Startup Minute News #9

Food delivery startup LUNCH:ON has secured a total of $5.5m in funding after adding a further $2.5m in the final closing of its Series A round ; Egyptian AI startup, MerQ, has closed its seed funding round to develop its products, mainly Sally, a chatbot through Facebook that introduces Egyptians to all credit card systems within the country ; Saudi-based mobile-only fresh fruits and vegetables ecommerce platform Haseel has raised an undisclosed sum of investment but it is safe to assume that it’s a seven-figure USD considering the investors involved ; Dubai-based eyewear e-commerce startup in the Middle East, eyewa has successfully closed a $7.5 million (approximately AED20 million) Series A funding round in order to further expand its operations ; Shedul, the Dubai-born booking platform for salons and spas backed by MEVP since its inception has successfully raised a $20M Series B funding round, valuing the company at $105 million ; Uber's potential IPO is expected to be one of the 10 largest in US history ; PointCheckout, an online payment method for reward points and miles, has closed a seed round of $600K to allow users to pay with their reward points and miles online at over 1,000 leading online merchants across the MENA region ; The final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy finally has a name (previously only known as “Star Wars Episode IX”): “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will be released on December 20, 2019.

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