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Welcome back to the Founding Mina Show.

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This is episode number two. They haven't

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kicked us out the studio yet, which is

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great.

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>> Yep. We're just uh streaming 24/7.

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>> Exactly. That's it.
Yeah. Same t-shirts.

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We're back here again. Um more news.

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It's been another crazy crazy week,

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hasn't it?

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>> A lot happened in the region.

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Absolutely.

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>> A lot has happened. And um I mean, I

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want to get into it, but I know we're

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going to go through a nice little higher

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or lower first, right? and you'll be

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testing my knowledge straight away.

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>> Yeah. How long have you been in the

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region?

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>> I've lived in Dubai 2 years now.

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>> All right. So, let's
let's test the your

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knowledge and see if it actually matches

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all of that. The concept is higher or

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lower. So, I'm giving you a statement

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and you have to tell me if it's higher

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or if it's lower. So, let's get into it.

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Let's

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>> do it.

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>> Was the Burke Kalifa construction cost

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higher or lower than $2 billion?

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>> I'm going to go
with higher. I reckon it

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was probably closer to about four

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billion.

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>> It was lower.

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>> What?

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>> Yeah. 1.5

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>> 1.5 billion.

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>> Bear in mind this was 2008 2009. So I

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think adjusted for inflation it would be

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like close to three. Okay.

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>> But uh but it's still incredibly cheap

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compared to other buildings. I mean it's

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like 160 floors.

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>> That's true. 1.5 billion seems

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affordable. Yeah. Exactly as you're as

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you're saying it.

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>> Absolutely. I mean some companies are

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raising that for seed round now. So

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>> that's true. They could build their own

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birch. Yeah. Now talk about towers. So

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you know that Saudi is building another

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tower in Jedha which will be taller. Um

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so is the future tower height higher or

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lower than 1 kilometer?

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>> It's higher.

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Yeah, it must be higher.

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>> Yeah, slightly higher. Yeah. Yeah. Uh

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the exact height is not actually we

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don't know yet, but they want to go

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above the the 1 kilometer. Uh 1,000

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mters, man. It's going to be about 200 m

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higher than the than the BC Khalifa.

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>> Okay. Someone who hates heights, that's

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my worst nightmare. I will not be

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visiting.

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>> All right. One
closer to your field. So,

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the number of series A rounds in the

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Mina region in the first half of 2026.

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>> Okay.

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>> Was it higher or lower than 50?

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>> Sadly, I think it's going to be lower

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than 50. It was a tricky start to 2026

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for obvious reasons.

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>> Yeah, it was 30. uh across the whole

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region it feels like a pretty low number

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>> and if you compare to the US 1,200.

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>> Really? Wow. Yeah. But

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>> I know we can't
compare. I'm just saying

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it's a benchmark. Um yeah,

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>> that's an interesting stat.

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>> All right. I know you love conferences.

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So, how many conferences per year in

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Dubai? Is it higher or lower than 500?

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And by conferences, I don't mean side

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events or little, you know, get

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together. I mean conferences that have

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more than 1,000 attendees. So, proper

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events.

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>> Genuinely, it feels way more than 500.

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I'm going to say there's like triple. I

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feel I feel like Yeah, substantially

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more than 500.

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>> Actually, it's just over 500. 510. Uh

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that's like almost two a day if you

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count, you know, just like

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>> open days.

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>> Well, yeah, exactly.

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>> That's that's a insane amount.

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>> Yeah, that's way too much. Um what are

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they doing conferences for?

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>> I think it's attendees of conferences

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going to other conferences. You know,

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I've been to some events where you have

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more speakers than attendees, which is a

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little bit sad.

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>> Yeah. Yeah.

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>> All right. So, you also know I'm I'm

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guessing that Dubai is building a new

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mall that'll be bigger than Dubai Mall,

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right? Dubai Square Mall. Um, will the

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number of shops in that mall be higher

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or lower than 1,200?

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>> 1,200 shops in one mall.

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>> That's a crazy stat in its own right.

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>> Surely it can't be more than 1,200.

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>> It's more 1500.

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>> You're joking. 1500 shops. Yep.

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>> Wow.

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>> Yep. It's actually quite the Dubai mall

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already has over a thousand, but I think

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this pushes it to the to the next level.

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>> That is crazy.

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>> All right. And the
last one. So, the the

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amount of capital invested by all the

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sovereign wealth fund uh in the first

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half of 2026, was it higher or lower

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than $50 billion?

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>> 50 billion is a crazy number as well. I

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would say it's it's got to be around

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that. I would say it's close to that if

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not maybe slightly more with the AI

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deals that they've been doing.

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>> 70 billion.

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>> 70 billion. Wow.
How many of those deals

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are in AI? Do you know roughly as a

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percentage?

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>> I mean, in terms of size, I think it's

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it's um it's going to be more than 50%,

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because I can already, you know, the

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OpenAI deal I think was 30. Anthropic

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was close to 30 as well. So yeah, it's

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it's mainly AI and it's driven by um you

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know PIF obviously MGX here, Mubadala.

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So yeah, those guys, you know, they

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don't don't mess around when they have

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conviction.

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>> No,

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>> those are some big checks. Wow. Okay.

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>> All right. I think you got half right.

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So it's it's okay. I do better next

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time.

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>> It's a reasonable score. I'll take it.

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>> Thank you, mate. Well, there we go. Um

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so that's a good test of my knowledge

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and to to wake me up and get going.

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Let's get into the things that have

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happened this week because it has been

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an exciting week as we say. Um the first

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thing I want to kick off with was the

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Mnt Halan IPO in Egypt this week. This

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is Egypt's biggest IPO since 2021 and it

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is pretty big news. Um the first day u

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of trading price was up by about 6.6%.

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Uh as I said it's the largest IPO that's

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happened in 5 years. um and it valued

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the business at almost 42 billion

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Egyptian pounds or about $770 million.

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What's important about that number is

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that Mnt Halan has carried a valuation

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of about $1.4 billion um to date, but

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actually they were only IPOing a

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specific part of the business, actually

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the the uh Egyptian side of the

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business. Um, this is great news, right,

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for any tech scale up in the region to

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see not only a local listing happen,

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which is a great thing. And second of

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all, that IPOs are starting to open up

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and actually starting to be uh p pushed

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through and and moving. We need

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liquidity in this region. We spoke about

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this on the episode last week. We have a

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lot of companies that have received a

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lot of investment capital and it's about

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time that we start cycling this through.

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Um, what I want to know is whether or

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not you would be investing in this IPO.

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>> If you look at the
multiple, it's pretty

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low, right? So, in dollars, the revenue

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for 2025 for this company was $365

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million. Yeah. And essentially, they're

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trading at 2x700.

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Um, so I looked at like comparables,

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right? The they're actually growing

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quite fast, 50% yearonear, which is on

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par with Revolute. Um, but if you look

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at Revolute, their multiple on revenue

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is 19x.

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>> Wow.

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>> 19x. So at the same multiple, Halan

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would be worth 7 billion.

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>> That's crazy.

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>> So there's a huge discount, $6 billion

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discount. Um, now if you look at Monzo,

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New Bank, like Revolute is the extreme,

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right? Because they are they are

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considered more like a tech play rather

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than the bank. Um, but still we have a

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very low multiple. So uh the question is

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why why such a why such a discount?

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Yeah,

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>> I think that um
what's pretty clear here

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is the the business model, right? You

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can call yourself a fintech, but

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ultimately if all you do is loans, which

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is the case here, micro lending, then

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you're valued like a bank. And we know

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that financial services and banks, they

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don't really uh command a huge multiple

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because they are, you know, you need a

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lot of assets to scale a business like

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that. It's uh it's very um just doesn't

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scale as much, right? The margins are

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low. Um and Revolute has been

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positioning itself as a as a tech

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platform because it sells services and

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it sells products. Um whereas Halan gets

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bank multiples.

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>> Yeah.

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>> Um I think there's
a big discount on the

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volatility of the currency as well. Um

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and the region generally that is seen as

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a bit you know higher risk than than the

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US. Yeah.

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>> So I think that it it's pretty

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underpriced. Um if you think about it

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it's not actually like a a giant company

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compared to what we can see. Um and um

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it's I think you know a decent decent

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investment.

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>> Yeah, 100% I agree. And staying on that

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IPO theme, we actually have the first

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Dubai based IPO of 2026. Um which is DIP

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Holding. Um so Dubai Investments,

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they're selling 20% of their subsidiary

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DIP uh holding. For those who don't

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know, um this is the holding company

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that owns Dubai Investments Park.

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>> It's a real estate, right?

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>> It's a real estate play. Exactly. um

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they are expecting the subscriptions to

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kind of open up on the 27th of October

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through to early November with final

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price set around November the 4th. So

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it'll be interesting to see the price of

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that company when it comes out.

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>> The reason I say
that is because they're

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promising a pretty big annual dividends,

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right? If you look at the numbers here,

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we're talking about 700 million AED, 725

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million AED, and then 750 million AED

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across 26, 27, and 2028. um pay.

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>> So, it's basically a bond investment. I

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mean, it it feels like I'm a little less

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excited about this one. I mean,

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obviously, you know, it's IPO is great,

266
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but it's it's it's a real estate

267
00:09:11,680 --> 00:09:14,399
company. Um I think, you know, the

268
00:09:14,399 --> 00:09:16,720
>> the that tells you a lot about what the

269
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,680
market values here and um and what

270
00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:21,839
investors in the public market really

271
00:09:21,839 --> 00:09:23,360
really are willing to underwrite.

272
00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:25,040
>> Agreed. Yeah. And I think actually when

273
00:09:25,040 --> 00:09:26,720
you zoom out and look at the macro of

274
00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:29,200
this, we can talk about the delay in

275
00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:31,279
IPOs across the region because of the

276
00:09:31,279 --> 00:09:34,320
the conflict here. However, go back to

277
00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:38,800
2025. You know, there were 61 IPOs in

278
00:09:38,800 --> 00:09:42,399
2025, raising $7.5 billion, which was

279
00:09:42,399 --> 00:09:45,360
down from $13 billion raised via IPOs

280
00:09:45,360 --> 00:09:46,800
the year before.

281
00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,560
>> The trend unfortunately is is not 40 of

282
00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:52,320
those were in uh in Saudi.

283
00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:54,880
>> Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. So, it'll be

284
00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:56,080
interesting to see how the performance

285
00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,240
of this this IPO goes. Um, but as you

286
00:09:58,240 --> 00:09:59,040
say, yeah, I think

287
00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:03,360
>> the average raise $110 million. It's um

288
00:10:03,360 --> 00:10:05,200
>> it's pretty thin. I mean, there's

289
00:10:05,200 --> 00:10:08,720
obviously demand and I think um

290
00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:11,440
>> yeah, it's as far as tech IPOs, you

291
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:12,880
know, we haven't we haven't really seen

292
00:10:12,880 --> 00:10:14,800
that happening in the region. So, I

293
00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:16,320
think real estate, you know, does make

294
00:10:16,320 --> 00:10:18,480
sense. It's what people understand. Uh

295
00:10:18,480 --> 00:10:20,399
it's something that is tangible that

296
00:10:20,399 --> 00:10:22,959
local investors can can get behind. But

297
00:10:22,959 --> 00:10:25,200
I feel like this is a a very different

298
00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:27,519
type of IPO that you know we we hear

299
00:10:27,519 --> 00:10:29,920
about and are used to. Um it's it's

300
00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,000
something that's um yeah it's obviously

301
00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:33,600
a very very safe investment. They're

302
00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:35,040
already paying out dividends. Very

303
00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:37,200
profitable company, great business.

304
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:38,240
>> Um

305
00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:40,720
>> just a different type of u IPO to

306
00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:41,279
underwrite.

307
00:10:41,279 --> 00:10:44,240
>> Yeah, completely
agree. Talking about uh

308
00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:45,760
acquisitions though alongside these

309
00:10:45,760 --> 00:10:48,079
IPOs, this is more I guess in in our

310
00:10:48,079 --> 00:10:49,680
field and what we can get excited about.

311
00:10:49,680 --> 00:10:50,480
>> That was exciting.

312
00:10:50,480 --> 00:10:52,720
>> Yeah. And this is a a reverse almost

313
00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:54,880
acquisition that's quite compelling. So

314
00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:57,279
giant Qatari super app Snu has bought

315
00:10:57,279 --> 00:10:58,079
Byte-Sight

316
00:10:58,079 --> 00:11:01,440
>> Snoo Exactly. A US social and video

317
00:11:01,440 --> 00:11:03,200
commerce platform that has come out of

318
00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:05,680
YC. Um for anyone who's ever watched the

319
00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:07,600
TV show Silicon Valley when they go and

320
00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,079
pitch Seafood, this is what I thought

321
00:11:10,079 --> 00:11:12,320
the proposition was straight away. Uh

322
00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:13,839
when I read this and I was researching,

323
00:11:13,839 --> 00:11:15,680
I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." Um

324
00:11:15,680 --> 00:11:17,360
but actually it's it's a lot deeper than

325
00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:19,519
that. It's really quite compelling. Um,

326
00:11:19,519 --> 00:11:20,480
essentially what they're doing is

327
00:11:20,480 --> 00:11:22,640
linking short form videos about food

328
00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:24,720
from your favorite restaurants. Yeah. To

329
00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:26,959
to actually the the ability to order

330
00:11:26,959 --> 00:11:29,440
directly through the app. Um, why is

331
00:11:29,440 --> 00:11:32,079
this cool? Well, firstly, it's a US app

332
00:11:32,079 --> 00:11:34,720
that has got 150K downloads. You know,

333
00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:36,160
number two in the app store food and

334
00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:38,160
drink category ahead of Uber Eats and

335
00:11:38,160 --> 00:11:40,480
McDonald's. So, a really interesting

336
00:11:40,480 --> 00:11:42,079
piece of technology and an interesting

337
00:11:42,079 --> 00:11:44,640
app. And it's been acquired by a Qatari

338
00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:46,160
company and now they're bringing it here

339
00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:48,720
to the region. We know that fast

340
00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:50,560
commerce, quick commerce is absolutely

341
00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,839
massive here and linking this to content

342
00:11:53,839 --> 00:11:55,279
I think is going to be an absolute

343
00:11:55,279 --> 00:11:57,440
winner, right? When it comes to rolling

344
00:11:57,440 --> 00:12:00,160
this out um across the uh across the

345
00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:00,800
region.

346
00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:03,120
>> Yeah, I think this is a very underrated

347
00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:05,200
deal. Uh one of the most exciting. I

348
00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:06,720
think there's uh we're looking at it

349
00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:08,160
there's three reasons why it's pretty

350
00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:10,560
smart. So the first one is that it's

351
00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:12,240
obviously an acquisition that is to

352
00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:14,160
bring the people the talent of this

353
00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:15,839
company, right? It's a very early

354
00:12:15,839 --> 00:12:17,600
acquisition. the company's already only

355
00:12:17,600 --> 00:12:20,079
raised 1.5 million probably pre-revenue.

356
00:12:20,079 --> 00:12:21,920
So what you're acquiring is essentially

357
00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,480
people and of course you know us

358
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:26,720
designers and product and tech it's

359
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:28,639
still top of the line. So if you can

360
00:12:28,639 --> 00:12:30,639
acquire this knowhow as you scale your

361
00:12:30,639 --> 00:12:33,519
product um that's that's incredible.

