Happy Sunday everyone!

Lebanese-founded prediction market platform Kalshi has raised $1 billion, reaching a $40 billion valuation as it prepares to expand into traditional financial markets. Meanwhile, the UAE Central Bank has fined an unnamed foreign bank branch AED 200 million over repeated compliance failures, with additional penalties imposed on senior executives. In an exclusive interview with Smashi Business, UAE proptech startup Rentify revealed its plans to bring AI agents into property management. The platform already supports more than 180,000 units and $3.4 billion in annual rent, with expansion underway following a $2 million seed funding round.

Markets

UAE Central Bank Hits Foreign Bank With AED 200 Million Fine Over Compliance Failures

🔹 What Is It About

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has fined an unnamed foreign bank branch AED 200 million following examinations that uncovered significant, repeated failures in anti-money laundering, terrorism financing, governance and sanctions controls. The regulator also imposed individual penalties of AED 500,000 on the CEO and AED 300,000 on the Head of Compliance, bringing total penalties to AED 200.8 million. This marks the largest fine imposed on a bank in the UAE this year.

🔹 Why It Matters

The decision reflects stricter enforcement of financial regulations, with the UAE increasingly holding senior banking executives personally accountable for compliance failures. It follows updated anti-money laundering guidance introduced in April, aligned with international Financial Action Task Force standards and the UAE National AML/CFT Strategy 2024–2027. For foreign banks operating in the Emirates, compliance failures carry substantial financial and reputational risks as the UAE works to strengthen transparency and maintain confidence in its financial system.

🔹 What’s Next

The bank must implement a mandatory remediation programme, subject to independent validation, to address the identified weaknesses. The CEO and chief compliance officer will also undergo a fit-and-proper reassessment, potentially affecting their eligibility to remain in their roles. Further regulatory action against financial institutions with repeated compliance failures remains a key development to watch.

RAKIS 2026 Set for November 11–12

Less than a month remains until RAKIS 2026 brings investors, developers, government leaders and business executives to Ras Al Khaimah.

The summit, taking place on November 11–12 at the RAK Exhibition Centre, will focus on investment opportunities and partnerships across real estate, infrastructure, tourism, technology and sustainable development.

The event aims to connect decision-makers and industry experts to discuss the opportunities shaping the emirate’s next phase of economic growth.

Organisers are inviting delegates to register for a free pass ahead of the event.

Register for your free delegate pass here.

From Lebanon to $40 Billion: Tarek Mansour Secures $1 Billion for Kalshi

🔹 What Is It About

Lebanese entrepreneur Tarek Mansour has secured $1 billion in new funding for Kalshi, valuing the prediction market platform at $40 billion, up from $22 billion five months earlier. The round was co-led by Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management, with participation from Tiger Global and Dragoneer. Reflecting on the milestone, Mansour wrote on X: “The odds of a kid from Lebanon getting here were pretty low.”

🔹 Why It Matters

Founded in 2018 alongside MIT classmate Luana Lopes Lara, Kalshi became the first federally regulated event contracts exchange in the US. The company has since established partnerships with Robinhood, Coinbase and the NBA, while trading activity surged around the FIFA World Cup, NFL season and US midterm elections. Its valuation has climbed nearly 82% in five months, reflecting growing investor appetite for prediction markets despite mounting regulatory scrutiny. Utah authorities recently brought gambling-related criminal charges against Kalshi and two executives.

🔹 What’s Next

Kalshi plans to expand beyond prediction markets into stocks, indices and institutional trading, positioning itself against established exchanges including CME Group and Intercontinental Exchange. The company has already entered perpetual futures trading across cryptocurrencies, equity indices and metals. Its next challenge will be converting rapid growth into a sustainable, diversified trading business while navigating regulatory disputes.

Dubai International Content Market (DICM) returns to Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai

The Dubai International Content Market (DICM) returns to Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai, on 10-11 November 2026, bringing together international distributors, broadcasters, streaming platforms, producers, buyers and industry professionals for two days of business, networking and content discovery. 

With 800+ participants from 55+ countries, 80+ global distributors and studios, and 150+ buyers, DICM provides a platform to explore new content, acquire and license titles, develop co-production opportunities and build partnerships across the MENA region and beyond.

 Through the Content Business Hub (CBH), participants can preview content, discover catalogues and arrange one-to-one meetings ahead of the market, while DICM Talks brings industry voices together to discuss the trends, challenges and opportunities shaping the content business.

 Registration is open. Join us in Dubai to connect with the right people, discover new opportunities and be part of the conversations driving the industry forward. Register now

Smashi Business Exclusive: Rentify Is Betting on AI Agents to Transform the UAE Rental Market

The UAE’s rental market is changing. Tenants are looking for greater flexibility, landlords want higher occupancy and better yields, and technology is increasingly shaping how properties are managed.

