Modon taps Orascom for Ras El Hekma

Modon is making progress in Ras El Hekma: ADQ-backed developer Modon Holding awarded a USD 316 mn (c. EGP 15 bn, AED 1.2 bn) development contract to EGX and ADX-listed Orascom Construction, covering the first phase of a 50-acre project in Ras El Hekma with residential units, offices, and a 70-room hotel, sources told Asharq Business.

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Modon — the master developer of Egypt’s USD 35 bn Ras El Hekma project — has already tendered 2k acres of works to local contractors, with plans to invest some EGP 45 bn (USD 928 mn) for infrastructure and construction for the project.

The contract gives Orascom Construction one-third of the initial budget Modon allocated for local contractors, cementing its role as a lead execution partner in the USD 35 bn mega-project.

d3 adds homes

Dubai’s design hub is getting a residential upgrade. Meraas, part of Dubai Holding Real Estate, has unveiled an expanded residential masterplan for Dubai Design District (d3), adding waterfront housing to the creative zone, according to Dubai Media Office. The 18 mn sqft plan integrates residential, cultural, retail, and hospitality uses, following strong demand. An investment ticket for the masterplan wasn’t specified.

TII’s latest Falcon model lands

New AI models from TII: The Technology Innovation Institute (TII) released Falcon H1R 7B and Falcon-H1 Arabic, according to press releases here and here. The Falcon H1R 7B utilizes only 7 bn parameters, yet TII claims it outperforms larger tech models like Microsoft, Nvidia, and Alibaba, while Falcon-H1 Arabic is marketed as the best performer on the Open Arabic LLM Leaderboard.

Arabic LLMs have been gaining traction recently as regional AI players scramble to fill the gap left by English-focused heavyweights like OpenAI and Meta. G42 released the Jais family of Arabic-centric LLMs in 2024, operating on 70 bn parameters, while du is developing the first Arabic LLM for the telecoms sector.

Maalexi plans launch of agricultural asset token exchange

Maalexi to introduce digital tokens for agriculture commodities: Abu Dhabi-based agri-trade fintech Maalexi is rolling out the first agricultural asset token exchange, Maatex, to trade agricultural and food-related commodities, according to a press release. The exchange will use blockchain and AI technologies to convert physical commodities into tradable digital assets — or Maalexi Agri Tokens — on the digital contract platform Avalanche. The commodities themselves will be stored in Maalexi warehouses.

Agriculture is relatively new to the digital asset game in the UAE. So far, real estate has been among the most popular sectors for tokenization, after the Dubai Land Department rolled out its tokenization project last year. Mantra also agreed to tokenize USD 1 bn of Damac’s assets, spanning real estate, hospitality, and data centers.

Singapore’s GKE inks 20-year agreement for Dubai logistics activities

GKE scales into Dubai with USD 120 mn logistics lease: Singapore-listed holding firm for logistics operations GKE Corporation entered into a head of terms document for a 20-year lease agreement in Dubai, The Edge Singapore reports. The lease was secured via an agreement between its Dubai subsidiary and Jebel Ali FreeZone (Jafza) Enterprises, a DP World subsidiary.

A long-term play: The lease will see GKE pay around USD 120 mn over 20 years, with the option to extend to an additional five years. GKE plans to finance the lease — set to support its logistics and warehousing operations — through a mixture of debt, internal resources, and proceeds from a share placement last October.

USD 2 mn more for MilkStraw AI

AI startup MilkStraw AI raised USD 2 mn in seed funding, led by GCC-based VC firm VentureSouq, according to a press release. The capital, building on USD 600k raised in pre-seed funding in early 2025, will go towards expanding its AI-powered cloud platform and footprint, as well as developing new and existing products.

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