362
00:12:33,519 --> 00:12:35,440
Second is the the business rational as

363
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,279
you mentioned it's very smart for a

364
00:12:37,279 --> 00:12:38,720
company like this you know social

365
00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:40,399
commerce essentially acquiring a

366
00:12:40,399 --> 00:12:42,320
distribution engine that they will be

367
00:12:42,320 --> 00:12:45,519
able to own is going to be how they are

368
00:12:45,519 --> 00:12:48,000
acquiring their users. So it's um

369
00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,639
defensibility um of a business like this

370
00:12:50,639 --> 00:12:52,079
is the distribution.

371
00:12:52,079 --> 00:12:54,639
>> So that's a very smart thing to do. But

372
00:12:54,639 --> 00:12:57,519
I think the the the most important uh

373
00:12:57,519 --> 00:12:59,680
reason why it's smart is actually the

374
00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,480
signal that it creates in the market. um

375
00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:05,040
to have a Qatari company that is

376
00:13:05,040 --> 00:13:07,519
acquiring literally the pinnacle of tech

377
00:13:07,519 --> 00:13:10,000
from YC and able to bring them here

378
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,240
bringing the founders here uh market

379
00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,160
will talk about this a lot as something

380
00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:16,560
exciting and create a precedent you know

381
00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:18,480
for other companies in the region to do

382
00:13:18,480 --> 00:13:18,959
the same

383
00:13:18,959 --> 00:13:20,240
>> completely agree

384
00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:22,000
>> I would question
the defensibility of an

385
00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:24,320
app like this like what you know could

386
00:13:24,320 --> 00:13:27,200
uh Instagram or Tik Tok Tik Tok has been

387
00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,440
making a big push in social commerce

388
00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:31,839
when you now talk about a product, you

389
00:13:31,839 --> 00:13:33,760
have the ability to sell it immediately.

390
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:35,920
They could go and do the same for food.

391
00:13:35,920 --> 00:13:38,079
Having a dedicated app for this

392
00:13:38,079 --> 00:13:40,480
standalone was probably pretty hard to

393
00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,800
retain users. Now, if it's part of an

394
00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,800
e-commerce platform, I think it makes a

395
00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:46,240
lot more sense for a business like that.

396
00:13:46,240 --> 00:13:47,519
>> Yeah, completely agree. I also think

397
00:13:47,519 --> 00:13:50,240
this is a play into a much higher margin

398
00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,720
area for these quickcommerce platforms

399
00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,880
into retail media essentially and

400
00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:56,560
traditional retail media. Obviously,

401
00:13:56,560 --> 00:13:58,560
advertising within the app, very basic,

402
00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:00,560
it's been around for a long time now. We

403
00:14:00,560 --> 00:14:02,480
can link that now to social media

404
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:04,720
content creation, giving these brands

405
00:14:04,720 --> 00:14:06,399
their own ability to create these links

406
00:14:06,399 --> 00:14:08,480
and create these media assets. Yeah, I

407
00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:09,760
think this is a really really smart play

408
00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:11,839
by Snoooo and I guarantee we'll probably

409
00:14:11,839 --> 00:14:15,360
see Kareem or Uber, even um Deliveroo

410
00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:17,519
come out with potentially competitors or

411
00:14:17,519 --> 00:14:19,519
maybe even make further acquisitions to

412
00:14:19,519 --> 00:14:21,440
bring this into the region once this is

413
00:14:21,440 --> 00:14:24,480
proven out. Um the fourth point I want

414
00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:26,880
to get into is actually around uh pay

415
00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:28,800
more. Did you see this? Uh, a really

416
00:14:28,800 --> 00:14:30,399
interesting piece of tech.

417
00:14:30,399 --> 00:14:31,680
>> I'm going to tell you what it is.

418
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:31,920
>> Okay.

419
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:33,199
>> And then I want you to tell me whether

420
00:14:33,199 --> 00:14:35,760
you'd use it because I know you uh you

421
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:37,519
you like you know you like your things

422
00:14:37,519 --> 00:14:38,800
the way they are.

423
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:39,839
>> What does that mean? What's that

424
00:14:39,839 --> 00:14:40,480
supposed to mean?

425
00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:41,760
>> No, I'm not saying you're old school,

426
00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:43,360
but you know, I know you like what you

427
00:14:43,360 --> 00:14:46,959
know. Um, essentially, Pay More, it it

428
00:14:46,959 --> 00:14:50,480
gives GCC users access to prepaid cards.

429
00:14:50,480 --> 00:14:52,639
So, you can prepay onto a card, but then

430
00:14:52,639 --> 00:14:54,240
now what you can do is you can actually

431
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:57,360
access uh Palm Pay. So you can pay using

432
00:14:57,360 --> 00:15:00,000
your palm or you can use uh your retina.

433
00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,160
It will do a retina scan to pay using

434
00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:02,959
your eyes.

435
00:15:02,959 --> 00:15:04,399
>> Where can you do that though?

436
00:15:04,399 --> 00:15:06,880
>> Okay. So this is the interesting point.

437
00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:07,440
It's

438
00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:08,399
>> two sides to make this.

439
00:15:08,399 --> 00:15:10,959
>> I know I know I
know. Let's but let's be

440
00:15:10,959 --> 00:15:13,920
positive. It's it it's being rolled out

441
00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,639
uh across the region. Um instead of

442
00:15:16,639 --> 00:15:17,760
essentially instead of it being through

443
00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:19,519
a terminal, it actually happens through

444
00:15:19,519 --> 00:15:22,079
the app, right? So if a merchant has the

445
00:15:22,079 --> 00:15:23,519
app and has that infrastructure and that

446
00:15:23,519 --> 00:15:25,279
technology in place, that's how you can

447
00:15:25,279 --> 00:15:26,959
pay and that's how you can use it. You

448
00:15:26,959 --> 00:15:28,959
can also use it obviously through uh

449
00:15:28,959 --> 00:15:31,279
through the app itself. Um I think

450
00:15:31,279 --> 00:15:33,760
what's interesting about this is I saw a

451
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:36,880
company uh founded or co-founded by two

452
00:15:36,880 --> 00:15:38,639
of the very early partners at Revolute

453
00:15:38,639 --> 00:15:41,360
doing this maybe 3 four years ago. Uh it

454
00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:42,720
was a company that expanded quite

455
00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:45,199
quickly into the US an incredible cap

456
00:15:45,199 --> 00:15:46,720
table of investors.

457
00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,120
>> I've never heard about it ever since. I

458
00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,440
don't know if it's taken off. Um I don't

459
00:15:51,440 --> 00:15:53,199
have any friends saying to me, "Hey Sam,

460
00:15:53,199 --> 00:15:54,320
why are you still paying with your

461
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,399
iPhone? I'm using my palm now." It's

462
00:15:56,399 --> 00:15:58,320
something I've never seen, right?

463
00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,160
>> To me, there is a lot of user uh

464
00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:04,160
behavior that needs to change in order

465
00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:06,399
for this to become a thing. Um it's

466
00:16:06,399 --> 00:16:07,759
still when you see people paying with

467
00:16:07,759 --> 00:16:09,440
their Apple Watch and you think, "What

468
00:16:09,440 --> 00:16:10,880
are you doing?" Right? Um you know,

469
00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:12,480
that's a and that's a fairly common

470
00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:14,480
thing, right? In common place now. So,

471
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:16,240
so spinning the question back around,

472
00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:17,759
are we going to see Sam Hoover paying

473
00:16:17,759 --> 00:16:19,680
with his retinas or with his palm

474
00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:20,560
anytime soon?

475
00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:22,399
>> I don't I don't I don't think so. I

476
00:16:22,399 --> 00:16:24,240
mean, look, everything that can

477
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,880
accelerate the checkout process is

478
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:28,560
obviously interesting, right? And I

479
00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:30,959
think what I what I remember is um this

480
00:16:30,959 --> 00:16:33,360
shop by Amazon, the workout shop. Oh,

481
00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:34,959
yeah. Where you would just come in and

482
00:16:34,959 --> 00:16:36,720
you put stuff in your in your cart and

483
00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:38,240
you get out and you get build on the way

484
00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,079
out. It's all automated. You you just

485
00:16:40,079 --> 00:16:42,079
connect the cart before and it takes

486
00:16:42,079 --> 00:16:43,440
care of it. So you don't even have to

487
00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:44,320
check out.

488
00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,040
>> Um I think today with uh you know Apple

489
00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:48,639
Pay and Google Pay and all the things

490
00:16:48,639 --> 00:16:50,720
where you can basically just pay by

491
00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:52,079
clicking on your phone,

492
00:16:52,079 --> 00:16:54,160
>> the barrier to entry is already pretty

493
00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,000
low, right? It's pretty simple to pay in

494
00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:57,199
most places. Great.

495
00:16:57,199 --> 00:17:00,480
>> Um I also feel like with AI, it feels

496
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,959
like pawn palm payment is a little bit

497
00:17:02,959 --> 00:17:05,360
like you know a fax machine in the in

498
00:17:05,360 --> 00:17:08,240
the age of uh 5G, right? Yeah. um

499
00:17:08,240 --> 00:17:11,120
because you will basically be able to

500
00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:13,679
pay in the future potentially with your

501
00:17:13,679 --> 00:17:16,319
AI agents um that handle all the

502
00:17:16,319 --> 00:17:19,919
financial uh you know transactions. Um

503
00:17:19,919 --> 00:17:21,679
>> by the time you get to the counter the

504
00:17:21,679 --> 00:17:23,919
payments already made all of that can be

505
00:17:23,919 --> 00:17:25,760
based on facial recognition. You don't

506
00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:27,839
even need the palm. So it feels like the

507
00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:29,520
future of payment is not just you know

508
00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,360
faster payment. It's no no payment, no

509
00:17:31,360 --> 00:17:33,840
checkout at all. Yeah. Um so I'm not

510
00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,000
sure that um in the age of AI this

511
00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,240
technology is is really warranted.

512
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:40,240
>> Yeah, I agree. I think it will be

513
00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:42,640
interesting to see how the tech how the

514
00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:44,960
the use case actually rolls out across

515
00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:47,200
the region. Um

516
00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:48,080
>> let's wait and see.

517
00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,320
>> Let's see. I'm excited to start to see

518
00:17:50,320 --> 00:17:52,559
people like I can't pay.

519
00:17:52,559 --> 00:17:54,320
>> I hope it'll uh yeah I hope we'll be

520
00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:54,799
proved wrong.

521
00:17:54,799 --> 00:17:56,720
>> What happen if
you're you know you don't

522
00:17:56,720 --> 00:17:58,080
have enough money on your car? Like do

523
00:17:58,080 --> 00:17:59,919
they just

524
00:17:59,919 --> 00:18:02,000
>> steal your hand and off you go? I don't

525
00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:02,240
know

526
00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:03,679
>> your hands stuck on the machine until

527
00:18:03,679 --> 00:18:04,080
you

528
00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:05,679
>> It would be a very interesting spate of

529
00:18:05,679 --> 00:18:07,520
thefts, right? Um if that if that does

530
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:08,240
play out.

531
00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:09,760
>> What about the risk
as well? Like if you

532
00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:11,280
have a lot of money on this card and all

533
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,120
you need is someone's palm, you know,

534
00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:15,440
you could imagine that getting access to

535
00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:18,640
that was probably as easy as getting,

536
00:18:18,640 --> 00:18:19,840
you know, a phone.

537
00:18:19,840 --> 00:18:20,400
>> You think?

538
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:21,200
>> No, probably not.

539
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:22,160
>> I was going to say, what are you going

540
00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:23,600
to pick me up and carry me to the shop

541
00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:25,919
and, you know, while I'm asleep? Um,

542
00:18:25,919 --> 00:18:27,760
>> good luck, man.

543
00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:31,039
Um, so the next piece of news is

544
00:18:31,039 --> 00:18:32,480
actually the and this is an exciting

545
00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:33,520
one. I think we were both discussing

546
00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:35,120
this before we hit record. This is super

547
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:38,480
exciting. Robin Hood has picked DICc as

548
00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:40,880
its Middle East headquarters. We have

549
00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,440
seen a plethora a number of companies

550
00:18:43,440 --> 00:18:45,919
now expanding into the region picking

551
00:18:45,919 --> 00:18:49,679
ADGM DIC above anywhere else to come and

552
00:18:49,679 --> 00:18:52,080
launch and and to scale or across the

553
00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:54,320
region. Um it was announced this week

554
00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,320
that they received their Dubai Financial

555
00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:58,640
Services Authority license so they can

556
00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:00,720
bring the retail investment platform to

557
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:02,960
the region. That's super cool. Um it

558
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:04,799
covers everything across trading and

559
00:19:04,799 --> 00:19:08,240
custody. Um 10, you know, approved asset

560
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,480
classes, equities, crypto, ETFs,

561
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:12,720
investment tokens, everything basically.

562
00:19:12,720 --> 00:19:14,480
This has been a long road though. Robin

563
00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:16,640
Hood applied for this category 4 license

564
00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,679
back in 2025. They appointed uh Mario

565
00:19:19,679 --> 00:19:21,840
Kamar as a senior executive officer for

566
00:19:21,840 --> 00:19:23,919
to cover the Mina region. Uh but today's

567
00:19:23,919 --> 00:19:26,160
release names Salah Kadora as the senior

568
00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:28,480
executive officer and president of Robin

569
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:30,880
Hood Mina. So they will be taking it

570
00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:33,840
forward from there. I think it's really

571
00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:36,320
interesting that we're seeing the likes

572
00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,799
of Revolute Robin Hood start to make

573
00:19:38,799 --> 00:19:40,799
these plays in the region. We can't

574
00:19:40,799 --> 00:19:43,280
forget that we have existing players

575
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:45,520
that are here already, right? I think

576
00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:47,360
the real question to ask though is what

577
00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:48,799
does this mean about the homegrown

578
00:19:48,799 --> 00:19:50,799
players who are based here? So Baraka,

579
00:19:50,799 --> 00:19:53,360
Sawa, E Toro, Equity, you know, they've

580
00:19:53,360 --> 00:19:54,799
been building their businesses along

581
00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:56,559
with the licenses while the likes of

582
00:19:56,559 --> 00:19:58,480
Robin Hood and even Revolute were absent

583
00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,640
from the region. It's taken them a long

584
00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,200
long time to unlock users to go with the

585
00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:05,200
user behavior and to start on boarding

586
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:07,200
those customers and building AUM. you

587
00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:09,679
know, is Robin Hood now timing this at

588
00:20:09,679 --> 00:20:11,760
the right point to come into the market

589
00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:13,520
and is that what the uh you know,

590
00:20:13,520 --> 00:20:16,000
biggest advantages they have or is it do

591
00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:17,679
you think the kind of brand familiarity

592
00:20:17,679 --> 00:20:19,840
and the product familiarity as well?

