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Mastercard Lighthouse UAE Picks Six AI Startups

The Artificial Intelligence Office and Mastercard’s Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology in Dubai have picked six AI startups for the inaugural Mastercard Lighthouse UAE cohort: Loyyal, NewForm Technologies, NodeShift, Polynome, Valura. The six were chosen from 14 finalists and will spend four months in a mentorship programme run with Mastercard’s global experts, ending in a Demo Day, Mastercard announced, a selection also.

tbreak.com30 August 2026 at 4:00 PM GST1 evidence link

AI Cyber Funding Startups UAE

Source-linked signal

Impact44Potential ecosystem significance

Evidence56Early confidence

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What happened

tbreak.com reports that Abdelrahman Al Mahmoud, Director at the Artificial Intelligence Office What Mastercard Lighthouse UAE adds to the ecosystem The UAE edition launched in May.

Why it matters

Delivered under our Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology, the selected startups bring together different strengths, diverse perspectives and a shared ambition to build bold solutions that can shape the future of financial services and AI in the UAE.

Evidence base

Pulse provides an original intelligence layer. The underlying reporting remains available for verification and full context.

tbreak.comMastercard Lighthouse UAE Picks Six AI StartupsOpen source ↗

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