Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, has invested in micro learning app Uptime, also becoming a board member. Courtesy HB Investments
Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, has invested in micro learning app Uptime, also becoming a board member. Courtesy HB Investments
Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, has invested in micro learning app Uptime, also becoming a board member. Courtesy HB Investments
Huda Kattan, the founder of Huda Beauty and chairwoman of HB Investments, has invested in micro learning app Uptime, also becoming a board member. Courtesy HB Investments

Huda Kattan invests in micro learning app Uptime, joining as a board member


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Huda Beauty founder Huda Kattan is now one of the investors in micro learning app Uptime, which raised $16 million in seed funding in February.

Kattan, who joins YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley as an investor, among others, will also serve as a board member of the platform through her HB Investments.

Uptime is a self-described "knowledge hacking app", available to download for free, giving users five-minute snippets of a variety of content – everything from books to courses and documentaries. Users then have the option to purchase the content in its entirety via the app.

The platform is aimed at anyone who wants to learn, but only has a short amount of time or limited resources to do so, said co-founder Patrick Walker, a former YouTube and Facebook executive.

"It's perfect for Gen-Z, millennials, parents, anyone with an interest in enhancing their personal or career prospects, and a desire to fill their time with constructive and uplifting content," he told TechCrunch in February.

Kattan’s involvement brings the total raised by Uptime to $19 million in less than a year. The company will use the new funding to continue to develop the product, the content and accelerate global growth, it said.

“Democratising access to education is something I care deeply about and so does the team at Uptime,” Kattan, who is also the chairwoman of HB Investments, said. "I’m excited to be joining them on this journey as an investor and board member to create a truly global ed-tech platform."

Hurley, an angel investor, said: "I've been watching the Uptime team closely and it's clear they're on to a winner with the innovative learning format and blending of advanced machine learning and human curation.

“Consumer tech products are no longer just about engaging users, they have to offer value and this is one app I’m excited to be backing.”

Ever since it launched in 2017, Kattan's HB Investments has been funding and mentoring entrepreneurs around the world. Last September, it became one of the principal shareholders of the UAE luxury resale marketplace The Luxury Closet.

In April, Kattan announced she was sponsoring Nascar's first female Arab driver Toni Breidinger, who made her debut driving the Huda Beauty 02 Chevrolet SS at the General Tire 200 series at Talladega Superspeedway.

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UPI facts

More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere

Director: Scott Cooper

Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong

Rating: 4/5

Employment lawyer Meriel Schindler of Withers Worldwide shares her tips on achieving equal pay
 
Do your homework
Make sure that you are being offered a fair salary. There is lots of industry data available, and you can always talk to people who have come out of the organisation. Where I see people coming a cropper is where they haven’t done their homework.
 
Don’t be afraid to negotiate

It’s quite standard to negotiate if you think an offer is on the low side. The job is unlikely to be withdrawn if you ask for money, and if that did happen I’d question whether you want to work for an employer who is so hypersensitive.
 
Know your worth
Women tend to be a bit more reticent to talk about their achievements. In my experience they need to have more confidence in their own abilities – men will big up what they’ve done to get a pay rise, and to compete women need to turn up the volume.
 
Work together
If you suspect men in your organisation are being paid more, look your boss in the eye and say, “I want you to assure me that I’m paid equivalent to my peers”. If you’re not getting a straight answer, talk to your peer group and consider taking direct action to fix inequality.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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