593
00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:21,120
>> I actually don't know. I think it

594
00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:22,720
depends of what the offering is within

595
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,200
the app. Um from what I know some of

596
00:20:25,200 --> 00:20:28,400
this, you know, apps kind of offer the

597
00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,480
same access to the same stock and the

598
00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,159
same product. So we'll have to see if

599
00:20:32,159 --> 00:20:34,640
there is any any differentiated offers

600
00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:37,039
that the local players maybe have access

601
00:20:37,039 --> 00:20:40,000
to more type of indexes and portfolios

602
00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:41,760
and other opportunities. You know at the

603
00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:43,520
end of the day it's all about what can

604
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:45,360
you access through this app. What type

605
00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:47,120
of investment opportunities it'll be

606
00:20:47,120 --> 00:20:50,080
interesting to see if um the crypto um

607
00:20:50,080 --> 00:20:52,159
investment is also available through

608
00:20:52,159 --> 00:20:53,840
through Robin Hood on the same platform.

609
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,400
>> Apparently it will
be. Yeah. Which is uh

610
00:20:56,400 --> 00:20:58,799
you know a big interesting move. Um I

611
00:20:58,799 --> 00:21:01,200
think this just you know really kind of

612
00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:03,919
highlights though how attractive the is

613
00:21:03,919 --> 00:21:06,559
right to any international firm whether

614
00:21:06,559 --> 00:21:09,520
it's finance AI you know essentially now

615
00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:11,280
they're hosting this is the official

616
00:21:11,280 --> 00:21:14,000
stat just over 10,018

617
00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:16,640
active firms out of DIC

618
00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:17,919
>> and we can't just assume that they're

619
00:21:17,919 --> 00:21:19,520
all startups that are you know building

620
00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:21,760
the the you know the the next the future

621
00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:23,440
of the world you know these are large

622
00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:25,360
organizations that have chosen DIC as

623
00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:27,440
their base um and you know Robin Grid

624
00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:28,960
Robin Hood has has kind of grown that

625
00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:30,799
that long list now, which is is super

626
00:21:30,799 --> 00:21:32,000
exciting.

627
00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:33,360
>> Welcome to the region, guys.

628
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:35,520
>> Yeah, there you go. Um, in total, it's

629
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:38,640
taken them about 1.5 to two years to get

630
00:21:38,640 --> 00:21:40,720
here though. Um, which I think is

631
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:42,400
potentially something that, you know, if

632
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:44,000
you are a company thinking of expanding

633
00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,080
into this region, looking at the time

634
00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:47,280
scales here, especially around the

635
00:21:47,280 --> 00:21:47,919
regulation.

636
00:21:47,919 --> 00:21:49,760
>> Well, that's because they have trading

637
00:21:49,760 --> 00:21:51,919
and financial regulations on top of

638
00:21:51,919 --> 00:21:53,919
simply creating a creating an entity,

639
00:21:53,919 --> 00:21:54,640
right?

640
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:57,120
>> Yeah, exactly. Um,
and I think that, you

641
00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,240
know, as we start seeing regulators open

642
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,240
up and and look at the track record of

643
00:22:02,240 --> 00:22:03,919
these companies kind of coming in and

644
00:22:03,919 --> 00:22:06,080
being successful and doing it according

645
00:22:06,080 --> 00:22:07,840
to the rules and the law, you we're

646
00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:09,440
going to see the floodgates open, which

647
00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,919
is super exciting. Um, and the last

648
00:22:11,919 --> 00:22:14,159
piece of news from me in this in the

649
00:22:14,159 --> 00:22:16,400
region this week was that Whoop, um,

650
00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:19,360
Will Ahmed was over this,

651
00:22:19,360 --> 00:22:21,760
>> he was over this week at the Abu Dhabi

652
00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:23,360
Future Health Summit, right? and

653
00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,120
actually dropped some really really

654
00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:27,120
interesting numbers. Um, according to

655
00:22:27,120 --> 00:22:28,880
Will, the really interesting numbers

656
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,960
that he dropped, uh, Whoop says its golf

657
00:22:30,960 --> 00:22:33,440
memberships have grown by about 85% in

658
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:36,159
the past year alone and have grown over

659
00:22:36,159 --> 00:22:39,600
15 times in the past 3 years. These are

660
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:40,720
the first time that these numbers have

661
00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:42,080
been made public since.

662
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:43,760
>> Do we have the
number of members or just

663
00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:44,400
the person?

664
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,000
>> We don't. We only have the percentage.

665
00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,320
Um, but again, it's a a kind of

666
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:49,760
directional figure which I think is

667
00:22:49,760 --> 00:22:51,280
quite compelling. And we've also got to

668
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:52,320
understand that this is the first time

669
00:22:52,320 --> 00:22:53,600
these numbers have been made public

670
00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,200
since Mardler and 2.0 group joined uh

671
00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:01,760
Whoops. So that $575 million series G uh

672
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:04,480
$75 million of that came from Mardler.

673
00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,039
Um that was with a dedicated office that

674
00:23:07,039 --> 00:23:09,840
had to be here in the UAE, full Arabic

675
00:23:09,840 --> 00:23:13,039
localization and then the uh setup and

676
00:23:13,039 --> 00:23:14,799
launch of the Woot Mabard Health

677
00:23:14,799 --> 00:23:17,440
Research Initiative. If you're tracking

678
00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:19,120
anything to do with longevity and

679
00:23:19,120 --> 00:23:20,799
wellness here in the Middle East, in

680
00:23:20,799 --> 00:23:22,720
particular in the UAE, you will know

681
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:24,480
that this is Yeah, this is a hugely

682
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:27,360
hugely exciting area to be, everyone is

683
00:23:27,360 --> 00:23:28,799
looking at the region now going, okay,

684
00:23:28,799 --> 00:23:30,720
longevity, wellness, we even have a

685
00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,159
government minister set up for this and

686
00:23:32,159 --> 00:23:33,760
a government initiative. Now

687
00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,320
>> we are going to see
this area explode, I

688
00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:37,840
think, in the kind of coming months and

689
00:23:37,840 --> 00:23:40,159
even in coming years. uh more companies,

690
00:23:40,159 --> 00:23:41,760
bigger companies, better investment,

691
00:23:41,760 --> 00:23:44,000
better regulation and ultimately all of

692
00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:45,840
this is a positive thing for us here who

693
00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:47,600
live in Dubai and in the UAE.

694
00:23:47,600 --> 00:23:49,440
>> I agree. I think it's also an

695
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,200
interesting playbook that you can see

696
00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,600
happening in the region where the

697
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,520
there's start to be a mandate around

698
00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:58,400
specific topic like longevity generally

699
00:23:58,400 --> 00:24:02,000
the region would look for a poster child

700
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:04,400
to kind of embody that that right and

701
00:24:04,400 --> 00:24:06,480
they invest in it. They put a lot of

702
00:24:06,480 --> 00:24:08,480
resources behind it. They made Whoop the

703
00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,679
the main kind of headline um partner at

704
00:24:11,679 --> 00:24:14,559
this longevity event to show an example

705
00:24:14,559 --> 00:24:16,880
of what this strategy actually is. Yeah.

706
00:24:16,880 --> 00:24:19,039
>> Um so this is this
is a great example if

707
00:24:19,039 --> 00:24:20,960
you can get your business in a situation

708
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:22,320
like this when you become the poster

709
00:24:22,320 --> 00:24:24,640
child of one of the strategies you

710
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:25,919
basically set. So

711
00:24:25,919 --> 00:24:27,440
>> 100% it's going to be exciting to see

712
00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:29,360
where this goes. So that wraps up the

713
00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:31,440
the news for the week. Okay. So we're

714
00:24:31,440 --> 00:24:32,880
going to change up the tune a little bit

715
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,480
now. I want to go a little bit earlier

716
00:24:34,480 --> 00:24:36,240
stage and I want to talk about the

717
00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:38,320
fundraises that have occurred this week.

718
00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:39,440
We're going to make this fun though,

719
00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:41,679
Sam, because I know you love a game. And

720
00:24:41,679 --> 00:24:43,600
yeah, for anyone who's noticed this new

721
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:45,520
prop that's just arrived on the table

722
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,000
here, this is the money gun. Uh this is

723
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,880
the gun. It's Sam's hardearned money.

724
00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:52,559
Essentially, Sam, I'm going to rattle

725
00:24:52,559 --> 00:24:54,159
through uh some of the early stage

726
00:24:54,159 --> 00:24:55,520
fundraisers that have been announced

727
00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,520
this week. If there's any company that

728
00:24:57,520 --> 00:24:59,440
you would either angel invest in or you

729
00:24:59,440 --> 00:25:01,440
think is a deadert to be a big big

730
00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,440
company, fire the gun. So, the first

731
00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,240
company that announced a $3.6 million

732
00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:09,279
preede round was Vertex this week. It's

733
00:25:09,279 --> 00:25:11,200
an embedded finance platform that lets

734
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:12,960
businesses add wallets, payouts, card

735
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:15,520
issuing and transfers to their products.

736
00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:17,600
Very interesting cap table. SC Ventures

737
00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,440
by Standard Chartered who are becoming

738
00:25:19,440 --> 00:25:21,279
more and more active in the region in

739
00:25:21,279 --> 00:25:23,600
particular in Saudi Sadu Capital Build

740
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,480
and others. Second company was Naba

741
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,080
Health which is an AI powered

742
00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:29,919
preventative healthcare platform focused

743
00:25:29,919 --> 00:25:31,840
on women's health. I can tell you that

744
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:33,919
Sophie the founder is an absolutely

745
00:25:33,919 --> 00:25:36,000
incredible founder. Um what she has done

746
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:38,720
with NAPTA is really really impressive.

747
00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,039
Uh they raised a $3 million pre- series

748
00:25:41,039 --> 00:25:43,440
A round led by Phoenix Venture Partners.

749
00:25:43,440 --> 00:25:44,880
And the third company is a company

750
00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:47,200
called Vitals, an AI powered digital

751
00:25:47,200 --> 00:25:49,279
health passport for storing and sharing

752
00:25:49,279 --> 00:25:51,360
medical records across providers and

753
00:25:51,360 --> 00:25:54,159
countries. They raised a $ 1.5 million

754
00:25:54,159 --> 00:25:56,799
seed from EST Growmore. Very interesting

755
00:25:56,799 --> 00:25:59,039
founding team there as well. And the

756
00:25:59,039 --> 00:26:01,679
fourth company, Popcorn Studio, an AI

757
00:26:01,679 --> 00:26:03,840
filmmaking platform uh for producing

758
00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:06,559
cinematic videos with a focus on Arabic

759
00:26:06,559 --> 00:26:08,720
context and dialects. They raised a $1

760
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,679
million preede round led by a very

761
00:26:11,679 --> 00:26:13,200
well-known and wellrespected angel here

762
00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:15,200
in the region. Uh company number five

763
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:17,360
was Capquest. Um good friends of mine,

764
00:26:17,360 --> 00:26:19,120
an amazing team. They're an equity

765
00:26:19,120 --> 00:26:21,440
management platform for capables, esops

766
00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:23,600
vesting and shareholder communications.

767
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:25,279
Uh they've raised a million dollars in

768
00:26:25,279 --> 00:26:28,960
preede from OSA Capital and AMKM Family

769
00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,919
Office. A very impressive team who yeah,

770
00:26:31,919 --> 00:26:33,440
you know, exited founders and have done

771
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:35,039
a hell of a lot of things together

772
00:26:35,039 --> 00:26:35,600
before.

773
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:36,320
>> Oh, the guns.

774
00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:38,159
>> The guns.

775
00:26:38,159 --> 00:26:40,080
>> Let me invest.

776
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,799
Take my money. And the last company to

777
00:26:42,799 --> 00:26:44,640
announce around this week was a car

778
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:46,799
exit. Uh a company coming out of Egypt.

779
00:26:46,799 --> 00:26:48,240
uh what they've built is a platform that

780
00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:50,400
lets property buyers who are struggling

781
00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:51,919
with their installments, they can

782
00:26:51,919 --> 00:26:53,919
transfer their contracts to new buyers

783
00:26:53,919 --> 00:26:55,600
so that they can take on uh the

784
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,840
commitments from there. They raised 200k

785
00:26:57,840 --> 00:26:59,520
from a very well-known and wellrespected

786
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,159
angel in the region. Um it's a great

787
00:27:02,159 --> 00:27:04,320
result for uh Egyptian entrepreneurs who

788
00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:05,919
I know have been finding it hard to

789
00:27:05,919 --> 00:27:07,600
actually raise investment right now. Um

790
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,159
despite the fact that there are a hugely

791
00:27:10,159 --> 00:27:12,240
number a huge number of talented people

792
00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:13,679
building in Egypt.

793
00:27:13,679 --> 00:27:15,760
>> So that wraps up
the fundraisers for the

794
00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:17,440
week. Game number two. Okay. So, what

795
00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:18,960
I'm going to do is I'm going to give you

796
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:21,520
a simple statement about the region and

797
00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:23,360
I want you to tell me whether it is hype

798
00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:25,279
or reality. Understood.

799
00:27:25,279 --> 00:27:25,679
>> Understood.

800
00:27:25,679 --> 00:27:26,960
>> You get the rules
of the game. Cool. All

801
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,200
right. Here we go. Okay. Statement

802
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,120
number one. The Gulf is one of the most

803
00:27:31,120 --> 00:27:33,760
attractive places in the world to build

804
00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:35,840
a data center.

805
00:27:35,840 --> 00:27:38,559
>> Yeah, that's real reality. I think the

806
00:27:38,559 --> 00:27:42,480
the hype is that it's much cheaper and

807
00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:43,919
that it's all about cheaper power.

808
00:27:43,919 --> 00:27:45,200
That's not the real reason, but there's

809
00:27:45,200 --> 00:27:47,600
a lot of subsidies and the approval

810
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:50,159
times are very, very fast, which is very

811
00:27:50,159 --> 00:27:51,919
attractive to a lot of hyperscalers.

812
00:27:51,919 --> 00:27:54,000
>> I agree with that. Question number two,

813
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:55,760
>> no one asked you.

814
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,399
>> Thanks, man. Saudi Arabia is the

815
00:27:58,399 --> 00:28:01,840
region's HQ for capital.

816
00:28:01,840 --> 00:28:04,320
>> Hype for now. They are definitely

817
00:28:04,320 --> 00:28:06,559
pushing hard with the HQ program where

818
00:28:06,559 --> 00:28:08,720
if you are setting up a company there,

819
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,200
it has to become the HQ and your UAE

820
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,279
entity has to be a subsidiary of it.

821
00:28:13,279 --> 00:28:15,760
They making a lot of push for that and

822
00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:18,320
providing really insane advantages to do

823
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:20,240
that. But I think for now what we're

824
00:28:20,240 --> 00:28:22,880
seeing is most of people coming to the

825
00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,799
region start still with the UAE.

826
00:28:24,799 --> 00:28:26,960
>> Agreed. Question number three. Mina

827
00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:30,000
startups can easily exit

828
00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,559
>> hype. I wish this was true. I think

829
00:28:32,559 --> 00:28:34,399
there's as we've seen there's uh you

830
00:28:34,399 --> 00:28:36,159
know the the liquidity especially for

831
00:28:36,159 --> 00:28:38,399
tech uh there's not much of a public

832
00:28:38,399 --> 00:28:40,320
market yet. Again I know there's a lot

833
00:28:40,320 --> 00:28:42,080
of progress. They're working on it. Uh

834
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:43,919
hopefully we'll see our first tech exit

835
00:28:43,919 --> 00:28:46,399
happening on the ADX or another local

836
00:28:46,399 --> 00:28:47,440
exchange really soon.

