Julie Barbier Le Blan

Julie Barbier-Leblan is a serial entrepreneur with 15 years of experience in disrupting innovative technologies and strategic partnerships. She founded Merit, one of the fastest growing start-up in global engagement technology and solutions start-ups in the GCC and closed a 5M USD-Series A round with GCC VCs in 2021 co-led by Impact46 and Tech Invest Com, followed by a 28M series B round in 2025 led by Alistithmar capital. Originally from France and after a successful career in finance law in Europe, Julie launched her first start-up in Dubai in 2012, MyList, a B2C digital gifting start-up. In 2016, Merit Incentives was set up to cater to the B2B growing demand on rewards & digital gifting for large enterprise clients in the MENA region and globally. Julie recently decided to offer these robust enterprise software and solutions to cater to SMEs by launching SaaS platforms, Rewardsby.com and Giftcardsby.com.