Marill, joining from Airbnb, where he held a similar leadership role, will oversee operations across the region and will be based in Paris.

The appointment gives OpenAI a senior executive focused solely on a region where demand for its products is increasing, but where political and business issues about dependence on American technology are also growing.

Emmanuel Marill will report to Jason Kwon, chief strategy officer at OpenAI.

“As demand for ChatGPT and Codex continues to grow rapidly all over the world, we are investing significantly in our international leadership and operations,” Kwon said in a statement.

OpenAI has been aiming to win more paying business customers as it faces the high cost of developing new artificial intelligence systems. Europe is an important market, although some officials and company leaders have urged stronger support for home-grown technology firms.

French startup Mistral AI has positioned itself as a European alternative to major US companies such as OpenAI.

At the same time, OpenAI is still reviewing parts of its infrastructure plans in the region. Earlier this month, the company paused its Stargate data centre project in the United Kingdom, citing regulation and energy costs.

Microsoft, one of OpenAI’s biggest backers, later agreed to rent data centre capacity in Norway that had originally been linked to the project. OpenAI said it is still exploring a separate computing agreement there.

Marill will also lead the company’s efforts in the Middle East, where OpenAI has invested heavily, especially in the United Arab Emirates.

Its partner in the country, G42, recently said plans for a large data centre project is still on track despite tensions linked to the US conflict with Iran.

OpenAI has also signed agreements with businesses in banking, pharmaceuticals and media across Europe. It has worked with governments in Germany, Greece and Ireland, while also planning to increase staff numbers in London.

The company said in February that business subscriptions across Europe, the Middle East and Africa had grown sevenfold over the previous year, though it did not disclose revenue for the region.

Globally, Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar has said OpenAI’s annualised revenue exceeded $20 billion last year.

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Two availability zones in the UAE lost power, while Bahrain experienced connectivity issues. AWS said recovery for both regions could take “many hours,” advising customers to rely on services in other regions while it works to restore power and connectivity.

The UAE incident occurred after sparks and fire were triggered at one of the cloud provider’s zones, prompting an immediate shutdown of power in the affected areas. 

AWS did not confirm whether the outages were related to recent Iranian retaliatory strikes on neighbouring Gulf states, including the UAE and Bahrain, in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The outages coincided with other challenges across regions, as Iranian strikes in the Gulf damaged infrastructure, including Dubai airport and the Burj Al Arab hotel, prompting questions about the possible link to AWS disruptions.

Separately, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) reported technical issues affecting its platforms and mobile app users on Monday. 

While the bank did not confirm a direct link to AWS, the timing points to possible ripple effects from the data centre outages.

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Out of over 1,400 applicants, five fintech finalists have been chosen for their innovative payment solutions in areas like fraud and risk, identity and biometrics, digital wallets, open banking, and embedded finance.

The startups – representing Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, South Africa, and Nigeria – now stand a chance to progress to the Global Finals at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on October 28, competing for a grand prize of $100,000.

Launched in 2015, the Visa Everywhere Initiative enables entrepreneurs to unlock opportunities and build credibility by putting them on the global stage and facilitating access to Visa’s vast network of experts and extensive solutions suite.

Since its inception, more than 15,000 startups from over 100 countries have applied, going on to raise over $48 billion in collective funding.

In the lead-up to this year’s regional finale, Visa held several subregional events across CEMEA, including the first-ever local Levant edition spanning Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, and Iraq.

This year’s CEMEA winners across competitions will share a total prize pool of $350,000 to support their work.

Andrew Uaboi, vice president and head, Visa West Africa said: “The Visa Everywhere Initiative reflects Visa’s commitment to supporting start-up innovation, recognising fintech as a driver of economic growth and financial inclusion.

Our program helps early-stage companies scale groundbreaking solutions by putting them on a global stage, connecting them to Visa’s extensive network, and driving them to take a step forward in their growth journeys. This year’s finalists truly exemplify the remarkable entrepreneurial talent in this region.”

The fintech journey with Visa doesn’t end with the competition, living on through key deals and connections.

A prime example is Visa’s recent partnership with Nigerian fintech ThriveAgric, a former regional and global VEI winner 2022, in support of their expansion into Kenya, where they will help 10,000 farmers participate in the digital economy.

Visa previously collaborated with the innovative start-up to provide smallholder farmers with cards, bank accounts, and access to more seamless disbursements.

Also worthy of note is last year’s regional and global winner, Chibuzo Opara of Drugstoc, an innovative Nigerian Startup that leverages technology to enhance access to health care.

2024 CEMEA Finalists

Meet this year’s Visa Everywhere Initiative 2024finalists, who will go head-to-head for a high-value monetary prize to fund business growth:

• Jordan-based GamerG is a digital-first online gaming tournament platform. The startup organises daily tournaments for monetary rewards, employing skill-based matchmaking technology to connect gamers and level the playing field. It offers convenient digital payment gateways across wallets, cards, and bank transfers.

• Bahrain-headquartered CnpSecure is a turnkey digital provider that fights Card-Not-Present fraud and chargeback risks. The startup generates dynamic CVV and virtual cards on demand, reducing the risk of CNP fraud by more than 90%.

• Qatar-based fintech startup Tess Payments is a Qatar-based smart payments solution. The fintech offers a wide range of accepted payment methods and secure and convenient payment solutions for merchants, enabling them to increase sales and cater to changing customer preferences.

• South Africa-headquartered Nomanini is a developer of a payment platform designed to connect Africa’s informal and offline retail trade ecosystem to digital financial services. The platform connects merchants and distributors, providing services spanning payment orchestration and acceptance, working capital provision, and merchant analytics.

• Nigeria-based Advantage Health Africa aims to leverage technology to enhance access, affordability, and quality across healthcare in Africa, through integrated pharma solutions. Their approach addresses critical issues in the drug distribution system, such as drug counterfeiting and inconsistent pricing.

Watch the Visa Everywhere Initiative finals live on July 23, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. GST/9.30 a.m. GMT here: https://techcrunch.com/.

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