837
00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:49,520
>> Yeah, agreed.
Statement number four, and

838
00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:51,200
this is a crazy one to even think about

839
00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:54,320
in it in itself. Governments in the

840
00:28:54,320 --> 00:28:56,399
Middle East are more digital than

841
00:28:56,399 --> 00:28:58,399
private sector companies.

842
00:28:58,399 --> 00:29:01,279
>> That's real reality. Yeah, for sure. Um

843
00:29:01,279 --> 00:29:04,640
I think you know the government here is

844
00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,960
acting like a private sector. They're

845
00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,960
risktaking. They're trying to do things.

846
00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:10,080
They're willing to engage with

847
00:29:10,080 --> 00:29:12,960
companies. um very forward thinking and

848
00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:15,840
uh overall they are really you know

849
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:18,159
setting the the tone for what innovation

850
00:29:18,159 --> 00:29:20,000
is. They're leading the charge when it

851
00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:21,760
comes to innovation adoption of new

852
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:22,960
technologies.

853
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:25,279
>> Statement number five, Mina has deep

854
00:29:25,279 --> 00:29:28,399
homegrown AI talent pool.

855
00:29:28,399 --> 00:29:30,799
>> It's hype but it's transitioning to

856
00:29:30,799 --> 00:29:33,679
reality. Um the reality is that the

857
00:29:33,679 --> 00:29:35,760
region still imports most of the senior

858
00:29:35,760 --> 00:29:38,640
AI talent. Uh but the region is also

859
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:40,559
training a lot of people with AI. I

860
00:29:40,559 --> 00:29:42,799
think Abu Dhabi is training 20,000

861
00:29:42,799 --> 00:29:45,360
officials um you know senior leaders,

862
00:29:45,360 --> 00:29:47,840
government employees with Chad GPT,

863
00:29:47,840 --> 00:29:49,760
other types of AI tools and I just

864
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:51,440
haven't seen a program like that in any

865
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,919
other country. U so they will get there.

866
00:29:53,919 --> 00:29:56,000
They will they will catch up. Um the the

867
00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,279
the usage of AI is also the highest in

868
00:29:59,279 --> 00:30:01,919
the world. Um 80% of people that live

869
00:30:01,919 --> 00:30:04,320
here use AI at least once a week. In the

870
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:07,039
US it's only 50%. So that's a massive

871
00:30:07,039 --> 00:30:07,679
difference.

872
00:30:07,679 --> 00:30:10,080
>> Yeah, I think it's Oh, yeah. 100% true

873
00:30:10,080 --> 00:30:13,200
on that. Um, statement number six, the

874
00:30:13,200 --> 00:30:16,960
line in Neon is going to get built.

875
00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,559
>> Hype. It's not. Um, it's not going to

876
00:30:20,559 --> 00:30:24,240
get built. At least not the 170 mi. Um,

877
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:26,480
you know, the MBS, I think himself said

878
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:28,559
that, uh, the idea with NEOM was that

879
00:30:28,559 --> 00:30:30,720
you would aim for the stars and maybe

880
00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:32,399
reach the moon. I think this is what

881
00:30:32,399 --> 00:30:34,240
happened. the the grand vision is

882
00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:36,559
getting rescoped but a lot of things are

883
00:30:36,559 --> 00:30:39,600
still happening and neon the octagon and

884
00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:42,000
I think the line as well um announced a

885
00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,399
partnership with humane to become the

886
00:30:44,399 --> 00:30:46,000
location where the data centers are

887
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:47,919
going to be built so they're repurposing

888
00:30:47,919 --> 00:30:50,000
the the places that they have um the

889
00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:53,039
octagon which is the uh um the harbor

890
00:30:53,039 --> 00:30:54,399
and the ports and this kind of

891
00:30:54,399 --> 00:30:56,399
industrial zone there is up and running

892
00:30:56,399 --> 00:30:58,399
so there's a lot of components that you

893
00:30:58,399 --> 00:31:00,799
know are operating but the line the

894
00:31:00,799 --> 00:31:04,320
flagship project has been um rescoped.

895
00:31:04,320 --> 00:31:05,440
Let's put it this way.

896
00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:08,320
>> Yeah. Statement
number seven. Uh the UAE

897
00:31:08,320 --> 00:31:10,640
is the world's millionaire magnet.

898
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:12,799
>> Oh, that's real. I think it's the third

899
00:31:12,799 --> 00:31:15,039
year straight that uh we're the country

900
00:31:15,039 --> 00:31:17,919
that imports the most millionaires. Um I

901
00:31:17,919 --> 00:31:20,000
think about close to 10,000 millionaires

902
00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,640
a year uh that are coming here and uh

903
00:31:22,640 --> 00:31:24,320
actually a lot of them at the expense of

904
00:31:24,320 --> 00:31:26,720
uh your your your country UK. This year

905
00:31:26,720 --> 00:31:29,600
the UK is the biggest exporter of of

906
00:31:29,600 --> 00:31:30,240
millionaires.

907
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,320
>> That's true. Um, we don't go out to the

908
00:31:32,320 --> 00:31:33,679
streets though and throw stuff around.

909
00:31:33,679 --> 00:31:36,240
But anyway, I won't talk about that. Um,

910
00:31:36,240 --> 00:31:38,000
on that question or on that statement,

911
00:31:38,000 --> 00:31:40,399
sorry. Uh, that money that they're

912
00:31:40,399 --> 00:31:42,080
bringing with them, these millionaires,

913
00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,120
that's going to UAE startups.

914
00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:48,080
>> Hype. I wish this was true. No, most of

915
00:31:48,080 --> 00:31:50,559
that wealth goes into property, into

916
00:31:50,559 --> 00:31:53,760
family offices, into investment. Um, not

917
00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:55,279
really tech deals.

918
00:31:55,279 --> 00:31:58,640
>> Yeah. Penultimate statement. driverless

919
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:03,279
transport will be here in Dubai by 2030.

920
00:32:03,279 --> 00:32:05,360
>> By then it will be a reality. I think

921
00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:07,279
there's a lot of initiatives. We talked

922
00:32:07,279 --> 00:32:10,480
last week about the um Boring Company,

923
00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:11,919
the tunnels. We talked about the

924
00:32:11,919 --> 00:32:14,080
driverless pods in Abu Dhabi. You

925
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,000
already have autonomous Ubers that you

926
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,120
can request. And uh the strategy is to

927
00:32:19,120 --> 00:32:23,279
automate 25% of all trips by 2030. So

928
00:32:23,279 --> 00:32:25,600
would they get 25%? Not sure but a

929
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:26,960
portion of it will definitely be

930
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:27,519
automated.

931
00:32:27,519 --> 00:32:29,200
>> It's an impressive target.

932
00:32:29,200 --> 00:32:31,679
>> And the last statement, Mina region is

933
00:32:31,679 --> 00:32:35,120
leading the narrative on AI sovereignty.

934
00:32:35,120 --> 00:32:37,519
>> Super real. Um building a business on

935
00:32:37,519 --> 00:32:40,080
top of that. So it's uh it's super real.

936
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,600
Um G42, Humane, those purpose-built

937
00:32:43,600 --> 00:32:45,760
companies to handle AI in the region

938
00:32:45,760 --> 00:32:48,399
were very early drumming up the interest

939
00:32:48,399 --> 00:32:50,640
for for sovereignty. um which kind of

940
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,159
creates barriers as well because it's a

941
00:32:52,159 --> 00:32:55,279
lot harder to you know access models if

942
00:32:55,279 --> 00:32:56,960
they have to run here but at the end of

943
00:32:56,960 --> 00:32:58,480
the day it's protecting the country

944
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:00,880
protecting the enterprises that are

945
00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:02,559
using it because you can ensure that

946
00:33:02,559 --> 00:33:04,240
your data does not leave the boundaries

947
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,000
of the country you have more control

948
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,360
over your your your data and um you know

949
00:33:09,360 --> 00:33:11,600
the question is do you you really want

950
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,840
to outsource your intelligence what is

951
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:15,200
going to power your entire business

952
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:17,600
right we're not talking about a database

953
00:33:17,600 --> 00:33:19,039
just sitting there we're literally

954
00:33:19,039 --> 00:33:21,120
talking about intelligence and so if as

955
00:33:21,120 --> 00:33:22,159
a business you're going to build

956
00:33:22,159 --> 00:33:25,279
everything around AI all your processes

957
00:33:25,279 --> 00:33:27,760
you know you have AI co-workers do you

958
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:29,760
really want those to sit somewhere else

959
00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:31,519
in a country where you do not control

960
00:33:31,519 --> 00:33:34,080
and you could potentially have you know

961
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:35,360
who knows what can happen right

962
00:33:35,360 --> 00:33:37,279
geopolitics change and you don't have

963
00:33:37,279 --> 00:33:39,440
access to that intelligence anymore so

964
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,039
rule number one is you need the

965
00:33:41,039 --> 00:33:43,120
intelligence to happen in the country

966
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,279
and actually the next step of that that

967
00:33:45,279 --> 00:33:46,880
some companies and government entities

968
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,600
are starting to think about is maybe the

969
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:51,360
country is not enough. It should be on

970
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,279
our premises. So there's different

971
00:33:53,279 --> 00:33:55,200
layers to sovereignty. How close do you

972
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:56,559
want this data to you? So I don't know

973
00:33:56,559 --> 00:33:59,840
if you saw but uh AI was added again. Um

974
00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:01,760
this time finding some major

975
00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:04,720
vulnerabilities in PHP. You know I don't

976
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:07,440
know if you studied any type of science

977
00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:09,839
computer science but back in my day we

978
00:34:09,839 --> 00:34:12,399
were actually learning PHP. Uh PHP is a

979
00:34:12,399 --> 00:34:15,520
serverside language. It powers 70% of

980
00:34:15,520 --> 00:34:17,760
the internet. It powers WordPress, all

981
00:34:17,760 --> 00:34:20,639
the WordPress uh websites. It powers uh

982
00:34:20,639 --> 00:34:22,399
Drupal, which is still very much used.

983
00:34:22,399 --> 00:34:24,399
It powers Wikipedia. A lot of government

984
00:34:24,399 --> 00:34:27,200
agencies are using using PHP. And

985
00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:29,839
basically um I think it's an agent from

986
00:34:29,839 --> 00:34:32,000
OpenAI and Gemini that found a

987
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:33,679
vulnerability basically that enables

988
00:34:33,679 --> 00:34:36,320
hackers to inject code without having

989
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,280
access to the server. Um no one ever

990
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,000
found it before. AI found it. And so

991
00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,560
until this was patched, the advice was

992
00:34:44,560 --> 00:34:46,079
now that this is known, you should

993
00:34:46,079 --> 00:34:48,480
probably take your website down. So

994
00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,320
government entities, companies actually

995
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:51,919
took the website down for for a little

996
00:34:51,919 --> 00:34:52,320
bit.

997
00:34:52,320 --> 00:34:52,560
>> Wow.

998
00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,879
>> Uh this is one of the first instance of

999
00:34:54,879 --> 00:34:57,599
AI finding vulnerability in in code that

1000
00:34:57,599 --> 00:34:59,359
is, you know, over a decade old that no

1001
00:34:59,359 --> 00:35:00,240
one else has found.

1002
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:02,000
>> That's incredibly impressive. I one of

1003
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:03,359
the things that fascinated me actually

1004
00:35:03,359 --> 00:35:05,520
is about the use of AI in particular

1005
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,839
when it comes to cyber security, but

1006
00:35:07,839 --> 00:35:11,040
also the insurance around cyber attacks.

1007
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:12,240
Do you think that this is something that

1008
00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:13,599
we're going to see more and more of

1009
00:35:13,599 --> 00:35:15,440
where you know if you're an underwriter,

1010
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:17,920
an insurance underwriter, actually most

1011
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:19,920
of what you can do now with AI is

1012
00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:23,040
actually go out, scour, find these gaps,

1013
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:24,320
find these vulnerabilities, and then

1014
00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,760
actually support your clients. Do you

1015
00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:26,640
think we're going to see people doing

1016
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:27,920
that or do you think this is going to

1017
00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:30,079
continue to be something that bad actors

1018
00:35:30,079 --> 00:35:31,680
just leverage them themselves?

1019
00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:33,920
>> No, I think for me this is, you know,

1020
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,599
extremely positive because if you think

1021
00:35:35,599 --> 00:35:37,200
about what is the outcome of that? Well,

1022
00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:38,800
the outcome is we found a vulnerability

1023
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:40,560
that we didn't know about and now we can

1024
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:43,599
patch it. Um, you know, I think

1025
00:35:43,599 --> 00:35:45,359
>> obviously there will be bad actors with

1026
00:35:45,359 --> 00:35:47,359
everything, right? Every technology has

1027
00:35:47,359 --> 00:35:49,119
two sides. It can always be used for

1028
00:35:49,119 --> 00:35:51,119
good and it can be weaponized against

1029
00:35:51,119 --> 00:35:54,160
it. Um, but the fact that AI discovered

1030
00:35:54,160 --> 00:35:56,720
this prevents AI for making further

1031
00:35:56,720 --> 00:35:59,280
damage. So, it is it is a positive thing

1032
00:35:59,280 --> 00:36:01,599
and I think it's it's just a general,

1033
00:36:01,599 --> 00:36:03,119
you know, approach to how you're

1034
00:36:03,119 --> 00:36:05,200
thinking about the future. Um, you can't

1035
00:36:05,200 --> 00:36:07,280
really be afraid of of that. Of course,

1036
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:09,280
every technology has risk, but it would

1037
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:11,200
be the same as saying, you know, let's

1038
00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,839
stick to horses because cars, you know,

1039
00:36:13,839 --> 00:36:15,599
could lead to more accidents.

1040
00:36:15,599 --> 00:36:18,000
>> Well, cars are actually safer over time

1041
00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:20,400
and it also enables you to go much

1042
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:22,400
faster. So, it's the same it's the same

1043
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:24,800
with AI. I think um in Europe we're

1044
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:26,720
quite guilty of always looking at this

1045
00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:29,599
from you know the the glass half empty

1046
00:36:29,599 --> 00:36:32,320
um perspective and the goal is always to

1047
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:34,960
regulate or you know add buyers to entry

1048
00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:36,400
or making it really hard to do

1049
00:36:36,400 --> 00:36:38,560
something. The reality is

1050
00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:41,119
>> this would work if you were in a world

1051
00:36:41,119 --> 00:36:43,359
that operates in silo. So if you can

1052
00:36:43,359 --> 00:36:45,599
regulate the entire of Europe and

1053
00:36:45,599 --> 00:36:47,760
therefore there no there's no more risk

1054
00:36:47,760 --> 00:36:50,000
posed by AI sure that works. But the

1055
00:36:50,000 --> 00:36:51,760
problem is you have the US, you have

1056
00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:53,200
China, you have all these guys. They're

1057
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:54,560
not going to be regulated. So what

1058
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:55,520
happens? They're going to keep

1059
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,320
developing and now they have essentially

1060
00:36:58,320 --> 00:37:00,640
a weapon or something that can be used

1061
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:02,640
in a dangerous manner. And because we

1062
00:37:02,640 --> 00:37:05,200
haven't built the defenses now actually

1063
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:08,560
we are we're more at risk. So I think um

1064
00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:10,240
>> you know all these things have to be

1065
00:37:10,240 --> 00:37:12,480
developed together and AI being able to

1066
00:37:12,480 --> 00:37:14,960
find vulnerabilities, making code safer

1067
00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:16,800
overall is a is a positive thing.

