Fintech and AI: June 2024 Global Roundup

Here are the three biggest U.S. and international technology stories from the Middle East as of June 2024.

Fintech Momentum at Money20/20

Money20/20 Middle East is a financial technology conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The event is organized by Tahaluf in partnership with Fintech Saudi, which was established by the Saudi Central Bank and the Capital Market Authority. The conference takes place at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Center in Malham. Its coordinates are 25°15′5.8″N 46°23′12.98″E, locating it directly in the capital, highlighting Saudi Arabia’s central role as a fintech hub.

The 2025 edition of Money20/20 Middle East drew over 38,500 attendees, including more than 450 speakers from 41 different countries, 451 exhibiting brands, 1,050 investors, and 150 startups. This scale places it among the world’s largest financial technology events. The Venturescape program, introduced in 2025, facilitated more than 500 investor and founder meetings in an invite-only pre-show forum. This format aims to accelerate deal-making and partnership formation by concentrating high-level stakeholders in one place.

The MoneySurge 20/20 Pitch Competition at the event awarded $400,000 in equity-free funding, divided among four winning startups. Startups compete for these funds by pitching their business models and demonstrating potential impact in financial technology. The competition incentivizes innovation by providing direct financial support to early-stage ventures.

At the 2025 conference, financial announcements totaled $4.6 billion in deals. One of the largest was a $2.4 billion Shari’ah-compliant financing facility raised by the Saudi fintech firm Tamara. This single deal alone exceeded the annual GDP of several small nations, marking a significant injection into the regional fintech ecosystem. Another headline deal was a $1.75 billion investment initiative led by Fasanara Capital in partnership with the Saudi Ministry of Investment, targeting advanced digital financial infrastructure and platform development. HALA, another fintech startup, secured $157 million in Series B funding, underlining investor appetite for high-growth potential companies.

Founding partners for the 2025 edition included nearly every major Saudi bank: Riyad Bank, Al Rajhi Bank, STC Bank, Saudi National Bank, Vision Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, Arab National Bank, Bank Al Jazira, SME Bank, Gulf International Bank, SAB, Alinma Bank, Social Development Bank, and Enjaz. Visa was a global partner, demonstrating international engagement. Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank also participated, signaling regional cross-border financial cooperation.

The conference focused heavily on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital payments, digital banking, and regulatory innovation. Panels and sessions examined best practices for integrating AI into financial services, highlighting the need for robust regulatory frameworks and cybersecurity measures. The presence of global executives such as Caroline D. Pham, Mohammed Rahim, Brett King, Lori Schwartz, Veronique Steiner, and Bassam Suliman Al Ediy reflected the event’s reach into international financial and regulatory circles.

The Money20/20 Middle East event evolved from a previous conference, 24Fintech, which was introduced in Riyadh in 2024 and co-organized by Fintech Saudi and Tahaluf. After its first edition, 24Fintech was merged into the global Money20/20 portfolio following Informa’s acquisition of Ascential, the brand behind Money20/20. This merger expanded the event’s global profile and resources, positioning Saudi Arabia as a venue for world-class fintech gatherings.

The prominence of Money20/20 Middle East reflects how Saudi Arabia and the broader region have become focal points for global fintech investment and innovation. Major government regulatory bodies, including the Financial Sector Development Program, the Saudi Central Bank, the Capital Market Authority, and the Insurance Authority, support the event. This government backing creates a favorable environment for new financial products, supports regulatory sandboxes, and encourages foreign investment.

Amazon Web Services announced a plan to invest over $5.3 billion to build a new data center region in Saudi Arabia by 2026. Google Cloud, in partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and local tech firm Humain, plans to invest $10 billion to build and operate a global AI hub in the kingdom. These developments are closely connected to the fintech boom, as modern financial technology relies on robust cloud and AI infrastructure.

The U.S. Commerce Department authorized the export of advanced semiconductor chips—up to 35,000 Nvidia Blackwell GB300s—to Saudi Arabia’s HUMAIN and the UAE’s G42 in November 2025. This authorization allows local firms to access cutting-edge AI hardware, strengthening regional competitiveness in fintech and related AI-driven sectors.

