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Alpha Data, a prominent UAE-based technology services firm, has unveiled plans to list on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange by offering 400 million shares, representing 40% of its capital. This move marks the inaugural public offering on the ADX for 2025. The shares being offered are currently held by Bin Hamoodah and Ibbini Investment, who retain the discretion to adjust the offering size before the subscription period concludes.

In the fiscal year 2024, Alpha Data reported a net profit of AED 127 million and revenue totaling AED 2.32 billion. The company has engaged EFG Hermes and Emirates NBD Capital as advisors for the potential share sale. While the specifics of the sale are preliminary and subject to change, the firm is reportedly aiming to raise approximately $200 million through this listing.

The ADX is poised to witness several major IPOs this year, including the Gulf’s first airline IPO by Etihad Airways, which has already engaged advisors for the sale, and supermarket chain LuLu Group. Additionally, the exchange recently saw the IPO of edtech firm Alef Education.

Alpha Data’s decision to go public aligns with a broader trend of private-sector companies in the GCC region pursuing IPOs, particularly in sectors such as e-commerce and IT. Analysts anticipate that private-sector IPOs in the GCC will range between $300 million to $500 million this year, with government listings likely to be larger.

The ADX has been actively encouraging private companies to list, aiming to diversify its offerings and attract a broader range of investors. Alpha Data’s IPO is expected to contribute to this diversification and provide investors with exposure to the growing technology services sector in the UAE.

The offering is anticipated to attract significant interest from both regional and international investors, given Alpha Data’s established presence in the UAE’s technology sector and the ADX’s reputation as a leading financial market in the region.

ADNEC Group has announced that TAG Dynamics, a globally recognised leader in manufacturing custom armoured and non-armoured vehicle solutions, will serve as a Premium Partner for the upcoming International Defence Exhibition and Naval Defence & Maritime Security Exhibition 2025. These events are scheduled from 17th to 21st February at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre .

IDEX and NAVDEX have, for over three decades, convened global leaders, policymakers, and experts to showcase the latest advancements in defence technologies. The exhibitions offer a comprehensive view of innovations shaping the future of international security.

Saeed Al Mansoori, Advisor for Defence Exhibitions at Capital Events, a subsidiary of ADNEC Group, emphasised the significance of this collaboration: “The partnership with TAG Dynamics highlights the true purpose of IDEX and NAVDEX: to bring the world together to showcase advanced technologies and forge meaningful collaborations, aligning with the UAE’s vision for progress and security through collaboration and partnership.”

TAG Dynamics plans to unveil a series of groundbreaking innovations designed to enhance security, mobility, and operational effectiveness. These developments reflect the company’s commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology in service of the defence sector.

Mahmoud Gharghar, Chief Executive Officer of TAG Dynamics, expressed the company’s enthusiasm: “IDEX and NAVDEX 2025 represent a cornerstone for innovation and collaboration in the defence industry, and TAG Dynamics is honoured to serve as the Premium Partner of this prestigious event. Our commitment to advancing safety through cutting-edge technologies such as AI and remote-controlled systems is at the heart of everything we do.”

IDEX and NAVDEX 2025 are anticipated to attract a significant number of international delegations, defence contractors, and industry professionals. The events will feature live demonstrations, product launches, and discussions on the latest trends in defence and maritime security.

The collaboration between ADNEC Group and TAG Dynamics underscores a shared vision of fostering innovation and strengthening global defence partnerships. As the defence landscape evolves, such alliances play a crucial role in addressing emerging security challenges and advancing technological frontiers.

The UAE continues to position itself as a central hub for international defence exhibitions, facilitating dialogue and collaboration among global stakeholders. The upcoming IDEX and NAVDEX 2025 are set to further this objective, providing a platform for showcasing cutting-edge technologies and fostering strategic partnerships.

TAG Dynamics’ participation as a Premium Partner highlights the company’s dedication to contributing to global security and its commitment to innovation in defence technology. Attendees can look forward to experiencing the latest advancements that TAG Dynamics and other industry leaders will present during the exhibitions.