1068
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:18,640
>> Yeah, I agree. Another thing that was

1069
00:37:18,640 --> 00:37:20,720
interesting um in the topic of

1070
00:37:20,720 --> 00:37:23,280
sovereignty, the Bank Emirates NBD is

1071
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:25,359
becoming the first bank in the region to

1072
00:37:25,359 --> 00:37:28,240
run OpenAI models inside the UAE. You

1073
00:37:28,240 --> 00:37:29,839
know, banks are the most regulated

1074
00:37:29,839 --> 00:37:32,320
entities in the region. So for them, the

1075
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,640
data, customer data, transaction data,

1076
00:37:34,640 --> 00:37:36,400
this has to be in the region. If this

1077
00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,400
gets processed somehow using AI, you

1078
00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:39,760
cannot just send that, you know, to

1079
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:41,520
other to other countries. So I think

1080
00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:42,880
this is going to be the first of many.

1081
00:37:42,880 --> 00:37:44,640
We talked at length about the importance

1082
00:37:44,640 --> 00:37:47,359
of sovereignty. It's also much more

1083
00:37:47,359 --> 00:37:49,280
difficult to be fully sovereign. There's

1084
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,200
a lot of investments that have to be

1085
00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,040
made. Big companies will lead that

1086
00:37:53,040 --> 00:37:54,480
charge. But I think we're going to see

1087
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:56,000
more and more companies do that. If you

1088
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,560
really want to scale beyond the pilot

1089
00:37:58,560 --> 00:38:00,880
>> and process most of your data,

1090
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:02,720
>> then you cannot
afford to outsource that

1091
00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:04,320
intelligence to a different place.

1092
00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:06,240
>> Okay. So the question
that comes to mind

1093
00:38:06,240 --> 00:38:08,320
for me here with this as an MRS MBD

1094
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:10,640
customer, right, one, am I going to be

1095
00:38:10,640 --> 00:38:12,800
seeing, you know, chat GPT come up in

1096
00:38:12,800 --> 00:38:14,720
the app? So I'm able to create my own

1097
00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:16,800
reports as a customer and look at where

1098
00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:18,720
am I spending money, how much money is

1099
00:38:18,720 --> 00:38:21,599
going on, Kareem, noon, etc. on various

1100
00:38:21,599 --> 00:38:24,240
different food things. And also why did

1101
00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:26,560
they pick Open AI versus Anthropic? Like

1102
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:28,000
what do you think the reason is for that

1103
00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:29,520
decision?

1104
00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:31,839
>> I think the reason is a matter of

1105
00:38:31,839 --> 00:38:34,079
proximity. Um Open AI has a presence

1106
00:38:34,079 --> 00:38:34,640
here.

1107
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:34,960
>> True.

1108
00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,280
>> They recently
actually opened an office.

1109
00:38:37,280 --> 00:38:39,599
Um they're going to be part of uh

1110
00:38:39,599 --> 00:38:42,000
>> yeah they're they're
making big moves in

1111
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:44,400
the region, let's say. And uh so far

1112
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,480
Antropic I think the closest is probably

1113
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:48,960
Singapore latest office. So you know you

1114
00:38:48,960 --> 00:38:50,400
know how things work here. You have to

1115
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:52,640
be here. Obviously the the sovereign

1116
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:54,800
funds of the region have stakes in both.

1117
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:57,119
So they're riding both. But um when it

1118
00:38:57,119 --> 00:38:59,440
comes to doing deals with companies here

1119
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:00,800
you have to be in the region. You have

1120
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:02,960
to be here. Even if you are OpenAI or

1121
00:39:02,960 --> 00:39:05,760
anthropic proximity matters. So that's

1122
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,359
my guess. Obviously I wasn't there in

1123
00:39:07,359 --> 00:39:09,119
the room but that's probably what

1124
00:39:09,119 --> 00:39:10,640
happened. Yeah, I know there's tight

1125
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:12,240
regulation around gambling, but I would

1126
00:39:12,240 --> 00:39:14,640
love to know the live odds of Anthropic

1127
00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:16,720
making or opening an office here in the

1128
00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:18,800
region. It's got to be nailed on in the

1129
00:39:18,800 --> 00:39:20,800
next three to six months surely. But

1130
00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:22,880
talking about AI models, um I don't know

1131
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,520
if you've seen spent time on on X, but

1132
00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,480
there's a lot of new alternative models

1133
00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:30,880
to LLM that are popping off over the

1134
00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:32,640
last couple of months, but really over

1135
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:33,680
the last couple of weeks, there were a

1136
00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,599
few launches. uh you may have heard of

1137
00:39:35,599 --> 00:39:39,440
Jev, World Labs, Newton, AMI, Genie from

1138
00:39:39,440 --> 00:39:42,480
Google. Those are not LLMs, right? They

1139
00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:44,960
do not crunch text. They are either

1140
00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:46,480
striving to understand the world, what

1141
00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:48,079
is called the world model or more like a

1142
00:39:48,079 --> 00:39:49,760
decision model. So, they use math

1143
00:39:49,760 --> 00:39:52,480
instead of words to make decisions. And

1144
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,079
it's quite interesting actually and the

1145
00:39:54,079 --> 00:39:57,359
the underlying thesis behind all of this

1146
00:39:57,359 --> 00:39:59,839
uh which is believed by a lot of people

1147
00:39:59,839 --> 00:40:02,480
in the space is that LLMs actually are

1148
00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,720
not going to get us to AGI. Yeah,

1149
00:40:04,720 --> 00:40:07,760
because all the LLMs can do is to crunch

1150
00:40:07,760 --> 00:40:09,680
text and media, right? So they're

1151
00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:11,280
multimodel, so they can crunch videos

1152
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:12,800
and all of that. You can still learn a

1153
00:40:12,800 --> 00:40:15,119
lot, but you miss a big part of

1154
00:40:15,119 --> 00:40:16,480
understanding the world,

1155
00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,119
>> right? If you can only see what is the

1156
00:40:19,119 --> 00:40:20,960
written track record of the world and

1157
00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:22,880
now these models have in ingested the

1158
00:40:22,880 --> 00:40:24,880
entire collection of books. They

1159
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:26,640
ingested all the the internet. So

1160
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:28,720
there's not much extra data for them.

1161
00:40:28,720 --> 00:40:32,240
Um, if you think about us humans, how

1162
00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:34,079
did we learn to do anything? Well, we

1163
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:36,640
didn't read a book. We looked around and

1164
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,040
we probably imitated our parents and

1165
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,119
just look at things. And I see my son,

1166
00:40:41,119 --> 00:40:43,760
you know, just when I look at the wa my

1167
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:45,200
watch now, he's doing this.

1168
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:45,680
>> Yeah.

1169
00:40:45,680 --> 00:40:47,680
>> So, it's just picking
picking things up,

1170
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:50,320
right? So, walking, talking, counting,

1171
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:51,920
mainly we do it by copying our

1172
00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:53,520
environment. So what these models are

1173
00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:55,520
doing, they're basically putting sensors

1174
00:40:55,520 --> 00:40:57,599
out in the world or recording what is

1175
00:40:57,599 --> 00:41:00,400
happening to be able to mimic and create

1176
00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,640
a model around that action. So now you

1177
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:04,560
have companies that are putting cameras

1178
00:41:04,560 --> 00:41:07,520
on their waiters um so that they can

1179
00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,359
actually see what does the waiter do

1180
00:41:09,359 --> 00:41:10,800
because that is not something that you

1181
00:41:10,800 --> 00:41:11,920
can learn by

1182
00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:13,839
>> reading a book, right? You learn by

1183
00:41:13,839 --> 00:41:15,440
following someone who knows what they're

1184
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:17,680
doing. So how do you extract that

1185
00:41:17,680 --> 00:41:19,599
knowledge from the real world or from

1186
00:41:19,599 --> 00:41:21,119
the head of people that are actually in

1187
00:41:21,119 --> 00:41:22,960
that job and you package that into a

1188
00:41:22,960 --> 00:41:24,960
model that understand the world. So I

1189
00:41:24,960 --> 00:41:27,440
think the future is going to be

1190
00:41:27,440 --> 00:41:30,079
>> um obviously be going beyond the LLM.

1191
00:41:30,079 --> 00:41:31,920
2027 is going to be the year of the

1192
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,720
alternative model in my opinion. Um this

1193
00:41:34,720 --> 00:41:36,720
doesn't replace LLMs but it complements

1194
00:41:36,720 --> 00:41:38,240
them because then you have knowledge

1195
00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:40,079
from the written world, you have

1196
00:41:40,079 --> 00:41:41,680
knowledge from the physical world. If

1197
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:43,200
you put that together, you start to have

1198
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,040
something really really powerful which

1199
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,119
would hopefully get us to to the state

1200
00:41:47,119 --> 00:41:49,280
of AGI. So, just something I've noticed

1201
00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:51,599
lately. Um, pay attention to that. And

1202
00:41:51,599 --> 00:41:53,440
and those models, by the way, those

1203
00:41:53,440 --> 00:41:55,680
neolabs as we call them are commending

1204
00:41:55,680 --> 00:41:57,359
the biggest rounds, the biggest

1205
00:41:57,359 --> 00:41:59,440
valuations because foundational

1206
00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,079
technology, right? Every VC that has

1207
00:42:02,079 --> 00:42:04,240
missed OpenAI Antropic is looking for

1208
00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:05,760
their next trillion dollar companies,

1209
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:07,680
not just the application layer, you

1210
00:42:07,680 --> 00:42:09,920
know, 100 billion plus. What is the next

1211
00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:12,160
trillion dollar company? and those are

1212
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,160
prime candidates because they are

1213
00:42:14,160 --> 00:42:18,000
changing the approach to

1214
00:42:18,000 --> 00:42:19,599
something.

1215
00:42:19,599 --> 00:42:21,040
>> Do you know or do you think that we'll

1216
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:24,400
have a uh a kind of meaner localized

1217
00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:25,760
world model? Do you think that that's on

1218
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,000
the cards?

1219
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:29,760
>> A lot of the models world models right

1220
00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,240
now are more industry specific. Okay. So

1221
00:42:32,240 --> 00:42:34,800
you would have a model um Newton for

1222
00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:37,839
example from archetype AI um some very

1223
00:42:37,839 --> 00:42:39,599
smart guys that used to be at Google

1224
00:42:39,599 --> 00:42:42,079
they focus mainly on manufacturing use

1225
00:42:42,079 --> 00:42:44,160
cases. So they would go to uh

1226
00:42:44,160 --> 00:42:46,240
manufacturing plant or you know any of

1227
00:42:46,240 --> 00:42:48,800
those industrial areas and they would

1228
00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:51,200
put sensors on some of the machinery so

1229
00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:53,359
they can track the motion of things and

1230
00:42:53,359 --> 00:42:55,200
based on that they would build a model

1231
00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:57,520
physics based model that you can then

1232
00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,839
use to predict the point of failure of

1233
00:42:59,839 --> 00:43:02,160
certain components. um you know things

1234
00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,240
that you just can't find literature

1235
00:43:04,240 --> 00:43:05,200
about. Very interesting.

1236
00:43:05,200 --> 00:43:07,040
>> So this is specific to that. There are

1237
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:11,760
models that are specific to um to to um

1238
00:43:11,760 --> 00:43:13,760
faster decisions when it comes to

1239
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,079
negotiating contracts for example. So at

1240
00:43:16,079 --> 00:43:18,319
the moment most of the models are very

1241
00:43:18,319 --> 00:43:21,920
verticalized um and I think you know

1242
00:43:21,920 --> 00:43:24,160
will remain to see who who comes first

1243
00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:27,520
in the region and is able to um make it

1244
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:29,119
really a regional model.

1245
00:43:29,119 --> 00:43:30,480
>> That's very exciting. It's going to be

1246
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,319
interesting to see how this plays out.

1247
00:43:32,319 --> 00:43:35,280
>> A lot of push for AI. The Dubai just

1248
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:36,800
announced that they were pushing Agentic

1249
00:43:36,800 --> 00:43:40,160
AI into 14,000 companies. Wow. And 11

1250
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:41,760
big companies in the region, the

1251
00:43:41,760 --> 00:43:44,560
Emirates, DP World, AA Clinic, they've

1252
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:47,920
already signed up to to use AI. Yeah. Um

1253
00:43:47,920 --> 00:43:50,240
the the news actually mentioned uh that

1254
00:43:50,240 --> 00:43:53,440
Dubai Chambers is signing two companies,

1255
00:43:53,440 --> 00:43:56,480
Nibius Academy and Lovable to basically

1256
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:58,560
push their product into those 14,000

1257
00:43:58,560 --> 00:44:00,720
companies. So again, a great example of

1258
00:44:00,720 --> 00:44:02,480
how when the government gets involved

1259
00:44:02,480 --> 00:44:05,040
here, things can go really fast and

1260
00:44:05,040 --> 00:44:06,480
they're pushing in the right direction.

1261
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,000
>> Yeah. And I can tell you firsthand, the

1262
00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:10,640
team at Dubai Chambers um or all of the

1263
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:13,119
entities that sit around Dubai Chambers

1264
00:44:13,119 --> 00:44:15,920
are incredibly incredibly intelligent

1265
00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:19,200
people and very uh pushy and moving fast

1266
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,359
on the adoption of AI. And I think this

1267
00:44:21,359 --> 00:44:22,720
is one of the most exciting things for

1268
00:44:22,720 --> 00:44:24,720
if you are an AI founder looking to

1269
00:44:24,720 --> 00:44:26,319
build or even looking to expand into

1270
00:44:26,319 --> 00:44:28,400
this region. The intent to purchase, the

1271
00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:30,800
intent to adopt, the willingness to try.

1272
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:31,119
Y

1273
00:44:31,119 --> 00:44:32,480
>> is hugely exciting

1274
00:44:32,480 --> 00:44:34,319
>> and the programs that you can plug into

1275
00:44:34,319 --> 00:44:36,319
to accelerate that growth. Right. The

1276
00:44:36,319 --> 00:44:40,079
Shik Hamden's plan is to target 295,000

1277
00:44:40,079 --> 00:44:41,599
companies. I don't know why they didn't

1278
00:44:41,599 --> 00:44:45,040
round it up to 300, but uh it's 295,000

1279
00:44:45,040 --> 00:44:47,839
companies, 100 specialized AI assistant.

1280
00:44:47,839 --> 00:44:50,240
Um so again, everything is quantified

1281
00:44:50,240 --> 00:44:52,160
and we're working towards making that

1282
00:44:52,160 --> 00:44:54,160
happen over time and this is the first

1283
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,599
announcement of of many.

1284
00:44:55,599 --> 00:44:59,119
>> Do you see that? Mron was in town.

