\u201cWe\u2019re excited to grow with an incredible set of investors who believe in the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with money for consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re excited to grow with an incredible set of investors who believe in the opportunity to create a healthier relationship with money for consumers in a region that\u2019s ripe for change.”<\/span><\/p>\nSpeed is currency<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nLast-mile deliveries are gaining traction in the start-up segment with giants like Amazon, Walmart, Uber and Netflix fuelling the emergence of modern ‘On-Demand’ economy where satisfaction, fulfilment, and, ultimately, convenience are key pillars.<\/span><\/p>\nOne Moto<\/em> start-up is a testament to the auspicious potential of the last-mile delivery segment. Recently securing $150 million from an undisclosed investor to scale its operations in the UK<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>the company strives to become a leading platform for electric vehicles dealing with last-mile deliveries, with operations in China, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Nepal.<\/span><\/p>\nCEO of One Moto, Adam Ridgawy, said: \u201cWith the support of the finance deal, we expect to deploy up to 30,000 vehicles across the UK in H1 2023. This harnesses our conversations with UK Trade & Investment to open the first European assembly plant.”<\/span><\/p>\nThis demand for instantaneity and the drive to stay ahead of the technology curve is also reflected in the persistent appeal of B2B businesses. UAE spend management platform for Middle Eastern businesses Alaan which recently raised $4.5 million for regional expansion is a case in point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThis<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>platform, founded three years ago, allows businesses to instantly issue physical and virtual cards for monitoring all their business expenses, covering e-commerce transactions, SaaS subscriptions, vendor payments, government services as well as in-store purchases. By automating bookkeeping tasks via integration with accounting solution providers like Xero, QuickBooks and Microsoft Dynamics, the platform eliminates the need for expense reports.<\/span><\/p>\nCEO and co-founder of Alaan, Parthi Duraisamy, said: \u201cWith the new funds, we are excited to further enhance our offering and expand our reach in new markets as we continue to help businesses improve their efficiency, productivity and employee experience through Alaan.”<\/span><\/p>\nweb3\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nAs the metaverse is on the verge of going mainstream, ambitious retail-oriented startups are jumping on the bandwagon to woo Gen-Z consumers.<\/span><\/p>\nFor instance, metaverse startup Numi recently grabbed $20 million in funding from Venom Ventures Fund, a $1 billion venture capital fund targeting blockchain and Web3 projects.<\/span><\/p>\nEstablished in 2021, the web 3 start-up focuses on curating a global entertainment ecosystem that caters to virtual reality users, influencers and creators.<\/span><\/p>\nBack in September, another mateverse start-up\u00a0<\/span>MetaFi<\/span><\/a> managed to raise $3 million in its new funding round to build its first product\u2014 the Trading Metaverse.<\/span><\/p>\nIn the same month, the UAE government organised Meta Congress and created the first Metaverse Ministry, signalling its determination to nurture and foster innovation in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UAE\u2019s startup scene is teeming with startups <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":20763,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[154,3927,1,4106],"tags":[3966],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20762"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20766,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20762\/revisions\/20766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20763"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}