Lara Varjabedian knows what a globally scattered network feels like. From Lebanon’s Armenian diaspora and raised in Algeria, she spent more than a decade in insurance at Generali and Coface, then moved into startups with Prenetics before founding consulting firms that supported early-stage ventures. In December 2023 she joined Jonathan L. Hasson as co-founder of UBQT, a Dubai-based AI startup built around one observation: the two had lived in the same city for a year without knowing it.
That miss points to a larger problem. People have never had bigger digital networks, yet loneliness keeps rising, while most social platforms are built to hold attention on screens. UBQT is deliberately not a feed. Its purpose is real-world connection.
Today, UBQT positions itself as an AI-powered community platform for businesses, alumni networks, event organisers and employee programmes. Its artificial intelligence, called UBQT Magic, works quietly in the background, using location, timing, calendars and shared contacts to suggest who to meet, when and where. It can flag when a contact is travelling to the same city, remind members to catch up with people they have drifted from, and make curated introductions at events. A “Catch Me” status lets someone signal availability for a meeting in a single tap.
The practical value is fewer missed opportunities. For community managers, it means engagement that continues offline rather than ending when an event does. In 2025, UBQT served as the official community and ecosystem partner of GITEX Global in Dubai.
For Varjabedian, an AI founder and a visible voice for women in technology across the UAE startup scene, the aim is clear: “We are about human connections in a very overwhelmed digital world.” As AI technology spreads into daily life, her work makes a quiet case that its best use may be restoring human connection.