1285
00:44:59,119 --> 00:45:00,240
>> I I'm not even going to try and

1286
00:45:00,240 --> 00:45:02,560
pronounce it how you did it, but um I

1287
00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,480
did see that Macron was in town and I

1288
00:45:04,480 --> 00:45:06,800
did wonder whether it was to uh come and

1289
00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:08,480
celebrate the new lovely new car that

1290
00:45:08,480 --> 00:45:11,280
you bought recently. Um but we uh we're

1291
00:45:11,280 --> 00:45:12,079
keeping that

1292
00:45:12,079 --> 00:45:13,359
>> he didn't make time for me. I invited

1293
00:45:13,359 --> 00:45:13,920
him but

1294
00:45:13,920 --> 00:45:14,880
>> he didn't want to see you.

1295
00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:15,680
>> No, he didn't get back.

1296
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:16,960
>> I don't understand why.

1297
00:45:16,960 --> 00:45:18,880
>> I think he has a
lot of important things

1298
00:45:18,880 --> 00:45:21,920
to do um inside the country and outside.

1299
00:45:21,920 --> 00:45:23,680
So let's speak first about what he was

1300
00:45:23,680 --> 00:45:25,680
here to do. Yeah, obviously the deal was

1301
00:45:25,680 --> 00:45:28,720
mainly about AI and energy. Um,

1302
00:45:28,720 --> 00:45:31,920
basically Mron and um and the government

1303
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:34,480
here they signed a bunch of deals. One

1304
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:37,040
with uh MBZ University. Yeah. Another

1305
00:45:37,040 --> 00:45:40,240
one with G42. They also brought AM labs

1306
00:45:40,240 --> 00:45:43,920
which is a world model actually built by

1307
00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,480
Yan Lakun who used to lead AI at

1308
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,119
Facebook at Meta. um they raised about a

1309
00:45:49,119 --> 00:45:51,520
billion dollars in seed and they also

1310
00:45:51,520 --> 00:45:54,160
signed an LOI with the the Abu Dhabi

1311
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:57,040
government. Um the main reason the main

1312
00:45:57,040 --> 00:46:00,079
objective was obviously to get capital.

1313
00:46:00,079 --> 00:46:02,560
So in France we're building campus AI

1314
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:05,520
which is also our own data center which

1315
00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,319
is targeting over a gawatt of power 1.4

1316
00:46:08,319 --> 00:46:12,560
gawatt that's $50 billion and so the UAE

1317
00:46:12,560 --> 00:46:14,960
MGX essentially is going to be partially

1318
00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:15,839
funding this.

1319
00:46:15,839 --> 00:46:18,000
>> Yeah. Um, which is which is exciting.

1320
00:46:18,000 --> 00:46:20,640
But I think what it outlines

1321
00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:23,040
>> is that the AI is not just technology

1322
00:46:23,040 --> 00:46:23,920
anymore. No,

1323
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:28,079
>> AI is basically weaving into politics,

1324
00:46:28,079 --> 00:46:31,119
into energy, of course. And so it the

1325
00:46:31,119 --> 00:46:33,359
stakes are so big that now it's not just

1326
00:46:33,359 --> 00:46:35,040
the entrepreneurs in the in the private

1327
00:46:35,040 --> 00:46:36,800
sector that are dealing with each other.

1328
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,560
Yeah. It has to go to the head of

1329
00:46:38,560 --> 00:46:40,480
states. Yeah. Right. Because the race to

1330
00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:42,800
AI is a race to energy. We already

1331
00:46:42,800 --> 00:46:44,560
talked about that. If you think about

1332
00:46:44,560 --> 00:46:47,680
why the UAE is staying that aligned with

1333
00:46:47,680 --> 00:46:49,200
the US right in the face of all the

1334
00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:52,319
geopolitical events that are happening,

1335
00:46:52,319 --> 00:46:54,560
>> what my guess is it it has to do with

1336
00:46:54,560 --> 00:46:58,000
access to GPUs, right? And the the GPU

1337
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:01,200
is the hottest commodity right now. It's

1338
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:02,960
literally the the new gold. You know,

1339
00:47:02,960 --> 00:47:04,960
data used to be new gold and the new oil

1340
00:47:04,960 --> 00:47:07,599
or whatever. And now it's compute. Um,

1341
00:47:07,599 --> 00:47:10,240
and after that, the US moved the UAE

1342
00:47:10,240 --> 00:47:12,560
into a new export group. I see.

1343
00:47:12,560 --> 00:47:14,640
>> So, which makes it much easier for them

1344
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,359
to export GPUs to the UAE. The whole

1345
00:47:17,359 --> 00:47:19,599
region, Middle East region is D tier,

1346
00:47:19,599 --> 00:47:21,680
very hard to import anything from the US

1347
00:47:21,680 --> 00:47:23,440
here. All this, you know, precious

1348
00:47:23,440 --> 00:47:26,319
metals, commodities and um and and GPUs.

1349
00:47:26,319 --> 00:47:29,520
And now UA is a tier, which is Europe

1350
00:47:29,520 --> 00:47:32,480
level very easy to to attract uh to to

1351
00:47:32,480 --> 00:47:35,040
import GPUs. Yeah. So, all of these is

1352
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:38,160
important now in the mind of our leaders

1353
00:47:38,160 --> 00:47:40,319
when they consider you know what move to

1354
00:47:40,319 --> 00:47:43,280
make. Now AI, compute, access to energy,

1355
00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:45,200
access to capital to build the next data

1356
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:46,720
center is on their mind. It's part of

1357
00:47:46,720 --> 00:47:47,599
the negotiation.

1358
00:47:47,599 --> 00:47:48,720
>> Completely agree and I think you know

1359
00:47:48,720 --> 00:47:50,720
we've we've often spoken about this as

1360
00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:52,160
you know the the next industrial

1361
00:47:52,160 --> 00:47:53,839
revolution. What happened during the

1362
00:47:53,839 --> 00:47:55,599
industrial revolution was you had you

1363
00:47:55,599 --> 00:47:57,680
wellestablished economies and countries

1364
00:47:57,680 --> 00:47:59,359
basically funding the industrial

1365
00:47:59,359 --> 00:48:01,599
development in emerging markets and

1366
00:48:01,599 --> 00:48:03,440
ultimately owning those assets. We're

1367
00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:05,040
now seeing that play out with AI, right?

1368
00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:05,839
Cognitive revolution.

1369
00:48:05,839 --> 00:48:07,280
>> And I think Yeah, exactly. And I think

1370
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:09,280
that's why it's interesting to see this

1371
00:48:09,280 --> 00:48:10,960
deal that has been struck and also

1372
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:13,520
seeing the amount of sovereign and and

1373
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:14,960
you know Middle Eastern capital that's

1374
00:48:14,960 --> 00:48:16,240
then flowing back into the

1375
00:48:16,240 --> 00:48:18,480
infrastructure buildouts across Europe

1376
00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:20,240
as well. So yeah, I think this is a

1377
00:48:20,240 --> 00:48:22,160
trend that's going to continue. Um it

1378
00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:24,079
would be interesting to see what the UK

1379
00:48:24,079 --> 00:48:25,920
can do to answer this and whether there

1380
00:48:25,920 --> 00:48:28,160
is anything planned um for for for

1381
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:29,200
building that out there.

1382
00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:31,599
>> Yeah, absolutely. Well, to give credit

1383
00:48:31,599 --> 00:48:34,240
to Makon, his uh over his mandate, he

1384
00:48:34,240 --> 00:48:36,000
did a lot of good for early stage

1385
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:38,160
funding. You know, the the pole of early

1386
00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:40,880
stage funding in Europe used to be UK by

1387
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:42,800
far, raising three, four times more than

1388
00:48:42,800 --> 00:48:44,480
any other country. That's why I started

1389
00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:46,800
my first company in London. And now, uh

1390
00:48:46,800 --> 00:48:50,000
Paris and France is actually higher when

1391
00:48:50,000 --> 00:48:52,880
>> the super early stage may not still be

1392
00:48:52,880 --> 00:48:54,960
the the strongest, but series A and

1393
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:57,280
above, France is is by far the place to

1394
00:48:57,280 --> 00:48:59,200
be for for Europe, for his capital in

1395
00:48:59,200 --> 00:49:01,359
Europe. So fair play. That was uh that

1396
00:49:01,359 --> 00:49:04,400
was incredible. Um but is facing we are

1397
00:49:04,400 --> 00:49:06,160
facing other other challenges. Obviously

1398
00:49:06,160 --> 00:49:08,240
as you know I am French and uh what

1399
00:49:08,240 --> 00:49:10,319
we're seeing in the in the press and

1400
00:49:10,319 --> 00:49:13,280
online right now is um is pretty um you

1401
00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:14,800
know it's it's a real tragedy what's

1402
00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:16,319
happening in France right now. I don't

1403
00:49:16,319 --> 00:49:18,559
know if you've seen that but um we were

1404
00:49:18,559 --> 00:49:19,920
talking a bit about that last week but

1405
00:49:19,920 --> 00:49:22,319
Abu Dhabi is now productizing their

1406
00:49:22,319 --> 00:49:25,119
government platform TAM. Um kind of

1407
00:49:25,119 --> 00:49:26,800
makes me want to live in Abu Dhabi. The

1408
00:49:26,800 --> 00:49:28,480
platform is very nice actually. This is

1409
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:30,079
a government service platform that

1410
00:49:30,079 --> 00:49:32,880
groups I think 14,000 1400 sorry

1411
00:49:32,880 --> 00:49:35,599
government services into one. It's very

1412
00:49:35,599 --> 00:49:37,200
well designed. We talked about

1413
00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:38,720
America.gov.

1414
00:49:38,720 --> 00:49:40,559
It kind of has the same look and feel

1415
00:49:40,559 --> 00:49:42,720
like startup, you know, cool tech

1416
00:49:42,720 --> 00:49:44,800
product rather than old school

1417
00:49:44,800 --> 00:49:47,200
government service. And uh it includes

1418
00:49:47,200 --> 00:49:48,800
things like healthcare, housing,

1419
00:49:48,800 --> 00:49:50,160
traffic. You can do everything there.

1420
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:52,800
It's a one-stop shop for your entire,

1421
00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,599
you know, life in in Abu Dhabi. Wow. and

1422
00:49:55,599 --> 00:49:57,760
they're now productizing it and they are

1423
00:49:57,760 --> 00:49:59,839
selling this super app to other

1424
00:49:59,839 --> 00:50:01,920
governments that want to become digital.

1425
00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:03,359
>> Yeah, that's really interesting. Have

1426
00:50:03,359 --> 00:50:06,720
they spoken much about who if if anyone

1427
00:50:06,720 --> 00:50:08,400
from a government perspective is looking

1428
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:10,319
at being a customer of that? I'd be

1429
00:50:10,319 --> 00:50:11,920
fascinated to know which governments are

1430
00:50:11,920 --> 00:50:14,160
looking at it going actually yeah the

1431
00:50:14,160 --> 00:50:16,240
you know the UAE and and especially Abu

1432
00:50:16,240 --> 00:50:17,440
Dhabi and the way they've built this

1433
00:50:17,440 --> 00:50:19,520
product like this is the the benchmark

1434
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:21,280
for how you should be doing this stuff.

1435
00:50:21,280 --> 00:50:22,640
>> Yeah. No, I don't think this was

1436
00:50:22,640 --> 00:50:24,000
mentioned, but it feels like, you know,

1437
00:50:24,000 --> 00:50:26,960
you could go to countries in Asia, uh

1438
00:50:26,960 --> 00:50:29,200
maybe possibly Africa, countries that

1439
00:50:29,200 --> 00:50:30,880
really want to modernize quickly. They

1440
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:32,160
just don't have the infrastructure and

1441
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:34,079
the knowhow. Yeah. And you basically get

1442
00:50:34,079 --> 00:50:35,920
these turnkey products. You have to plug

1443
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,079
all your systems and services. Um but

1444
00:50:38,079 --> 00:50:40,000
it's it's quite interesting. Again, it

1445
00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:42,880
shows that the government is is in the

1446
00:50:42,880 --> 00:50:44,640
business of doing business, right? They

1447
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:46,400
are looking to make profit. And I think

1448
00:50:46,400 --> 00:50:48,319
this is uh you know when when you don't

1449
00:50:48,319 --> 00:50:50,800
have taxes when you don't collect taxes

1450
00:50:50,800 --> 00:50:52,960
you kind of have to fight for your

1451
00:50:52,960 --> 00:50:54,559
revenue you have to fight to eat as

1452
00:50:54,559 --> 00:50:56,640
well. And that's why the government this

1453
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,040
my theory that the government is so

1454
00:50:59,040 --> 00:51:01,359
entrepreneurial and they have to do

1455
00:51:01,359 --> 00:51:03,119
deals. They have to do things because

1456
00:51:03,119 --> 00:51:04,960
they don't really have a steady stream

1457
00:51:04,960 --> 00:51:07,119
of income. You know if the oil revenue

1458
00:51:07,119 --> 00:51:09,040
goes down they go down. They have to

1459
00:51:09,040 --> 00:51:11,040
find just like any other company. They

1460
00:51:11,040 --> 00:51:12,480
have to find revenue streams. They have

1461
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:14,720
to find ways to monetize. And so this is

1462
00:51:14,720 --> 00:51:16,559
why they're now productizing something

1463
00:51:16,559 --> 00:51:18,480
and actually selling it to other other

1464
00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:20,000
parts of the world. I think this is this

1465
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:21,040
is brilliant.

1466
00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:22,400
>> I think it's really exciting. And I

1467
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:24,000
think the you know the kind of

1468
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:26,160
interesting metric here is you know from

1469
00:51:26,160 --> 00:51:28,559
a a GDP perspective or or even looking

1470
00:51:28,559 --> 00:51:30,880
at exports you know what percentage of

1471
00:51:30,880 --> 00:51:33,119
exports from the UAE are actually now

1472
00:51:33,119 --> 00:51:35,760
from technology versus oil. I think this

1473
00:51:35,760 --> 00:51:37,119
would be a really interesting analysis

1474
00:51:37,119 --> 00:51:39,200
to run and actually where is this

1475
00:51:39,200 --> 00:51:41,920
trending over time because you know the

1476
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:43,200
government initiatives to bring

1477
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,119
technology companies into this region

1478
00:51:45,119 --> 00:51:46,400
the amount of infrastructure that's

1479
00:51:46,400 --> 00:51:48,480
being built the talent that we now talk

1480
00:51:48,480 --> 00:51:50,240
about that's here in the region I

1481
00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:52,240
guarantee the trend line is that the

1482
00:51:52,240 --> 00:51:54,000
percentage of export value that comes

1483
00:51:54,000 --> 00:51:55,920
from technology is significantly

1484
00:51:55,920 --> 00:51:57,599
increasing and increasing at a rate that

1485
00:51:57,599 --> 00:52:00,480
is far higher than oil exports.

1486
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:03,200
>> Okay, let me do some quick research. So

1487
00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:05,839
um digital service and technology it's

1488
00:52:05,839 --> 00:52:08,720
about 33 billion in experts a year which

1489
00:52:08,720 --> 00:52:11,200
is 6.5% of the total experts.

1490
00:52:11,200 --> 00:52:12,720
>> Um I think there's
a strategy where they

1491
00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:15,359
want to get that over 10% by 2030 from

1492
00:52:15,359 --> 00:52:16,160
from memory.

