Vineet Budki is CEO of CypherCapital, a ‘Web3 native’ VC firm based in the UAE that has led investments in the likes of Mysten Labs, Sei Network, Casper Labs, Web3Auth, ZKLink and many others. CypherCapital has evolved into a global presence, investments and insights. How did CyperCapital fare during COVID-19 and the ‘crypto-winter’? Are there signs Web3 is maturing from cowboy pump-and-dump to mainstream solutions? Will Gaming and Web3 really be the next big thing? Stay tuned for a conversation...
Jun 23, 2024•26 min
One of the reasons for the continued growth of the UAE’s tech ecosystem, has been its ability to attract the world to Dubai. More recently, however, Abu Dhabi has made very significant strides in hosting mega-scale events - fashioning entire islands, such as Yas Island and Sadiyat island, for art lovers and racing car lovers to enjoy immaculately curated experiences. Ethara is a company that owns, manages and promotes some of the largest events and IP's in the UAE. This includes Formula 1 Etihad...
Jun 10, 2024•25 min
It doesn’t matter whether you’re drifting around a corner in Need for Speed, screaming ‘Get Over Here’ in Mortal Kombat, or dropping a banana in Mario Kart, video games are about one thing: Skill. Or are they? Aren’t video games also about having fun. Enter the debate over Skill2Earn, versis Free2Earn, and what the future of video games looks like. Shouldn’t users who spend upwards of 20 hours a week (and sometimes way more), be able to earn tokens, and exchange those tokens across other publish...
May 17, 2024•26 min
In the UAE, Step Conference requires little introduction. But how did the darling of the Dubai tech scene calendar actually get started? What happened to the English and Arabic content websites? And what was it like running such a popular and successful conference … only to have COVID-19 shut down, well, pretty much everything. Ray Dargham, CEO and founder of Step Conference provides the inside story on how a student project at AUB has transformed, over time and with a little grit, into somethin...
May 03, 2024•33 min
Yuri Dvoinos sold his company Figleaf to Aura in 2020. He currently serves as Chief Innovation Officer at the Boston based cybersecurity firm, which is backed by none other than Robert Downey Jr. We wanted to begin our interview with “so what’s it like working with Iron Man,” but apparently everyone leads with this line, and they have not met. Also, Iron Man is a fictional character, so that would be weird. We digress. Yuri is a habitual entrepreneur. He’s workled on Kickstarter projects, digita...
Apr 18, 2024•31 min
Hassan Al Noon is a graduate of the National Experts Program in Abu Dhabi, a mentorship program which pairs promising Emirati leaders with established experts in industry. Hassan’s capstone project focused on the development of deep-tech, and the need to create a collaborative ecosystem to support R&D in the UAE.
Apr 08, 2024•26 min
If you’ve been living in Dubai it’s been difficult to avoid Yango, an app that is being noticed for impressively accurate GPS and ride-hailing services. A Netherlands registered company backed by the Russian conglomerate Yandex, the app has ambitions which go beyond getting you around the city. Yango wants to become that most fabled of creatures; not a Unicorn, but a super-app. The recently launched Yango play features an AI assistant that doesn’t simply speak Arabic, but can talk in the local K...
Mar 18, 2024•33 min
Arto is an OG interested in e-gold, in Ayn Rand and early Sci-Fi. He has a compelling perspective on what technology used to be, and where it might be going. We sat down with him to discuss his latest company, Haltia.AI, and why being a blockchain refugee in Dubai is a portal into the future.
Mar 08, 2024•48 min
Martin Glen began tinkering with print servers back in the 1984, eventually co-founding a company that would become a world leader in network video. In 1996 he invented the AXIS 2000 and NetEye with a Carl-Axel Aim; the first network camera.
Feb 18, 2024•22 min
Enter Theion, a Berlin based startup creating batteries based on lithium-sulfur, rather than lithium-ion. Compellingly, sulfur is an abundant waste product, particularly in the GCC, where it is one of the outputs from processing oil. Unlike cobalt, manganese or nickel, it doesn’t need to be mined.
Feb 05, 2024•27 min
David Chaum is a mercurial gentleman. He’s gone from pretty much inventing digital cash, the main thing he missed being Satoshi’s proof of work, to consulting on CBDCs, working with European bankers, and plotting to stop solar warming...
Jan 22, 2024•36 min
Finding out information on the Dubai blockchain ecosystem isn’t always easy. For the most part, you need to be in it. There’s many familiar foundational faces, and people flying in and out from all over the world: Austin, Shanghai, Moscow, Paris. You name it. While this makes for an exciting and often exclusive scene, it doesn’t always help with investment and building great products. The discovery of great projects is often subjective - it depends on who you ask. Walid Abu Zaki started ‘Unlock ...
Jan 11, 2024•26 min
Mehdi Fichtali is CEO and founder of FinaMaze, an ADGM licensed Digital Wealth management company. He’s spent fifteen years at large banks such as Credit Agricole, Barlcays and as the Vice-President of Morgan Stanley in Dubai. Today, he’s exploring how AI can lower barriers to entry, reduce bureaucratic cost, and ensure that the likes of you and I can one day have our own asset portfolio, even if we’re not making squllions of pounds.
Dec 14, 2023•29 min
For much of the technology industry, there is a certain suspicion of COP28. They believe “sustainability” evangelists get paid large government salaries to regulate solutions, without building or solving very much at all. The Bitcoin industry is furious that their movement has been maligned for using too much energy, while others cut down trees. A reductive ‘abundance vs. scarcity’ debate has been visible online in the US and UK, in particular. But is it really this simple? The UAE is hosting CO...
