Lucidity Insights: Startup Spotlights

How is AI transforming fintech, leadership, and the future of work? In this episode, we speak with Tarik Chebib, CEO MENA at Capital.com , about AI innovation, fintech transformation, leadership, and building businesses in a rapidly changing world . Tarik shares his journey from overcoming career rejection to leading teams in the UAE’s fast-growing technology and financial sector. He discusses ent...

How is Almosafer competing with Booking.com and Expedia in one of the world’s fastest-growing tourism markets? In this episode, Muzzammil Ahussain, the CEO of Almosafer, explains how Almosafer transformed from a traditional Saudi travel agency into a leading AI-powered travel platform through hyper-localization, WhatsApp commerce, and digital transformation. We discuss: • Saudi Vision 2030 and the...

In this episode, Faisal Zaidi, President of Exscape, shares insights into the rapid growth of mobile gaming and its impact on user engagement, monetization, and advertising. We explore how gaming platforms are building highly engaged communities, the role of hyperlocalization in scaling globally, and how telcos are enabling access to unbanked populations through alternative payment and distributio...

In this episode, Omair Ansari, Co-Founder & CEO of Abhi , shares how he built one of the fastest-growing fintech platforms in emerging markets. We explore Abhi’s evolution from an earned wage access product into a broader financial platform offering payroll, SME financing, and invoice factoring. The conversation also covers Abhi’s unique capital strategy, including the use of both equity and d...

In this episode, we’re joined by Pierre Samaties, Chief Business Officer at DFINITY Foundation, for an in-depth conversation on the future of Web3, blockchain, and artificial intelligence—and how these technologies are reshaping the internet as we know it . Pierre shares his personal journey from traditional tech into the world of Web3, including his move to the Middle East and why the region is q...

In this episode, we sit down with Alex Davis, Founder & CEO of Mavryk, for a deep dive into building at the intersection of blockchain, capital, and real-world assets. Alex shares what it really takes to build and scale a business in Dubai — one of the world’s fastest-growing hubs for innovation and Web3 — and why the region is becoming a magnet for ambitious founders. We explore the bigger vi...

This special Startup Spotlights episode was filmed live at Expand North Star (ENS) 2025, the world’s largest startup and investor event (October 2025). In this episode, we sit down with Konstantin von Wedel, Strategy Director at Platformance MENA, to unpack why advertising and marketing remain critical growth drivers — and how brands can balance long-term brand buildingwith short-term, performance...

This special Startup Spotlights episode was filmed live at Expand North Star (ENS) 2025, the world’s largest startup and investor event (October 2025). In this conversation, Scott Chambers, Co-CEO of Seafood Souq, shares how he is building a data-driven seafood marketplace focused on transparency, traceability, and sustainability across the global seafood supply chain. Together with our host and C...

This special Startup Spotlights episode was filmed live at Expand North Star (ENS) 2025, the world’s largest startup and investor event (October 2025). In this conversation, Dani El-Zein, Founder & CEO of Supy, breaks down how he scaled one of the region’s fastest-growing restaurant-tech platforms — from raising early capital to winning enterprise clients and evolving the product through multi...

From private equity investor to agritech trailblazer, Sky Kurtz, Co-Founder & CEO of Pure Harvest Smart Farms, joins a special episode of the Startup Spotlights Podcast by Lucidity Insights to unpack how he built one of the Middle East’s leading controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) companies. Host Erika Welch dives into Sky’s journey from Stanford and global finance to launching a high-tec...

In this episode of the Startup Spotlights Podcast Series by Lucidity Insights, we welcome Maaz Sheikh in the studio, the Co-Founder and CEO of StarzPlay. Known as the Netflix of the region, StarzPlay is a leading video-on-demand streaming service in the Middle East and Africa. Maaz shares his journey from ideation to raising tens of millions in funding, the importance of localization, and overcomi...

This was an interview conducted in February 2024 with Mohit Kumar, Founder & CEO at Ultrahuman, a healthspan company in wearable technology, that currently supplies both a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) and a wearable ring that tracks sleep, HRV, body temperature, and a number of other health markers. In this conversation, we speak into the journey that Mohit took to launch his second entrep...

In this episode of Startup Spotlights, Chris Barton, Founder & former CEO of Shazam , shares the unbelievable story behind one of the world’s most iconic apps. Launched in 2000—years before smartphones, apps, or even iTunes—Shazam faced near-impossible technical challenges, repeated investor rejection, and nearly ran out of money multiple times. At one point, investors told Chris: “No one woul...