1493
00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:17,599
>> Yeah I can see why that would be a big

1494
00:52:17,599 --> 00:52:19,599
goal. Um it's exciting though and I can

1495
00:52:19,599 --> 00:52:21,760
imagine at the trend line as well. Um

1496
00:52:21,760 --> 00:52:23,440
I'm sure we can do some better research

1497
00:52:23,440 --> 00:52:25,280
on this and look at the trend line over

1498
00:52:25,280 --> 00:52:26,240
time because I think it would be

1499
00:52:26,240 --> 00:52:26,960
exciting.

1500
00:52:26,960 --> 00:52:28,640
>> Yeah. Well, I know
for a fact that uh if

1501
00:52:28,640 --> 00:52:30,960
you compare with with countries around

1502
00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:33,119
um UA is definitely leading the pack,

1503
00:52:33,119 --> 00:52:34,559
but other countries, they all have

1504
00:52:34,559 --> 00:52:36,400
digital strategy. They all want, you

1505
00:52:36,400 --> 00:52:38,079
know, digital services to contribute

1506
00:52:38,079 --> 00:52:40,160
between 10 and 15% within the next

1507
00:52:40,160 --> 00:52:40,960
couple years.

1508
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:43,760
>> Yeah. Okay. And some of the craziest

1509
00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,880
news that we've uh seen this week. Um

1510
00:52:46,880 --> 00:52:49,440
tell me about this unusual odor that's

1511
00:52:49,440 --> 00:52:52,880
been reported across the UAE. And

1512
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:54,559
>> I read this article. I was looking for

1513
00:52:54,559 --> 00:52:56,720
something else and I I land on this page

1514
00:52:56,720 --> 00:52:59,280
as police reassures residents over

1515
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:02,640
unusual odors across the UAE. Uh I

1516
00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:05,119
didn't smell anything personally but I

1517
00:53:05,119 --> 00:53:06,079
feel like

1518
00:53:06,079 --> 00:53:08,559
>> if you smell something
weird outside and

1519
00:53:08,559 --> 00:53:10,240
you know the police is needed to tell

1520
00:53:10,240 --> 00:53:13,119
you that everything is okay. It feels a

1521
00:53:13,119 --> 00:53:14,880
bit worrying. I don't know what it could

1522
00:53:14,880 --> 00:53:17,359
be but um maybe some factories or

1523
00:53:17,359 --> 00:53:18,160
something. I don't know.

1524
00:53:18,160 --> 00:53:19,760
>> Well, keep an eye on it cuz you uh

1525
00:53:19,760 --> 00:53:21,680
you're further down near Shar. You joke

1526
00:53:21,680 --> 00:53:23,440
about me being near Abu Dhabi, but yeah,

1527
00:53:23,440 --> 00:53:25,280
it doesn't smell up near where we live.

1528
00:53:25,280 --> 00:53:25,760
So, yeah.

1529
00:53:25,760 --> 00:53:27,520
>> Yeah, the smell didn't travel that far.

1530
00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:29,440
>> No, exactly. We're
totally We're totally

1531
00:53:29,440 --> 00:53:31,680
fine. I want to talk about the Tesla

1532
00:53:31,680 --> 00:53:34,079
Roadster. Uh cuz this has been

1533
00:53:34,079 --> 00:53:34,720
everywhere. And

1534
00:53:34,720 --> 00:53:35,920
>> talk about a product demo.

1535
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:38,559
>> We we like our cars,
right? Um and we're

1536
00:53:38,559 --> 00:53:42,160
both car fans. Um firstly, do you think

1537
00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:44,000
that this is all hype? I've seen some

1538
00:53:44,000 --> 00:53:46,720
reports now. I've seen posts on X about

1539
00:53:46,720 --> 00:53:49,839
this being a a frame, a stunt car that

1540
00:53:49,839 --> 00:53:51,599
was probably inside just completely

1541
00:53:51,599 --> 00:53:53,839
filled with there's no seats in there.

1542
00:53:53,839 --> 00:53:55,520
It's just gas canisters, tanks,

1543
00:53:55,520 --> 00:53:57,119
everything. Right. This is obviously not

1544
00:53:57,119 --> 00:53:59,040
a production ready vehicle. What do you

1545
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:00,000
think about that?

1546
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:01,920
>> Uh you can order it with the with the

1547
00:54:01,920 --> 00:54:03,119
boosters.

1548
00:54:03,119 --> 00:54:04,559
>> You can order it
with the boosters. It's

1549
00:54:04,559 --> 00:54:06,319
actually available in Dubai now. You can

1550
00:54:06,319 --> 00:54:08,960
go to the Tesla website and you can make

1551
00:54:08,960 --> 00:54:10,880
a deposit. I think it's Yeah. 200

1552
00:54:10,880 --> 00:54:12,079
200,000 dams.

1553
00:54:12,079 --> 00:54:14,160
>> Okay. Um, and you can you can put your

1554
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:15,599
name on it. And you have options. You

1555
00:54:15,599 --> 00:54:17,680
have the performance car, which is just,

1556
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:19,440
you know, already insanely fast, but it

1557
00:54:19,440 --> 00:54:21,440
doesn't have the the thrusters. You can

1558
00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:23,359
have one with the thrusters at the back.

1559
00:54:23,359 --> 00:54:25,920
So, this is just to accelerate to from 0

1560
00:54:25,920 --> 00:54:28,079
to 6 miles per hour in less than a

1561
00:54:28,079 --> 00:54:29,839
second. And then you have the option

1562
00:54:29,839 --> 00:54:32,319
that is invite only. This one has the

1563
00:54:32,319 --> 00:54:34,319
thrusters at the bottom. So, the car can

1564
00:54:34,319 --> 00:54:36,319
actually can actually jump. It does say

1565
00:54:36,319 --> 00:54:39,680
that the, you know, the the the is not

1566
00:54:39,680 --> 00:54:41,520
basically ready for for road.

1567
00:54:41,520 --> 00:54:43,599
Understandably, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

1568
00:54:43,599 --> 00:54:45,359
I think if they could just roll that out

1569
00:54:45,359 --> 00:54:46,480
um straight away,

1570
00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:48,640
>> you see this one where the car jumps

1571
00:54:48,640 --> 00:54:50,160
over the sele.

1572
00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:51,920
>> So, my first thought when I saw this

1573
00:54:51,920 --> 00:54:53,680
product demo, I thought, okay, what are

1574
00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:54,960
people in Dubai going to be using it

1575
00:54:54,960 --> 00:54:56,880
for? Uh let's play the clip cuz this is

1576
00:54:56,880 --> 00:55:00,920
100% what's going to be happening.

1577
00:55:05,040 --> 00:55:07,599
Now, how many years do you need to jump

1578
00:55:07,599 --> 00:55:10,400
over the bridge to make up for the extra

1579
00:55:10,400 --> 00:55:12,319
cost of the car? Uh, which will be

1580
00:55:12,319 --> 00:55:13,920
pretty expensive with the thrusters. But

1581
00:55:13,920 --> 00:55:16,319
it it basically has a it has a tank, 200

1582
00:55:16,319 --> 00:55:18,160
liter tank in the back. So, you have two

1583
00:55:18,160 --> 00:55:19,520
seats in the front, no seats in the

1584
00:55:19,520 --> 00:55:21,920
back. And that tank replenishes as you

1585
00:55:21,920 --> 00:55:24,079
drive. It's just air compresses it and

1586
00:55:24,079 --> 00:55:25,680
pushes it back. It's the same technology

1587
00:55:25,680 --> 00:55:28,559
that SpaceX uses, which is probably one

1588
00:55:28,559 --> 00:55:30,240
of the first true collaboration between

1589
00:55:30,240 --> 00:55:32,480
Tesla and SpaceX. Which brings me to the

1590
00:55:32,480 --> 00:55:34,640
next topic. What do you think the odds

1591
00:55:34,640 --> 00:55:36,880
are that those two companies will merge

1592
00:55:36,880 --> 00:55:38,319
by the end of the year?

1593
00:55:38,319 --> 00:55:40,000
>> This is very interesting. Yeah, I think

1594
00:55:40,000 --> 00:55:41,839
this is a topic that everyone should be

1595
00:55:41,839 --> 00:55:43,599
probably tracking and probably watching.

1596
00:55:43,599 --> 00:55:45,680
I think let's extrapolate out a little

1597
00:55:45,680 --> 00:55:47,200
bit further and go into, okay, well,

1598
00:55:47,200 --> 00:55:49,280
what does it mean to, you know, what

1599
00:55:49,280 --> 00:55:51,119
does urban mobility actually look like?

1600
00:55:51,119 --> 00:55:53,040
What does mobility in its entirety look

1601
00:55:53,040 --> 00:55:55,200
like? How are we going to as human

1602
00:55:55,200 --> 00:55:56,960
beings live between Earth and

1603
00:55:56,960 --> 00:55:58,480
potentially another planet? You know,

1604
00:55:58,480 --> 00:55:59,760
there are all these questions that come

1605
00:55:59,760 --> 00:56:02,240
into play. you know firsthand, right,

1606
00:56:02,240 --> 00:56:05,599
that technology in F1 and kind of elite,

1607
00:56:05,599 --> 00:56:07,760
you know, motorsport conditions does

1608
00:56:07,760 --> 00:56:09,680
filter down to cars eventually, right?

1609
00:56:09,680 --> 00:56:11,599
I'm not saying it does on our on our

1610
00:56:11,599 --> 00:56:14,079
family car. Probably not. But at the end

1611
00:56:14,079 --> 00:56:15,839
of the day, when we are pushing

1612
00:56:15,839 --> 00:56:17,680
boundaries at the very limit of

1613
00:56:17,680 --> 00:56:19,520
innovation, whether it be for

1614
00:56:19,520 --> 00:56:21,280
competition purposes or whether it be

1615
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:24,079
pure, you know, exploration into space,

1616
00:56:24,079 --> 00:56:25,920
this technology then just does advance

1617
00:56:25,920 --> 00:56:28,480
humanity over time. So I think this is a

1618
00:56:28,480 --> 00:56:30,160
net positive thing, right? It has to be,

1619
00:56:30,160 --> 00:56:31,119
you know, at the end of the day, if

1620
00:56:31,119 --> 00:56:33,200
they're lifting uh SpaceX technology

1621
00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:34,640
into vehicles,

1622
00:56:34,640 --> 00:56:36,400
>> I think that's going to be a massive

1623
00:56:36,400 --> 00:56:38,880
win. Um, I actually got sent a video by

1624
00:56:38,880 --> 00:56:41,200
my uh my middle brother this week. He's

1625
00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:42,559
over in the US at the moment, and he

1626
00:56:42,559 --> 00:56:44,480
took the Tesla cab for the first time

1627
00:56:44,480 --> 00:56:47,040
ever, which is Yeah. Cyber Cab, which

1628
00:56:47,040 --> 00:56:48,480
has obviously no steering wheel

1629
00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:49,359
>> in Austin.

1630
00:56:49,359 --> 00:56:50,799
>> Yeah, it was. Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

1631
00:56:50,799 --> 00:56:52,799
So, what's super interesting about that

1632
00:56:52,799 --> 00:56:54,720
is that for anyone who's been in a

1633
00:56:54,720 --> 00:56:56,559
Whimo, been in any kind of self-driving

1634
00:56:56,559 --> 00:56:58,079
vehicle, you probably would have asked

1635
00:56:58,079 --> 00:57:00,000
yourself the question, what is this

1636
00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:02,400
going to do to the way we produce cars

1637
00:57:02,400 --> 00:57:05,040
and we actually engage in a car? Um,

1638
00:57:05,040 --> 00:57:06,480
obviously, we tried to go down to the

1639
00:57:06,480 --> 00:57:08,720
Dubai driverless pods. We'll keep that

1640
00:57:08,720 --> 00:57:11,440
clip for another time. Uh, but you know,

1641
00:57:11,440 --> 00:57:13,839
it makes you ask the question, will we

1642
00:57:13,839 --> 00:57:16,160
have two seats, two seats, and a

1643
00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:17,760
steering wheel in the future?

1644
00:57:17,760 --> 00:57:18,960
>> I don't believe that's going to be the

1645
00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:20,480
way that we build cars in the future. No

1646
00:57:20,480 --> 00:57:20,720
way.

1647
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:22,000
>> It's a stripped down car. I mean, the

1648
00:57:22,000 --> 00:57:24,480
the car the cyber cap costs like $20,000

1649
00:57:24,480 --> 00:57:26,480
to produce, right? All the all the

1650
00:57:26,480 --> 00:57:28,960
direction uh the way you drive the the

1651
00:57:28,960 --> 00:57:30,400
all of that is removed. You have more

1652
00:57:30,400 --> 00:57:32,400
space and it's just fully automated by

1653
00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:34,799
AI. So, you actually save a lot of uh a

1654
00:57:34,799 --> 00:57:37,200
lot of cost. And um yeah, if you think

1655
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:39,280
about how Elon's kind of masterminded

1656
00:57:39,280 --> 00:57:42,160
this whole empire of companies,

1657
00:57:42,160 --> 00:57:45,440
>> um obviously on
Mars or on the moon, you

1658
00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:47,520
can't run a petrol engine, right? It

1659
00:57:47,520 --> 00:57:50,000
requires oxygen to work. So it has to be

1660
00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:53,000
electric

1661
00:57:59,119 --> 00:58:01,200
require solar solar city which they

1662
00:58:01,200 --> 00:58:03,280
acquired. It all comes together and

1663
00:58:03,280 --> 00:58:05,520
obviously with AI which would pilot you

1664
00:58:05,520 --> 00:58:07,359
know all of that and the access to

1665
00:58:07,359 --> 00:58:09,680
energy now with uh Terrafab building

1666
00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:12,319
their own chips is building a a master

1667
00:58:12,319 --> 00:58:15,280
company that um he says himself is

1668
00:58:15,280 --> 00:58:17,440
probably going to be orders of magnitude

1669
00:58:17,440 --> 00:58:19,440
bigger than what the biggest company is

1670
00:58:19,440 --> 00:58:21,440
today because it will be the gateway to

1671
00:58:21,440 --> 00:58:23,760
space and when space is unlocked you

1672
00:58:23,760 --> 00:58:26,160
have an entire new wave of companies and

1673
00:58:26,160 --> 00:58:27,839
opportunities that can happen there. So

1674
00:58:27,839 --> 00:58:28,960
completely agree. Yeah,

1675
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:32,000
>> very bullish. Um,
actually Elon actually

1676
00:58:32,000 --> 00:58:34,160
is giving one share of SpaceX to every

1677
00:58:34,160 --> 00:58:35,440
kid in America. Did you see that

1678
00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:36,079
announcement?

1679
00:58:36,079 --> 00:58:37,359
>> No, I didn't see that.

1680
00:58:37,359 --> 00:58:41,839
>> 70 million shares
um share is about $150

1681
00:58:41,839 --> 00:58:43,839
right now. And uh he's putting that, you

1682
00:58:43,839 --> 00:58:45,839
know, the Trump accounts that they did.