Dec 08, 2023•30 min
While email phishing continues to be the favorite exploit du jour of cyberhackers, other forms of attack are emerging. What can we do to become more aware, and how can AI help solve the old cybersecurity problems of the past, at the same time as playing offence against the threats of the future? We caught up with Matt Cooke, Director of CyberSecurity and Strategy at the UAE based Proofpoint, to find out more.
Nov 21, 2023•27 min
Two years ago it’s not unfair to suggest that if most techies were asked to name the Big Tech company most likely to break through globally in AI, Microsoft might not come to mind. Microsoft partnered with OpenAI earlier this year, has just inked a deal with Activision, making it one of the largest gaming giants in the world, and has plans for the Metaverse. But you already knew that. One remains to be understood is how generative AI is changing the technology landscape right here in the UAE. Fr...
Nov 07, 2023•26 min
Ahead of a Summit in Dubai this November, we spoke with CEO Frederik Gregaard on Cardano, global regulation, the role of central banks and why emerging technologies such as AI mean that trust, transparency and verification is more important than ever. Is Cardano really blockchain’s White Knight, and will we be seeing more of them in the region soon? Special thanks to Oscar Wendel, Director of Content and Conferences at MCH Group for stepping up to command this interview after a last minute sched...
Oct 16, 2023•49 min
GIGA is focused on providing services to underserved foreign nationals, who have trouble opening a bank account, and gig economy workers, who may be making relatively small and short-term deposits. Inspired by European Open banking, Raul looks to a time where our bank accounts travel with us no matter where we are in the world, with local or nation-state banking as a bureaucratic nuisance from the past. So what are the parallels between Japan and the UAE, and can we get cartoon characters on che...
Oct 08, 2023•33 min
Anthony Thomson is an understated Brit with a notable record: he founded two of the UK’s best known “challenger banks”, namely Atom and Metro. He holds advisory roles with ASX listed Humm Group, ila Bank and Wio Bank, right here in the UAE.
Sep 14, 2023•29 min
As the UAE Tech Podcast has progressed we’ve become more and more interested in gaming. There’s been a load of reasons for this. The advent of the Metaverse, and the idea 3D technologies will drive the next iteration of the Internet. Hardware, from haptic suits to ridiculously expensive VR kits. Blockchain based gaming and NFT markets. It just seems like a lot of the high-level themes we’re discussing are converging in this space.
Sep 02, 2023•39 min
Hannes Sjöblad goes by the “nom de guerre” Hannes ‘Sapiens’: a reference, of course, to humankind, or perhaps the famous book by Yuval Noah Harari. The subject of our collective humanity has come into focus recently. As the capability of AI has filtered into mainstream consciousness, the debate on our relationship to machines is no longer hypothetical.
Aug 26, 2023•40 min
Isabella Williamson is Associate Director at Consulum. She is examining how governments in the GCC and around the world are positioning themselves in what might be the future of the digital economy. From Seoul to Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Norway, this episode provides up-to-date case studies and hints at a broader question: is government itself profoundly transforming?
Jul 19, 2023•40 min
From October 2020 to very recently Aisha Sheikh has worked as an Experience Lead and UX Architect for Magnopus, where she led the design team for the Expo2020 Dubai Xplorer App. Some of our listeners have probably used the app: it allowed anyone with an internet connection to experience Expo through the eyes of a robot or avatar, engaging in treasure hunts, puzzles and augmented reality.
Jul 10, 2023•50 min
Alex Shevchenko, the CEO and Co-Founder of Aurora, doesn’t fit nearly into either of these camps. He believes blockchain developers urgently need to learn from and assimilate with the best of Web2, particularly when it comes to consumer acquisition and UX.
Jun 18, 2023•41 min
This week we’re talking to Marta, on her journey from a Mom working in retail in Ireland, to falling down the rabbit hole that is crypto trading… and learning to love it. Please note that none of this is financial advice. Always remember to do your own research.
Jun 10, 2023•32 min
According to Sabrina, Paris was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to begin regulating this space. More recently the European Law on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) was approved in April, replicating and perhaps in some cases improving on the French Law in some areas.
May 26, 2023•30 min
Karl Tlais is the CEO and co-founder of Iadvisory, a Dubai Future Fellow, and a strategic advisor in the Digital Economy in the UAE. Back in the heady days of early 2021, Karl held a notable discussion on Artificial intelligence at the Capital Club. Shortly after, John Lillywhite worked with Karl to combine three emerging aspects of the UAE digital economy into a single white paper: AI, Virtual Assets and Massive-Multiplayer Online Worlds.
May 11, 2023•41 min
Scott Page talks so fluently on NFTs and emerging Web3 infrastructure, that it’s almost easy to forget his previous incarnations as a saxophone and rhythm guitarist for Pink Flloyd, Supertramp and Toto.
Apr 18, 2023•59 min
This is an unusual episode at the intersection of tech and human aspiration. What if instead of registering, cataloging and surveilling human beings, technology could be repurposed to helping them start their lives anew?
Apr 11, 2023•39 min
The quick pitch for Metapolis is “shopify in the Metaverse.” Co-founder and chief commercial officer Sandra Helou has dubbed it MaaS, or “Metaverse as a service platform.” Behind the clear business use-case of an interoperable and accessible sales and events platform, are some astute insights into how the digital economy will emerge over the coming decade.
Mar 22, 2023•40 min