For UAE-based proptech startup Rentify, the next opportunity lies beyond finding tenants and signing leases. It is in managing everything that happens afterwards.

“Rental is becoming a data business and the operators who use that data are setting the pace,” co-founder Rajneel Kumar told Smashi Business exclusively describing the shift in the market.

Co-founded by Emirati co-founder Rashed Hareb Al Mheiri alongside Rajneel Kumar, Rentify initially set out to make rent more flexible and rewarding for tenants. But the business has since evolved into a broader property technology platform, using the data generated through rent payments to develop AI-powered tools for landlords and property operators.

“Payments gave us the data. Today Earn AI supports 180,000+ units and USD 3.4 billion+ in annual rent,” Rajneel said.

The company's next phase focuses on automating property operations, an area the founders believe remains underdeveloped despite the digital transformation of property leasing.

“The biggest opportunity is after the lease is signed: collections, renewals and service,” Rashed said.

Rentify is addressing that opportunity through Earn AI and Ally, its standalone AI maintenance agent. Ally is designed to manage maintenance requests from the moment a tenant reports an issue until the job is completed, while keeping tenants informed throughout the process. “Maintenance is where tenants feel great service most. Ally delivers faster fixes and keeps every tenant updated,” Rashed said.

Rajneel said making Ally a standalone product allows property operators to activate it without having to overhaul their existing systems. The agent can manage the entire maintenance workflow, from request to closure.

The founders also point to a growing willingness among landlords, tenants and property management teams to embrace automation. “How quickly landlords and tenants embrace technology when it makes life easier,” was one of Rashed's biggest surprises.

Rajneel said the adoption of AI has also been faster than expected, with teams initially reviewing every action before gradually allowing agents to operate independently.

That ambition is now backed by fresh capital. Rentify recently raised a USD 2 million seed round, taking its total funding to USD 2.5 million. The company plans to use the capital to develop additional AI agents and expand across the GCC. “Our USD 2 million seed round takes total funding to USD 2.5 million. Investor confidence is strong,” Rashed said.

For Rajneel, the investment case comes down to the underlying business model: recurring rental income and the opportunity to build technology around it “Recurring rent gives investors a powerful foundation to back,” he said.

As the UAE's property market continues to mature, Rentify is betting that the next big proptech opportunity will not simply be helping people rent homes, but making the business of managing them smarter.

👨‍💻From Smashi Business’ Desk

• Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) CEO Mohammed Saif Al-Sowaidi has publicly addressed the sovereign wealth fund’s participation in the $110 billion Skydance-Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal for the first time.⁠

• Egyptian-American creator Kareem, the man behind viral interview series @subwaytakes, has been named one of just 25 winners of the 2026 Instagram Rings Awards.

• A $12 chicken sandwich has sparked a debate over wealth and inequality in Lebanon.

• An Islamic brokerage founder says Anthropic wouldn’t make the cut on his app.

• An Emirati AI company has outperformed Microsoft, ElevenLabs, Google and OpenAI in Arabic speech recognition accuracy.

🔍In other news…

• UAE Citizen CZ Says ‘I Don’t Make Threats’ After Musk Trolls Binance Hack

• Aston Villa Threatens Legal Action Against Jamie Carragher Over ‘Unacceptable Insults’

• Mubadala Ventures Chief Ibrahim Ajami Exits to Launch New AI Fund Noha

• Lebanese Dating App Taaruf Reaches 80,000 Monthly Users, Lands $400,000 Shark Tank Offer

• UAE Announces New Petrol and Diesel Prices for November 2026

🦄 World of Startups

• NoorNation: Egypt-based cleantech startup NoorNation raised $1.05 million in seed funding from Linah Farms, Catalyst Fund and KBW Ventures to expand its solar-powered irrigation and desalination solutions.

• Silkhaus: UAE-based short-term rental startup Silkhaus is winding down its holiday-home business in the country, with owner agreements set to end on November 11, 2026.

• MNT-Halan: Egyptian fintech MNT-Halan received a $71.2 million capital injection from its parent company, MNT Investments BV, increasing the parent’s stake to 80.47% shortly after the fintech’s $139.5 million IPO.

• Alpha Dhabi: UAE-based Alpha Dhabi Holding committed $1 billion to Alpha Wave III, a global investment fund managed by Alpha Wave Global that focuses on high-growth companies, with AI at its core.

• Mubadala Capital: UAE-based Mubadala Capital secured a minority equity investment from US asset manager Apollo Global Management, which manages $1.05 trillion in assets, with the investment value undisclosed.

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