🇵🇸 Palestinian startups go global

In a week when long-retired Brazilian soccer star Roberto Carlos did/did not convert to Islam (this discussion went on for some time), and a week after Islam Makhachev beat up the other guy (this went on for five rounds), Musletter wasted no time in gathering up the best stories for you.

Here’s what we have for you in this edition:

Plus: Our recommendations on what to read, watch, and buy!

Let’s jump right in!

🇵🇸 Palestinian startups ‘make the future’ in Italy: Six Palestinian startups have just showcased their wares to investors at the WMF 2026 event in Italy. Participants included online ticketing platform Tzkrti, AI solutions company Data Queue, as well as Churn Solution (pretty self-explanatory), e-commerce platform SellEnvo, and data services company Aqlama.ai. The Ramallah-based Agritopia also attended and is part of Palestine’s growing startup ecosystem, which seeks to address local challenges, along with companies like Olive Odyssey, which helps Palestinian olive farmers reach global markets, and TAP Palestine, which connects Palestinian talent with the wider world.

🇺🇸 Muslim New Yorker helps failing restaurants: Is it possible to get emotion into a food review? New York City cab driver Ertan Bek aka “New York Turk” thinks so, and his 1.5 million followers agree. Bek reviews everything from halal food carts to Michelin-star restaurants, but what really hits home are the videos about struggling family-owned businesses – that see a sudden turnaround after his visit. It’s heartwarming stuff. His review of one Greek restaurant attracted millions of views and helped revive the business. And it’s not the only time he’s done it – a Colombian family restaurant was struggling to pay the rent until the self-styled ‘Ignorant Gourmand in NYC’ showed up.

🇲🇾 Malaysia wants your data center: Everyone loves data centers, right? As long as they’re nowhere near my house. Anyway, riding Asia’s AI boom, the Malaysian economy expanded 6% year-on-year in Q2, and much of that is down to, well, data centers. In fact, Malaysia’s Johor province is aiming to become a regional hub thanks to low electricity costs and government incentives. Questions remain about infrastructure and water demand, but the country aims to increase its data center capacity from 1GW in 2025 to 3-4GW by 2029. Meanwhile, semiconductors are also big business, with 13% of all chips globally being built and tested in Malaysia.

🏦 Making financial services more accessible: Fasset is a digital finance platform that uses blockchain technology to make financial services easier to access: sending money, saving, investing across borders – without relying on traditional banks. So far, so good. Based in Dubai, the company just raised a cool $68 million in a Series C funding round led by the SBI Group, valuing the company at $1 billion and making it a fintech unicorn. Founded in 2019 by Mohammad Raafi, a former advisor to the UAE Prime Minister’s Office, Fasset’s philosophy is that ownership shouldn’t be decided by where you live; it should be open to everyone.

🇸🇾 Syria rejoins the rest of the world: After so many years of conflict, Syria is emerging as an important ‘meeting point’ for the region’s economy. Reconstruction and reintegration are the words of the day, with billions of dollars already proposed by foreign investors. A key part of this change is the news that the US has removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism (presumably to make space for Canada). The designation blocked all kinds of financial transactions and foreign assistance, and its removal means complete reintegration with the global economy and lower legal and compliance risks for banks and investors in Syria. Here’s a viral clip of Syria's president paying for coffee with a Visa card as Damascus rejoins financial systems.

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