1683
00:58:45,839 --> 00:58:48,240
It's a it's a similar play basically to

1684
00:58:48,240 --> 00:58:50,640
give, you know, one share and let the

1685
00:58:50,640 --> 00:58:52,640
the American people participate in the

1686
00:58:52,640 --> 00:58:55,680
growth of that company. And uh obviously

1687
00:58:55,680 --> 00:58:58,319
it's a great way to get you know people

1688
00:58:58,319 --> 00:59:00,880
to in probably put more money in the

1689
00:59:00,880 --> 00:59:02,480
company right let's take this ownership

1690
00:59:02,480 --> 00:59:04,480
from one share to two shares. So a lot

1691
00:59:04,480 --> 00:59:06,400
of people manage to complain about that

1692
00:59:06,400 --> 00:59:07,920
as as people do that it was

1693
00:59:07,920 --> 00:59:10,319
self-interested. I think it's a we

1694
00:59:10,319 --> 00:59:12,400
always talk about how how can we get

1695
00:59:12,400 --> 00:59:14,000
other people to participate in that

1696
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:16,400
wealth creation. Um so I think that's

1697
00:59:16,400 --> 00:59:17,680
it's an incredible thing.

1698
00:59:17,680 --> 00:59:19,440
>> This is a cool game. Green red flag

1699
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:21,599
green flag. You know the drill. Uh, I'm

1700
00:59:21,599 --> 00:59:23,200
going to give you scenarios and you just

1701
00:59:23,200 --> 00:59:24,640
tell me what you think.

1702
00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:25,040
>> Okay.

1703
00:59:25,040 --> 00:59:27,280
>> So, number one,

1704
00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:30,160
you're hiring and a candidate is

1705
00:59:30,160 --> 00:59:34,440
negotiating is holiday allowance.

1706
00:59:34,960 --> 00:59:37,119
>> It's probably a red flag. Uh to me I

1707
00:59:37,119 --> 00:59:39,280
think it's always a red flag. Although

1708
00:59:39,280 --> 00:59:40,480
I'm starting to see more and more

1709
00:59:40,480 --> 00:59:42,079
contracts now with this unlimited

1710
00:59:42,079 --> 00:59:44,720
holiday policy which I think is fine if

1711
00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:47,599
people are incentivized via equity and

1712
00:59:47,599 --> 00:59:49,119
are the type that they're

1713
00:59:49,119 --> 00:59:50,640
entrepreneurial enough to want to go on

1714
00:59:50,640 --> 00:59:51,680
the big vision. Right.

1715
00:59:51,680 --> 00:59:53,520
>> That's the second one. Candidate

1716
00:59:53,520 --> 00:59:55,680
negotiate is equity allowance

1717
00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:57,680
>> 100%. Yeah. I think anyone who isn't

1718
00:59:57,680 --> 00:59:59,119
doing that part of the company.

1719
00:59:59,119 --> 01:00:00,640
>> Yeah. Exactly. It's it's not the way to

1720
01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:02,319
do it.

1721
01:00:02,319 --> 01:00:04,799
>> Number three. An investor says, "Let's

1722
01:00:04,799 --> 01:00:08,000
meet up after the summer."

1723
01:00:08,000 --> 01:00:11,520
Must be a European visious reasons.

1724
01:00:11,520 --> 01:00:13,760
>> Number four, an
entrepreneur you want to

1725
01:00:13,760 --> 01:00:16,960
back has multiple projects.

1726
01:00:16,960 --> 01:00:19,359
>> Musk has multiple projects. I think it

1727
01:00:19,359 --> 01:00:20,960
depends on that seed though.

1728
01:00:20,960 --> 01:00:22,720
>> It depends on the Yeah, true. Okay.

1729
01:00:22,720 --> 01:00:23,760
Depends on the quality of the

1730
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:25,520
entrepreneur, right? Um and also what

1731
01:00:25,520 --> 01:00:27,200
are those projects? Um that's

1732
01:00:27,200 --> 01:00:28,400
>> the story doesn't say.

1733
01:00:28,400 --> 01:00:29,839
>> I think it's a red flag. I think I mean

1734
01:00:29,839 --> 01:00:32,000
as a as a VC, I know VCs want you to be

1735
01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:33,520
all in, right? Because building a

1736
01:00:33,520 --> 01:00:35,119
company is hard enough as it is that if

1737
01:00:35,119 --> 01:00:37,119
you have side projects, it's, you know,

1738
01:00:37,119 --> 01:00:39,440
you you need to be 200% committed.

1739
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:41,440
>> I agree. Okay. VC hat on. Red flag.

1740
01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:43,440
>> Red flag. Founding team doesn't have

1741
01:00:43,440 --> 01:00:46,839
domain expertise.

1742
01:00:48,079 --> 01:00:50,720
>> I'm okay with that. I think that's okay

1743
01:00:50,720 --> 01:00:52,799
in terms of if they have a very

1744
01:00:52,799 --> 01:00:55,359
counterintuitive or unique view of the

1745
01:00:55,359 --> 01:00:56,640
problem that they're trying to solve or

1746
01:00:56,640 --> 01:00:58,559
even the technology. Sometimes having a

1747
01:00:58,559 --> 01:01:00,240
fresh perspective can bring something

1748
01:01:00,240 --> 01:01:01,839
totally outside of the box. Right. I

1749
01:01:01,839 --> 01:01:04,559
think so. And number five, the founders

1750
01:01:04,559 --> 01:01:09,359
own 50% equity after the seed round.

1751
01:01:09,359 --> 01:01:11,920
This used to be a red flag, but I think

1752
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:13,839
it's becoming increasingly common with

1753
01:01:13,839 --> 01:01:15,839
the size of rounds that are being done

1754
01:01:15,839 --> 01:01:17,680
and the type of investors that are going

1755
01:01:17,680 --> 01:01:19,839
in on these rounds as well. So, I would

1756
01:01:19,839 --> 01:01:21,359
say it used to be a red flag and now

1757
01:01:21,359 --> 01:01:22,319
it's one of those things that I'm

1758
01:01:22,319 --> 01:01:23,520
probably on the fence about.

1759
01:01:23,520 --> 01:01:26,079
>> Right. I guess if you go for a trillion

1760
01:01:26,079 --> 01:01:27,680
dollar outcome, you can leave with less

1761
01:01:27,680 --> 01:01:28,960
equity, right? This is what happened

1762
01:01:28,960 --> 01:01:29,920
with Entropic.

1763
01:01:29,920 --> 01:01:32,000
>> Yeah.

1764
01:01:32,000 --> 01:01:34,559
Number six, an investor asked for a

1765
01:01:34,559 --> 01:01:37,280
board seat at preede.

1766
01:01:37,280 --> 01:01:39,599
>> No, red flag. Um, that's not something

1767
01:01:39,599 --> 01:01:42,319
that anyone would do. Board observer,

1768
01:01:42,319 --> 01:01:43,680
but you don't even need a board, right?

1769
01:01:43,680 --> 01:01:45,119
There's there's there's too many things

1770
01:01:45,119 --> 01:01:48,319
that you're just you sitting in a room

1771
01:01:48,319 --> 01:01:49,920
that's on fire trying to figure it out,

1772
01:01:49,920 --> 01:01:52,559
right? So, um, yeah, and and most

1773
01:01:52,559 --> 01:01:54,319
investors are not going to add value at

1774
01:01:54,319 --> 01:01:55,599
that stage, right? The funny thing is

1775
01:01:55,599 --> 01:01:57,680
like quite often the smaller investors,

1776
01:01:57,680 --> 01:01:59,359
you know, the guy that puts 5K because

1777
01:01:59,359 --> 01:02:01,119
you let him in are the most annoying,

1778
01:02:01,119 --> 01:02:02,480
the ones that want the the daily

1779
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:03,040
updates.

1780
01:02:03,040 --> 01:02:04,400
>> Completely agree. Yeah. And the other

1781
01:02:04,400 --> 01:02:06,000
thing actually on that big red flag is

1782
01:02:06,000 --> 01:02:08,160
that most investors who will push for

1783
01:02:08,160 --> 01:02:10,240
that will then ask for fees for it as

1784
01:02:10,240 --> 01:02:12,240
well. Um, I've found that and I've seen

1785
01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:15,359
that before. That's a no-go.

1786
01:02:15,359 --> 01:02:17,760
>> Number seven, the
co-founders have known

1787
01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:20,720
each other for less than six months.

1788
01:02:20,720 --> 01:02:23,280
>> I've seen it work. You've seen it. It

1789
01:02:23,280 --> 01:02:25,040
happens in accelerators all the time.

1790
01:02:25,040 --> 01:02:26,960
Um, I think it depends what they've done

1791
01:02:26,960 --> 01:02:29,280
in those 6 months. I often ask founders,

1792
01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:31,200
okay, when was the last time you had an

1793
01:02:31,200 --> 01:02:32,319
argument? When was the last time you

1794
01:02:32,319 --> 01:02:34,400
fell out? Right? How do you kind of

1795
01:02:34,400 --> 01:02:36,240
overcome problems? And you'll find that

1796
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:37,760
most people, if they're level-headed

1797
01:02:37,760 --> 01:02:39,520
about it and rational about it, and

1798
01:02:39,520 --> 01:02:40,880
they've spoken about what they want to

1799
01:02:40,880 --> 01:02:42,640
achieve with the company, then they're

1800
01:02:42,640 --> 01:02:44,160
fine. They're okay with that.

1801
01:02:44,160 --> 01:02:45,839
>> So, is that a green or red?

1802
01:02:45,839 --> 01:02:47,119
>> I'll give it a green. Did I put the red

1803
01:02:47,119 --> 01:02:48,240
up? Yeah.

1804
01:02:48,240 --> 01:02:49,680
>> My bad.

1805
01:02:49,680 --> 01:02:51,440
>> A startup's biggest client is the

1806
01:02:51,440 --> 01:02:53,440
government.

1807
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:56,000
If they're in the UAE, it's fine.

1808
01:02:56,000 --> 01:02:58,240
>> The seed founder
pays themsself a market

1809
01:02:58,240 --> 01:03:00,799
rate salary.

1810
01:03:00,799 --> 01:03:02,720
>> It's probably Yeah. Sorry, my bad. I'm

1811
01:03:02,720 --> 01:03:04,160
like turning it around. It's probably a

1812
01:03:04,160 --> 01:03:04,559
red flag.

1813
01:03:04,559 --> 01:03:05,839
>> We're talking about normal seed, not

1814
01:03:05,839 --> 01:03:07,760
like, you know, a billion dollar seed.

1815
01:03:07,760 --> 01:03:09,440
>> Yeah. Okay. The issue with this is

1816
01:03:09,440 --> 01:03:10,799
there's a lot of context, right? You

1817
01:03:10,799 --> 01:03:12,880
know, if you're a single parent and you

1818
01:03:12,880 --> 01:03:14,799
have a mortgage and you have to provide,

1819
01:03:14,799 --> 01:03:16,480
I understand why you would pay yourself

1820
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:17,680
what you can. Um,

1821
01:03:17,680 --> 01:03:19,039
>> does it make a difference for you as an

1822
01:03:19,039 --> 01:03:20,960
investor, though? Um, at the end of the

1823
01:03:20,960 --> 01:03:22,480
day, I want the the founder to be

1824
01:03:22,480 --> 01:03:23,920
focused on what they're doing, right?

1825
01:03:23,920 --> 01:03:25,520
Um, and if that means that they have to

1826
01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:26,799
pay themselves that salary, well, it's

1827
01:03:26,799 --> 01:03:28,079
up to them to convince me that they

1828
01:03:28,079 --> 01:03:29,599
should raise that amount of capital.

1829
01:03:29,599 --> 01:03:30,880
>> What about if an investor wants

1830
01:03:30,880 --> 01:03:35,559
exclusivity before sending a term sheet?

1831
01:03:36,079 --> 01:03:38,319
>> No, it's a no. It's a big red flag.

1832
01:03:38,319 --> 01:03:40,079
Like, it's not going to happen. And

1833
01:03:40,079 --> 01:03:42,079
actually, the best investors out there

1834
01:03:42,079 --> 01:03:43,520
are the ones who know they've won the

1835
01:03:43,520 --> 01:03:44,799
deal and they will say to you, "Okay,

1836
01:03:44,799 --> 01:03:46,480
you have a term sheet. Go and shop it

1837
01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:48,319
around and basically bring other

1838
01:03:48,319 --> 01:03:50,079
investors in." And the last one, what if

1839
01:03:50,079 --> 01:03:51,920
the lead investor doesn't want to take

1840
01:03:51,920 --> 01:03:54,319
their praa in the next round?

1841
01:03:54,319 --> 01:03:56,079
>> It's a red flag. It's a really tricky

1842
01:03:56,079 --> 01:03:58,240
one. Yeah, it's a red flag. Um, and

1843
01:03:58,240 --> 01:04:00,160
that's why I think it's more important

1844
01:04:00,160 --> 01:04:02,240
than ever that founders are asking

1845
01:04:02,240 --> 01:04:04,240
investors where are they in their fund

1846
01:04:04,240 --> 01:04:06,720
cycles. Um, and I also think I was

1847
01:04:06,720 --> 01:04:08,960
chatting to I won't name the fund or or

1848
01:04:08,960 --> 01:04:10,400
the person, but a very good friend

1849
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:12,720
recently who has a massive fund in the

1850
01:04:12,720 --> 01:04:15,039
US and was saying actually that a lot of

1851
01:04:15,039 --> 01:04:17,440
managers now who have had crazy writeups

1852
01:04:17,440 --> 01:04:19,520
because of AI believe that they're very

1853
01:04:19,520 --> 01:04:21,119
good at the job and actually they're

1854
01:04:21,119 --> 01:04:22,640
raising massive funds off the back of

1855
01:04:22,640 --> 01:04:24,559
that fund too and he thinks that it's a

1856
01:04:24,559 --> 01:04:25,680
bit of a house of cards and it's going

1857
01:04:25,680 --> 01:04:27,440
to come crashing down and you know as

1858
01:04:27,440 --> 01:04:29,119
someone who's on I think they're on fund

1859
01:04:29,119 --> 01:04:32,319
six dual strategy. Yeah. Like I would

1860
01:04:32,319 --> 01:04:33,599
listen to him and say that that's

1861
01:04:33,599 --> 01:04:35,839
probably right. So yeah, tricky one

1862
01:04:35,839 --> 01:04:36,319
again.

1863
01:04:36,319 --> 01:04:38,160
>> All right, we're done with the game.

1864
01:04:38,160 --> 01:04:39,520
>> Well, look, thank you so much for

1865
01:04:39,520 --> 01:04:41,200
joining us for episode two of the

1866
01:04:41,200 --> 01:04:42,880
Founding Mina Show. You can find us

1867
01:04:42,880 --> 01:04:44,880
everywhere on YouTube, Instagram, Tik

1868
01:04:44,880 --> 01:04:47,520
Tok, X, pretty much every platform

1869
01:04:47,520 --> 01:04:48,000
coming as well.

1870
01:04:48,000 --> 01:04:49,359
>> Yeah, we have the clips coming. We have

1871
01:04:49,359 --> 01:04:51,039
everything coming out. So, if you like

1872
01:04:51,039 --> 01:04:53,760
this episode, please um follow us across

1873
01:04:53,760 --> 01:04:55,119
all of those channels. Thank you very

1874
01:04:55,119 --> 01:04:56,559
much for joining and we will see you

1875
01:04:56,559 --> 01:04:58,880
next week for more Mina Tech news.

1876
01:04:58,880 --> 01:05:02,359
>> See you next week.