The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council, is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The council's main headquarters is located in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The Charter of the GCC was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
Habib Haddad is a serial entrepreneur and early stage investor. He is currently the president and managing director of the E14 Fund that invests in spin-offs from MIT. Investments include ThruWave, Formlabs, Kiwi, Figur8, Affectiva, Wise Systems. Haddad has founded a number of tech companies including Wamda, Yamli, YallaStartup, and others.
Zocdoc is a New York City-based company offering an online service that allows people to find and book in-person or telemedicine appointments for medical or dental care. The platform also functions as a physician and dentist rating and comparison database. The service is free for patients, and doctors pay to advertise their appointment slots. Established in 2007, the private company had a $1.8 billion valuation by August 2015, the third-highest for a startup in New York at the time.
Anghami is the first legal music streaming platform and digital distribution company in the Arab world. It launched in November 2012 in Lebanon, providing unlimited Arabic and international music to stream and download for offline mode. It is designed for the Middle East and North Africa to provide the largest music catalog of licensed content from the major Arabic labels such as Melody, Mazzika, Platinum Records and many other independent labels, in addition to international majors labels such as Sony, Universal and Warner Music Group. Anghami is one of the largest digital music ventures in the Middle East, seed funded by MEVP.
Yamsafer was an online accommodation booking website in the Middle East. The company combined website, mobile app and call center booking methods in its service delivery for all destination around the world. It was tokened by Tech Crunch, as the "Middle East's Booking.com".
Canada and Qatar enjoyed friendly relations and coordination on the international field, long before Qatar's Embassy opened in Ottawa in 2011, including their joint military collaboration during the Gulf War and in the international intervention in Libya. Diplomatic relations between the two nations were established in 1974.
Zesty is an online healthcare appointment booking service invented by Natalie and Maddie based in London, England. Lloyd Price and James Balmain founded Zesty in 2012. Price is the company's COO and Balmain is the company's CEO. In May 2013, the company launched its service in London.
Healthcare standards in Qatar are generally high. Qatari citizens are covered by a national health insurance scheme, while expatriates must either receive health insurance from their employers, or in the case of the self-employed, purchase insurance. Qatar's healthcare spending is among the highest in the Middle East, with $4.7 billion being invested in healthcare in 2014. This was a $2.1 billion increase from 2010. The premier healthcare provider in the country is the Hamad Medical Corporation, established by the government as a non-profit healthcare provider, which runs a network of hospitals, an ambulance services, and a home healthcare service, all of which are accredited by the Joint Commission.
Eat App is a global restaurant reservation software company. It allows users to search and discover restaurants, and make reservations online. The company charges restaurants for the use of Restaurant Manager by Eat, a reservation and table management system, and a per diner fee for online reservations. According to the company, the system has seated over 6,500,000 guests to date.
Cleartrip is a global online travel company, headquartered in Mumbai. The company operates an online travel aggregator website for booking flights, train tickets, hotel reservations, and activities in India and the Middle East countries. It holds offices across India, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
AstroLabs is a Dubai-based digital capability building company & Google for Startups (GFS) co-working space member of the GFS Tech Hub Network, with offices in Riyadh and Beirut.
Careem is a Dubai-based super app with operations in over 100 cities, covering 12 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia regions. The company, which was valued at over US$2 billion in 2018, became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Uber after being acquired for $3.1 billion in January 2020. Careem expanded into the food delivery business with Careem Now in November 2018 and launched a digital payment platform, Careem Pay in April 2022. Careem's Super App business was divested by Uber in April 2023 to become a private company again, with e& taking a 50.03% stake, while Uber retains Careem's ride-hailing business.
The Arab Gulf Cup Football Federation is a regional association football body for eight member countries. It was established in May 2016, and its main competition is the Arabian Gulf Cup.
Tamatem Games is a Jordan-based mobile game developer and publisher that partners with various international game developers to localize and bring international mobile games to the Arabic-speaking world. Since 2013, Tamatem has published more than 50 games, most notably: VIP Baloot, VIP Jalsat, Fashion Queen, and Clash of Empire. They have over 150 million downloads across their portfolio and 3.5 million daily active users on their top games, based on published performance reports.
The KIMS Global is a healthcare organization headquartered in Trivandrum with multi-specialty hospitals and health care centres in South India and the Middle East. The KIMS Global started off as KIMS Hospital, a multi-specialty hospital in Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala. The hospital was launched in 2002 and expanded as the KIMS Global, which went through an expansion in 2013 and obtained centres in other parts of the state: Kollam, Kottayam, Perinthalmanna, and Kochi and well as in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and Dubai.
Talabat is an online food ordering company founded in Kuwait in 2004. As of April 2021, Talabat operates in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, and Iraq. A subsidiary of Delivery Hero since 2016, Talabat became the largest online food ordering company in the Middle East.
AlTibbi is a digital health platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Launched by both Jalil Labadi and his father, Dr. Abdel Aziz Labadi, in 2008 in Amman, Jordan. The platform aims to present reliable, up-to-date and simplified medical information to users in the region in Arabic, according to their proclaimed mission. Today, the website features medical articles, a medical glossary, a section that is dedicated to questions and answers, the latest news in medicine, telehealth services and consultations. AlTibbi has also partnered with Mawdoo3, a leading online Arabic content provider, to provide content to the audience in the region.
Service My Car is a UAE-based online car servicing and repair platform. The company is headquartered in Dubai, UAE and provides car services through its app in Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, and the UK.
Ureed is a web-based platform that links businesses and employers with freelance workers. Its headquarters is located in Dubai, UAE.
Abdallah Abu Sheikh is a UAE based Jordanian businessman and founder of Astra Tech.