As the defence sector faces rapidly changing challenges, events like IDEX and NAVDEX serve as vital platforms for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and the promotion of peace and security worldwide. The partnership between ADNEC Group and TAG Dynamics exemplifies the collaborative efforts necessary to navigate the complexities of modern defence and security landscapes.

Solana has witnessed significant whale activity, with large investors moving substantial amounts of the cryptocurrency off exchanges, indicating potential bullish momentum. In the past week, a prominent Solana whale accumulated 257,599 SOL, valued at approximately $54 million, suggesting renewed confidence among major investors.

This accumulation aligns with a broader trend of increased whale activity within the Solana ecosystem. Notably, another whale unstaked 2.16 million SOL, worth around $128 million, transferring 1.3 million SOL out, with 312,868 SOL deposited to major exchanges like Binance and Kraken. Despite these movements, the whale retains a substantial holding of 863,000 SOL in their wallet and 9.86 million SOL in staking, reflecting ongoing engagement with the network.

These developments have coincided with a notable price increase for SOL. The cryptocurrency has experienced a 34% rise over the past week, surpassing the $200 mark for the first time since April. This surge is attributed to significant whale accumulation, which has reignited bullish momentum for Solana’s native token.

Technical indicators further support this positive outlook. The Relative Vigor Index has climbed above the signal line, indicating increased buying pressure. Additionally, the On-Balance-Volume has risen from $64.8 million to $71.6 million over the past month, suggesting heightened trading activity and investor interest.

Institutional investors have also shown increased interest in Solana. According to a CoinShares report, institutional funds flowing into Solana have surpassed investments in rival layer 1 tokens such as Ethereum and Avalanche. This trend underscores growing confidence in Solana’s scalability and performance features, attracting substantial capital from institutional investors.

The decentralized exchange activity on Solana has also been robust, with high trading volumes highlighting the platform’s active ecosystem and cost-effective transaction model. This efficiency in facilitating decentralized trading has garnered significant attention, particularly from users seeking airdrops, underscoring Solana’s competitive edge in providing seamless trading experiences.

However, not all whale activities have been bullish. On November 4, a significant sale occurred when a whale offloaded 265,070 SOL on Binance, netting approximately $44 million. Despite this sale, the whale still holds a considerable amount of SOL, indicating ongoing interest in the asset.

The Gulf Cooperation Council is on track to see its debt capital market exceed $1 trillion in outstanding issuances by the end of 2025, driven by government initiatives aimed at market development, economic diversification, and the need to fund fiscal deficits and upcoming debt maturities. Fitch Ratings reports that the DCM in the GCC reached $940 billion by the close of the first quarter of 2024, marking a 7% year-on-year increase.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates lead the region’s DCM, holding 43% and 30% of the market share, respectively. Approximately 40% of the GCC’s outstanding debt comprises sukuk, with the remainder in conventional bonds. Fitch Ratings, which assesses over 70% of the GCC’s US dollar-denominated sukuk, notes that 81% of these are investment-grade, with no defaults reported.

The anticipated growth in debt issuances is attributed to several factors, including projected declines in oil prices to $65–$70 per barrel in 2025 and 2026, which may prompt increased sovereign borrowing to cover budgetary shortfalls. Additionally, government-led initiatives to enhance debt capital markets and diversify funding sources are expected to play a significant role. Bashar Al Natoor, Global Head of Islamic Finance at Fitch Ratings, emphasizes that “most GCC countries have come a long way in developing their DCMs, with the bloc now accounting for almost a third of total emerging-market dollar issuance, excluding China.”

Despite these advancements, the GCC’s debt capital markets remain less mature compared to more developed regions and exhibit varying stages of development across member states. Saudi Arabia and the UAE possess the most advanced markets, while Qatar and Oman have seen contractions due to debt repayments. Kuwait’s absence of a debt law limits its funding options, and Bahrain continues to rely heavily on DCM access and support from other GCC nations amid persistent deficits.

