Rafeeq and Startup Grind Doha Partner to Back Qatar's Next Generation of Tech Founders

Doha, Qatar — October 18, 2026. Rafeeq, Qatar's first all-in-one national champion super app and a 100% Qatari-owned technology platform, has announced a strategic partnership with Startup Grind Doha, the local chapter of the global community that brings together founders, investors and innovators. Through the partnership, Rafeeq will back Startup Grind Doha's events and community programmes, while gaining a direct channel to early-stage startups whose technologies, products or services could complement its platform.

What the partnership covers

Rafeeq will support Startup Grind Doha's events and community programmes, sharing the experience of building and scaling a national digital platform from Qatar, for Qatar. The collaboration also creates a pathway for Rafeeq to connect with startups whose technologies, products and services complement its platform and wider business — with promising ventures potentially integrated, piloted or scaled across Rafeeq's network of partners, giving them access to a national-scale customer base from day one.

"Rafeeq was built in Qatar, by a Qatari team, to serve every corner of the country. Supporting the founders who will build the next generation of Qatari technology companies is a natural extension of that mission," said Abdullah Thamer Al Humaidi, Chief Executive Officer of Rafeeq. "Through our partnership with Startup Grind Doha, we want to open our platform to startups with the ideas and technologies that can add value for our customers and partners, and to show what a homegrown platform can achieve at national scale."

Why Rafeeq is backing local founders

Launched in 2019, Rafeeq has grown into one of Qatar's leading technology platforms, bringing delivery, logistics, e-commerce and lifestyle services together in a single super app. It now connects roughly 130,000 monthly active customers with more than 7,000 partner businesses across every part of Qatar, including remote areas, through an ecosystem that spans food and grocery delivery, retail, logistics, the Pearl Club loyalty programme and Rafeeq Stars, an influencer-led boutique, as the company expands into the wider GCC.

The company frames the partnership as part of its commitment to Qatar National Vision 2030 and to building a diversified, knowledge-based economy in which Qatari-owned technology companies invest in local talent and help homegrown ideas reach the market. "Rafeeq is a strong example of what a Qatari tech company can become, and its partnership gives our community direct access to the experience of a team that has scaled a super app nationwide," said Indica, Chapter Director of Startup Grind Doha. "We look forward to working together to connect founders with real opportunities to grow, partner and build in Qatar."

A wider signal for Qatar's startup ecosystem

The partnership adds to a pattern of established Qatari tech companies opening direct channels into the startup community rather than operating alongside it as distant corporate sponsors. For Startup Grind Doha's members, it offers something more concrete than mentorship: a potential route to piloting on a platform that already reaches a large share of Qatari households. For Rafeeq, it is a low-cost way to scout technologies and talent that could plug into its own expansion plans. Rafeeq and Startup Grind Doha say they will announce joint events, founder sessions and collaboration opportunities through their respective channels in the coming months — the first real test of what the partnership delivers beyond the announcement.

This article is based on a press release provided by Rafeeq (October 18, 2026).

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