling $45,000 at Demo Day in Riyadh.
On 28-29 September, Riyadh will host the Women Shaping Wealth Summit 2026, bringing together an influential community of investors, founders, business leaders, policymakers, and innovators.
Alongside its main-stage discussions, the summit will host a Live Demo Day connecting female founders with investors, dedicated startup and founder showcases, curated speed networking, mentorship and peer sessions, and structured opportunities for investors, entrepreneurs and leaders to forge meaningful connections.
You can read my full article here.
Melissa Hancock As ever, thanks for reading, and do keep in touch with your thoughts and ideas. [email protected]
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