In the banking sector, GCC banks are projected to issue over $30 billion in US dollar-denominated debt in 2025, a decrease from the record $42 billion issued in 2024. This decline is partly due to the maturation of approximately $23 billion in existing debt, with Qatari banks accounting for about a third of these maturities, and UAE and Saudi banks each representing around a quarter. Fitch Ratings anticipates that most additional Tier 1 instruments with first call dates in 2025 and 2026 will be called, given favorable financing conditions.

The US Federal Reserve is expected to reduce interest rates by 100 basis points in 2025, potentially leading to more favorable financing conditions for GCC banks. Strong credit growth, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, is also anticipated to support further issuances. In 2024, GCC banks’ US dollar debt issuance reached an unprecedented level, driven by high credit growth in Saudi Arabia, efforts to diversify funding bases, and substantial debt maturities.

Lior Div, the Chief Executive Officer of cybersecurity firm Cybereason Inc., has filed a lawsuit against former U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the SoftBank Vision Fund, alleging that their financial maneuvers have jeopardized the company’s financial stability. The legal action centers on claims that the investment strategies employed by Mnuchin’s Liberty Strategic Capital and the SoftBank Vision Fund have placed Cybereason at risk of insolvency.

In 2021, Cybereason secured a $275 million investment led by Liberty Strategic Capital, Mnuchin’s private equity firm. This funding round was intended to bolster the company’s position in the cybersecurity market, with plans to expand its workforce and pursue acquisitions in the Extended Detection and Response and cloud security sectors. The investment was seen as a strategic move to enhance Cybereason’s capabilities in combating sophisticated cyber threats.

However, the lawsuit contends that the terms of the investment and subsequent financial decisions have adversely affected Cybereason’s financial health. Specific details of the alleged detrimental actions have not been disclosed publicly, but the legal filing suggests that the strategies implemented by Mnuchin and the SoftBank Vision Fund have led to significant financial strain on the company.

Cybereason, founded in 2012 by Lior Div, Yonatan Striem-Amit, and Yossi Naar, has been recognized for its innovative approach to cybersecurity, particularly in delivering proactive threat detection and response solutions. The company has previously attracted substantial investments, including a $59 million Series C funding round led by SoftBank in 2015, which facilitated its expansion into the Japanese market.

The involvement of high-profile investors such as Mnuchin and the SoftBank Vision Fund was initially perceived as a vote of confidence in Cybereason’s technology and market potential. Mnuchin, upon leading the 2021 investment, expressed enthusiasm about partnering with Cybereason to defend critical information networks against the growing danger of cyberattacks.

The current legal dispute raises questions about the dynamics between startup companies and their investors, particularly concerning the influence of investment terms on a company’s operational autonomy and financial well-being. The outcome of this lawsuit could have broader implications for the venture capital landscape, especially in the technology sector, where substantial investments are often accompanied by strategic control exerted by investors.

Salience Labs, a company specialising in photonic solutions for AI data centre connectivity, has secured $30 million in Series A funding. This investment aims to advance the development of their optical switches, designed to enhance large-scale AI infrastructure.

The funding round was led by Cambridge Innovation Capital and Oxford Science Enterprises, with participation from Oxford Investment Consultants, former Dialog Semiconductor CEO Jalal Bagherli, Silicon Catalyst, the Goh Family Office in Singapore, and Arm-backed Deeptech Labs.

Salience Labs, founded in 2021 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford and the University of Münster, is developing an ultra high-speed multi-chip processor that integrates a photonics chip with standard electronics. This technology is scalable, capable of stacking up to 64 vectors into a beam of light, delivering massively parallel processing performance within a given power envelope.

The company’s proprietary amplitude-based approach to photonics results in dense computing chips operating at tens of gigahertz. This, combined with massively parallel performance, aims to enable exascale computing in a wide array of AI processes and applications.

Salience Labs employs a multi-chip design, with the photonic processing mapping directly on top of the Static Random Access Memory . This novel ‘on-memory compute’ architecture is inherently faster and can be adapted to the application-specific requirements of different market verticals, making it suitable for AI use-cases in communications, robotics, vision systems, healthcare, and other data workloads.