Speakers at Money20/20 Middle East included top executives and policymakers, reflecting a growing global interest in the region’s fintech ecosystem. The event’s ability to draw such a diverse, high-level group signals recognition of the Middle East as a major center for financial innovation.

AI Investment Surge by MGX Fund

MGX Fund Management Limited is a government-owned Emirati investment firm, founded in 2024 and headquartered in Abu Dhabi. The company was established by the government of Abu Dhabi to invest in artificial intelligence and technology funds, with a target of managing up to $100 billion in assets. MGX’s stated goal is to accelerate AI-driven investments and foster technological innovation across the region.

The firm is chaired by Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with Khaldoon Al Mubarak as vice chairman and Ahmed Yahia Al Idrissi as CEO. MGX’s board composition gives it direct access to the highest levels of the Emirati government and sovereign investment networks.

MGX launched in March 2024 as a joint initiative by Mubadala, a global investment company, and G42, an artificial intelligence firm based in Abu Dhabi. This collaboration gave MGX immediate operational scale and sector-specific expertise.

In September 2024, MGX, BlackRock, and Microsoft announced the Global AI Infrastructure Investment Partnership, an AI fund focused specifically on building new data centers and power infrastructure to support AI workloads. These data centers are critical for training and deploying large-scale AI models, which in turn support a variety of sectors including finance, health, and logistics.

In January 2025, MGX partnered with OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle on the Stargate Project, a venture designed to push forward the development of advanced AI models and related infrastructure. In March 2025, MGX made a minority investment in Binance, using World Liberty Financial’s Stablecoin for a $2 billion transaction. This investment was publicly announced by the Trump family.

By July 2025, MGX was working with Mistral and Nvidia to build what was described as the largest AI data center campus in Europe. MGX had already announced plans to invest between $31.2 billion and $52 billion in this campus in France, with an intended one-gigawatt capacity focused on AI applications. For comparison, a one-gigawatt data center campus can support the energy needs of a city the size of San Francisco.

In October 2025, a consortium involving MGX, AIP, and BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Aligned Data Centers for $40 billion from Macquarie Asset Management. This deal was described as the largest global data center transaction to date, highlighting the scale of capital flowing from the Gulf region into global tech infrastructure.

In June 2026, MGX raised close to $50 billion from regional and global investors, creating one of the world’s largest funds dedicated to AI infrastructure and technology investment. This capital raise nearly equals the entire annual budget of a country like Portugal, marking a major milestone in sovereign-backed technology investment.

MGX’s primary operations focus on identifying and investing in high-potential AI startups and established companies across North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The fund targets three main segments: semiconductor companies—crucial for building the chips that power AI; AI infrastructure firms—which create data centers and cloud platforms; and AI technology companies—working on software and applications.

Microsoft pledged to invest $15.2 billion in the United Arab Emirates between 2023 and 2029, including a $1.5 billion stake in G42 and more than $4.6 billion dedicated to AI and cloud data center capacity. These investments complement MGX’s core activities by creating a regional ecosystem capable of supporting next-generation AI research and deployment.

In July 2025, du, a UAE telecom provider, launched the National Hypercloud in partnership with Oracle, offering sovereign cloud services for government entities. This move allows MGX-backed initiatives to operate on cloud infrastructure that complies with national security and data sovereignty requirements.

The UAE government unveiled its first operational AI agents for public services in May 2026. These AI agents can automate interactions with the public for processes like licensing, permitting, and information requests, reducing wait times and increasing efficiency for millions of residents.

Despite U.S. restrictions on AI exports to the Middle East, Nvidia expanded its presence in the region by deploying AI technology in Qatari telecom group Ooredoo’s data centers across five countries. This reflects the strong regional demand for advanced AI products and the willingness of local firms to work with global technology leaders.

MGX’s partnerships and investments have positioned Abu Dhabi as a hub for AI capital and innovation. The firm’s global reach and access to sovereign funds support large-scale, high-risk investments that private sector firms might avoid. This dynamic accelerates the deployment of AI infrastructure across the Middle East and beyond, making the Gulf a central player in global technology markets.

