The brand that matters in tech in 2026

Fast Company Middle East unveils the Brands That Matter 2026 list, celebrating 32 winners across 19 categories. These brands are making a real difference, combining purpose with performance to create lasting impact. From advertising and banking & finance to retail and technology, they’re reshaping industries and championing values that matter most today

Technology has become the common language of regional ambition. Whether it is smart city infrastructure, AI-powered government services, or a venture-backed startup rewriting an entire industry, the sector sits at the center of how the region imagines and builds its next chapter. The infrastructure is being laid. The talent is arriving. The question now is what gets built with it.

Archer Aviation

For turning the daily commute into a flight path

Archer Aviation is creating a new kind of aircraft. Its main eVTOL model, Midnight, can carry four passengers at speeds up to 150 mph, produces almost no emissions, and is much quieter than a helicopter. Midnight meets airline-level safety standards, using 12 redundant rotors on six booms. Archer designed the propulsion system in-house, and EDGE Group and Anduril have now licensed it for the Omen autonomous air vehicle. This is the first time eVTOL propulsion technology has been used outside of passenger aviation. Midnight’s performance was tested in the Gulf at Al Bateen Executive Airport and Al Ain Airport. Abu Dhabi is the first launch edition market, with a commercial agreement signed with Abu Dhabi Aviation and approval for the UAE’s first hybrid vertiport at Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal.

Globant

For powering the digital intelligence of the region’s most ambitious projects 

Globant increased its Middle East and APAC revenue by over 84% year-on-year in Q1 2025, thanks to partnerships with some of the region’s largest giga-projects. The company is working with Qiddiya Investment Company to build a digital ecosystem for a city with more than 400 tourist attractions. For Red Sea Global, Globant is handling the digital guest experience for Saudi Arabia’s leading regenerative tourism project. The company also launched an AI-powered Competition Management Solution for the Saudi Pro League. In May 2025, Globant opened its regional headquarters in Riyadh as an AI Center of Excellence. About 30-40% of its Saudi team comes from local talent, supported by a graduate program focused on entertainment and tourism expertise. Its AI Pods model is the industry’s first subscription-based service for AI-driven engineering and product development.

Presight

For building the foundations of an AI-driven future 

Presight builds AI into the foundational systems that governments operate on, with deployments across energy, finance, public safety, and smart city infrastructure in the UAE and 17 countries across five continents. Its domestic footprint includes the Central Bank of the UAE’s CBDC and payments infrastructure, ADNOC’s upstream operations, Abu Dhabi Police’s AI Policing Suite, and national energy and water management through the AD.WE platform. In Kazakhstan, Alem.ai R&D lab runs with a team of 50 specialists, over 60% of whom are local hires. Its AI Startup Accelerator drew over 120 applications from 17 countries in its first cohort. The company is valued at approximately $5 billion, based on 12 consecutive quarters of growth.

Space42 

For bringing connectivity beyond boundaries

Space42 is the UAE’s first AI-powered SpaceTech company with global reach. In its first year, it launched Thuraya-4, the most advanced GEO L-band satellite in the region, now serving over 100 countries with connectivity across isolated communities, maritime routes, and disaster zones. Its Foresight satellite constellation, integrated with the AI-driven geospatial platform GIQ, delivers near real-time Earth observation intelligence that helped coordinate flood response during the 2024 UAE floods and is now being applied to wildfire monitoring in Spain, the first civilian operational authorization of HAPS technology in Europe. Its autonomous ride-hailing service, TXAI, has completed nearly 600,000 kilometers and over 20,000 passenger trips across Abu Dhabi without incident. Through its planned Equatys venture with Viasat, Space42 is developing a multi-tenant satellite infrastructure spanning up to 2,800 satellites to enable direct-to-device 5G connectivity for populations beyond the reach of traditional networks