The technology has been designed from first principles for volume manufacture and is currently being fabricated with production-level foundries using standard CMOS processes.

Ian Lane, Partner at Cambridge Innovation Capital, stated that Salience Labs brings together deep domain expertise in photonics, electronics, and CMOS manufacture. He noted that their unique approach to photonics delivers an exceedingly dense computing chip without having to scale the photonics chip to large sizes.

Alexis Zervoglos, Partner at Oxford Science Enterprises, commented that Salience Labs offers a pioneering yet pragmatic solution to the widening gap between AI processing demand and semiconductor industry supply. By leveraging photonics in a novel way, the company is set to make unprecedented advances in computing, transforming existing AI applications and opening up new addressable horizons.

Jalal Bagherli, investor and former CEO of Dialog Semiconductor, remarked that the team at Salience Labs is world-class, combining commercial and technical acumen with a disruptive market vision. He highlighted their unique ‘on-memory compute’ architecture as ground-breaking, with the potential for breakthrough performance and power capability beyond what the established CMOS roadmap offers.

Vaysh Kewada, CEO and co-founder of Salience Labs, emphasized the increasing demand for faster chips to grow AI capability, noting that the semiconductor industry cannot keep pace with this demand. She explained that their proprietary ‘on-memory compute’ architecture combines the ultra-fast speed of photonics, the flexibility of electronics, and the manufacturability of CMOS, ushering in a new era of processing where supercompute AI becomes ubiquitous.

Salience Labs is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and funded by a portfolio of investors including Cambridge Innovation Capital, Oxford Science Enterprises, Oxford Investment Consultants, Silicon Catalyst, Deeptech Labs, and leaders from the global semiconductor industry, including former Dialog Semiconductor CEO Jalal Bagherli and the Goh Family Office in Singapore.

The company’s mission is to build photonic switches for AI infrastructure, solving fundamental networking bottlenecks and enabling high bandwidth, low latency connectivity for improved AI model performance. Their optical circuit switch keeps the payload fully optical while directing data to where it needs to go, eliminating the need for expensive transceivers.

Salience Labs’ photonic switch enables all-optical, multi-hop large cluster connectivity, addressing the flexibility and control required in next-generation AI infrastructure. The switch allows for resizing and provisioning networks quickly and on the fly, with fast reconfiguration, novel flow routing, and synchronization technologies.

The company’s technology is the result of over 10 years of research into silicon photonics. Salience Labs’ switch is built for AI and focuses on compatibility, reliability, and manufacturability. The team comprises experts in photonics, electronics, embedded software, and machine learning, working together to shape the future of optical networking.

Salience Labs’ board and advisors include industry leaders such as Daniel Armbrust, Chairman; Dr. Bill Jeffrey, Board Member; Jack Edmondson, Board Member; Jalal Bagherli, Investor and Advisor; and Prof. Wolfram Pernice, Co-Founder and Advisor.

Private equity firm Turn/River Capital has announced an agreement to acquire SolarWinds, a leading provider of IT management and observability software, in an all-cash transaction valued at $4.4 billion. The deal prices SolarWinds shares at $18.50 each, representing a 35% premium over the company’s average closing price over the past 90 days. The acquisition has received unanimous approval from SolarWinds’ board of directors and is anticipated to close in the second quarter of 2025, pending regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Upon completion, SolarWinds will transition to a privately held company, with its stock delisted from the New York Stock Exchange.

Sudhakar Ramakrishna, SolarWinds’ president and CEO, expressed optimism about the partnership, stating, “We have built a great track record of helping customers accelerate business transformations through simple, powerful, secure solutions designed for hybrid and multi-cloud environments. We now look forward to partnering with Turn/River to deliver operational resilience solutions for our customers on our SolarWinds Platform.” He emphasized that the transaction reflects the dedication of SolarWinds’ employees to customer success and expressed confidence that Turn/River’s expertise will drive further innovation and value for customers and stakeholders.

