When we started WAYA Media, the idea was straightforward: the MENA region deserves business and startup journalism that actually understands how it operates, its founders, its investors, and its operators, and speaks to them in the language they use to build.

Today marks an important step in that journey.

We’ve partnered with Foras.ai, which has made a strategic investment in Founders Media. This goes beyond capital. It’s alignment around a shared view of what we’re building and where it can go.

From the beginning, the gap was clear. Much of the business media in our region has been either imported or disconnected from what’s really happening on the ground. As founders, investors, and operators move faster and build at a higher level, the need for more rigorous, more contextual business journalism has only grown.

WAYA exists to close it.

This partnership allows us to do that with more focus and at a different scale:

• Go deeper editorially by expanding the newsroom and investing in reporting that explains not just what happened, but why it matters.
• Build with data by moving toward more structured, insight-driven content that reflects how decisions are actually made.
• Scale new formats, particularly in video and product experiences that meet the audience where they are.

Equally important, Mohamed Aboulnaga (Nagaty) and the network behind Foras.ai bring distribution and access that extend how far our content can travel. This strengthens both our editorial voice and our commercial platforms through WAYA Works and WAYA Studio.

For our early backers, including HOF Capital, Onsi Sawiris, and Saoud Al-Humaidhi,  this is a continuation of the same thesis: that a region-first media platform, built properly, is both needed and scalable. 

What comes next will be tangible.

More stories. Better stories. A stronger presence across Egypt and the Gulf. Greater depth in Arabic through WAYA Arabi. More experimentation in how insight is delivered, not just headlines.

What won’t change is the core. 

We’re still building for the founders raising, the operators scaling, the investors deploying, and everyone trying to make sense of where this region is heading.

This isn’t just an update on a company. 

It’s a step forward in what we’re building and what MENA business media can become.

Gamal Helmy

Co-founders & CEO, WAYA