Cross-Community Entrepreneurship Initiatives

Middle East Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow, or MEET, is a non-profit organization based in Israel that brings together young Palestinian and Israeli leaders. Founded in 2004 by Anat Binur, Yaron Binur, Assaf Harlap, Abeer Hazboun, and Sandra Ashhab, MEET is designed to empower youth from both communities through technology and entrepreneurship.

MEET operates a three-year program for high school students aged 15 to 17, focusing on computer science, entrepreneurship, and leadership. The program is highly selective, with an acceptance rate below 8%, making entry more competitive than many Ivy League universities. Over three consecutive summers, students participate in immersive sessions taught by volunteer instructors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Weekly programming continues during the academic year at MEET’s hubs in Jerusalem and Nazareth, with alumni serving as instructors and mentors.

As of 2026, MEET has graduated more than 1,000 alumni. These graduates have continued their education at top global universities such as MIT, Harvard, Oxford, Brown, Yale, Penn, and Columbia. The program is run entirely in English, fostering a neutral platform where Palestinian and Israeli students can collaborate on an equal basis.

Students from the West Bank, Jerusalem (East and West), and the Nazareth area participate in MEET. They are selected to maintain an even distribution across gender and nationality, ensuring balanced representation and genuine cross-community exchange. Through its “Deeper Understanding” dialogue curriculum, MEET’s students discuss their respective experiences and perspectives on the conflict, gaining a deeper understanding of each other while working on joint technology and entrepreneurship projects.

The program does not charge fees for students or instructors, removing financial barriers to participation and focusing on talent and motivation. MEET’s model relies on partnerships, including an affiliation with MIT and collaboration with Google at the MEET Venture Lab in Jerusalem. The Venture Lab supports ongoing alumni business and social entrepreneurship projects, further cementing connections between participants and creating opportunities for long-term cooperation.

The impact of MEET’s work is visible in the projects developed by its students and alumni. These ventures address real-world challenges, from health technology to education platforms, and in some cases, social enterprises aimed at fostering dialogue or providing services to underserved communities. Alumni have been featured in international media, including the Boston Globe, Forbes, and The New York Times.

The entire program is conducted in English, which serves as a neutral medium of communication and levels the playing field for students from different backgrounds. This approach also facilitates access to international knowledge and networks.

The program’s alumni network continues to grow, providing a pipeline of young leaders who possess both technical skills and experience in cross-cultural collaboration. MEET graduates are positioned to become agents of change, not only in technology sectors but also in broader social and political spheres.

MEET’s curriculum covers both intensive computer science topics and entrepreneurship fundamentals, preparing students to launch joint ventures and work collaboratively on complex problems. The “Deeper Understanding” dialogue component is unique among regional programs, as it intentionally structures opportunities for students to learn about each other’s cultures and life experiences.

All program locations are based in Jerusalem and Nazareth, cities with symbolic and practical significance for both communities. These sites serve as neutral meeting grounds and facilitate ongoing engagement beyond the formal program.

MEET’s selective admissions process is designed to identify students with high academic ability, leadership potential, and a willingness to engage in dialogue. This selectivity ensures that participants are both capable and motivated to maximize the program’s opportunities.

The joint projects created by MEET participants often have direct, real-world impact, ranging from business startups to social enterprises addressing issues of common concern. The organization’s alumni are active in technical, business, and social sectors, both locally and internationally.

MEET was founded by both Israeli and Palestinian professionals and students, reflecting its foundational commitment to equality and shared leadership. Its founding team included Anat Binur, Yaron Binur, Assaf Harlap, Abeer Hazboun, and Sandra Ashhab.

MEET is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, providing access to cutting-edge curriculum and a global network of volunteer instructors. The program’s partnership with Google through the MEET Venture Lab facilitates the development of alumni projects beyond graduation.

As of 2026, more than 300 high school students participate in the three-year program at any given time, forming a vibrant and engaged community focused on entrepreneurship and technology-driven change.

The most specific fact in this round of coverage: in June 2024, Nvidia signed a deal to deploy AI technology at data centers owned by Qatari telecoms group Ooredoo in five Middle Eastern countries, even as U.S. export controls restricted certain AI hardware sales to the region.