Dominic Ang, founder and managing partner of Turn/River Capital, highlighted SolarWinds’ position in the industry, noting, “SolarWinds is a global leader in software that helps businesses securely manage and optimize their IT systems, networks, and infrastructure. Their commitment to customer success and their proven track record of innovation have made them an ideal partner for us. We are excited to leverage our team’s expertise in software operations and growth to accelerate SolarWinds’ development and further its mission.”

This acquisition comes as SolarWinds continues to expand its portfolio of observability, monitoring, and service desk solutions. The company has been focusing on delivering simple, powerful, and secure solutions tailored for hybrid and multi-cloud environments, aiming to assist customers in accelerating their business transformations.

In 2020, SolarWinds faced a significant challenge when its Orion network monitoring platform was compromised in a targeted supply chain attack. Malicious code was injected into Orion between March and June 2020, allowing hackers, believed to be associated with Russian intelligence agency APT29, to breach systems at several U.S. government departments, including Defense, State, Treasury, Homeland Security, and Commerce, as well as private sector organizations. In response, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency directed all federal civilian agencies to shut down SolarWinds Orion products until all compromised accounts and identified persistent threats were eliminated.

Despite this setback, SolarWinds has worked to rebuild its reputation and strengthen its security measures. The partnership with Turn/River Capital is expected to provide the company with the resources and support needed to continue its growth trajectory and enhance its offerings in the IT management and observability space.

Turn/River Capital, based in San Francisco, specializes in software investments and has a history of partnering with technology companies to drive growth and operational efficiency. The firm focuses on providing flexible capital and operational expertise to help software companies scale and achieve their strategic objectives.

The acquisition of SolarWinds aligns with Turn/River’s strategy of investing in established software companies with strong market positions and potential for accelerated growth. By leveraging its operational expertise and resources, Turn/River aims to support SolarWinds in delivering enhanced solutions to its global customer base.

The world of cryptocurrency is witnessing a renewed surge in memecoin activity, with significant developments emerging across the United States, Africa, and Asia. This resurgence is marked by the introduction of new tokens, strategic initiatives by major blockchain platforms, and the engagement of prominent figures and organizations.

In the United States, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has ventured into the memecoin arena with the launch of the $STOOLIE coin. Described as more than just a digital currency, $STOOLIE aims to unite the Barstool community under a shared digital asset. The initiative encourages fans, known as “Stoolies,” to promote the coin, hold their investments, and expand the community, with an ambitious target of reaching a $1 billion market capitalization. This move underscores the growing trend of media personalities leveraging cryptocurrency to foster community engagement and brand loyalty.

Meanwhile, in Africa, the cryptocurrency landscape is experiencing notable activity with the emergence of memecoins that aim to resonate with cultural identities and support charitable causes. In November 2021, Wakanda Inu was launched as a charity-oriented meme token, representing a community-driven project that aspires to unify individuals under a shared digital asset. The token’s creators describe it as embodying the spirit of community and aim to leverage its success for social good across the globe. Additionally, Uganda’s Mitroplus Labs has introduced “Afro,” a Pan-African meme token designed to foster unity and economic empowerment across the continent. These developments highlight a growing interest in leveraging cryptocurrency to promote cultural identity and support philanthropic initiatives in Africa.

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, is preparing to launch a Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Product in Europe, with plans to domicile the fund in Switzerland. The company could begin marketing the ETP as early as this month, according to sources familiar with the matter. This initiative marks BlackRock’s first crypto-linked ETP outside the United States.

The move comes in response to growing demand from both institutional and retail investors seeking exposure to digital assets. BlackRock’s U.S.-based iShares Bitcoin ETF , launched in January 2024, has accumulated nearly $60 billion in assets under management, reflecting significant investor interest in cryptocurrency-linked investment products.

In anticipation of this European expansion, BlackRock has established a Zurich-based entity, iShares Digital Assets AG, to focus on digital asset offerings. This strategic decision underscores the firm’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of investors in the digital asset space.

However, the European market presents distinct regulatory challenges. The forthcoming Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation in the European Union is set to introduce stringent requirements for crypto businesses, potentially making operations more complex compared to the U.S. market. Despite these hurdles, BlackRock’s decision to proceed indicates confidence in navigating the regulatory landscape and capitalizing on the growing appetite for cryptocurrency investments in Europe.

Industry analysts note that BlackRock’s entry into the European crypto ETP market could intensify competition among providers. Existing firms have already begun implementing measures such as fee waivers to attract investors. The fee structure of BlackRock’s new ETP remains undisclosed, but it is expected to play a crucial role in the product’s competitiveness and appeal to investors.

The success of BlackRock’s U.S. Bitcoin ETF has been attributed to increased participation from institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds. Larry Fink, BlackRock’s CEO, has highlighted the potential for Bitcoin’s value to rise substantially if large-scale institutional investments continue. He suggests that even a modest allocation of 2% to 5% of assets by these investors could drive Bitcoin’s price significantly higher.

Bitcoin has experienced a significant surge, approaching the $100,000 mark. As of February 10, 2025, Bitcoin is trading at $97,605, reflecting an increase of $636, or approximately 0.66%, from the previous close. The day’s trading range saw a high of $97,937 and a low of $94,747.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is currently priced at $2,645.11, marking a slight decrease of $12.46, or 0.47%, from its prior close. Throughout the day, Ethereum’s price fluctuated between a high of $2,668.35 and a low of $2,541.34.

Solana has demonstrated notable growth, with its price reaching $204.14, an uptick of $2.40, or 1.19%. The day’s trading for Solana recorded a peak at $205.63 and a trough at $194.02.

XRP is currently valued at $2.43, experiencing a decline of $0.04, or 1.62%, from the previous close. The cryptocurrency’s intraday high was $2.47, with a low of $2.32.

The cryptocurrency market has been experiencing heightened volatility, influenced by various factors including geopolitical tensions and regulatory developments. Notably, recent policy decisions, such as the imposition of new tariffs by the U.S. on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, have led to significant market reactions. These tariffs resulted in a substantial liquidation in the crypto market, amounting to $2 billion, with Bitcoin experiencing a 7.5% decline to $91,969, and Ethereum dropping by 20.1% to $2,510.

Despite these fluctuations, institutional interest in cryptocurrencies remains strong. Strategy Inc., formerly known as MicroStrategy, has raised an additional $584 million through the sale of preferred stock to further its $42 billion cryptocurrency acquisition plan. The company has acquired a total of 218,887 bitcoins between October 31 and January 26, underscoring the growing institutional adoption of digital assets.

Saudi Arabia’s Capital Market Authority has released draft amendments to its Investment Funds Regulations, seeking public feedback until 5 November 2024. The proposed changes aim to enhance investor protection, particularly for retail clients engaging with private and foreign investment funds.

A key proposal mandates that fund managers secure equal or greater cash subscriptions from qualified and institutional clients before offering private fund units to retail investors. Similarly, foreign fund securities cannot be privately offered to retail clients unless matching cash subscriptions are obtained from qualified and institutional clients within the Kingdom. This initiative addresses concerns that private and foreign funds, which operate under fewer regulatory constraints than public funds, may pose higher risks to retail investors.

In 2021, the CMA permitted retail clients to invest up to SAR 200,000 in private and foreign funds without specifying their subscription percentage. The current draft amendments aim to set specific percentages for retail client subscriptions to mitigate risk exposure and enhance protection. The CMA emphasizes that these proposals will strengthen investor protection by addressing the risks associated with private and foreign funds.

The CMA encourages stakeholders, market participants, and the public to share their insights on these proposed amendments. Comments can be submitted via the Unified Electronic Platform for Public Consultation or through the CMA’s official email channels. All feedback will be carefully reviewed before finalizing the regulatory amendments.

These proposed amendments are part of the CMA’s ongoing commitment to enhance investor protection by refining the requirements for offering private and foreign investment funds to retail investors. The CMA aims to increase market transparency, enhance investor protection, and boost market participation.

As Saudi Arabia continues to diversify its economy and expand its financial markets, these measures will contribute to a safer and more appealing environment for both local and international investors.