Hola, awesome founders! We're back with another edition of your go-to source for the latest in the MENA startup world.

This week’s edition is, as always, packed with exciting funding news, industry insights, and tech breakthroughs.

Let’s get started!

Weekly Funding Roundup

• Merit (SaaS/KSA) closes $12M pre-Series B round

• Sorbet (DeFi/KSA) receives funding from Adaverse

• Huspy (Fintech/UAE) secures a new investment round

• Angel Spark (UAE) invests in Reno App (Proptech/UAE)

• Electra Investments (UAE) to acquire a stake in ElSewedy Electric

• Maxion (Social Networking/UAE) to launch seed round to raise $1.2-$1.5M

• EFG Hermes (Fintech/Egypt) acquires a minority stake in Kenzi

• OneOrder (Logistics/Egypt) raises $16M Series A

• Birdnest (Proptech/Egypt) secures a pre-Series A round

• e-finance (Fintech/Egypt) acquires stakes in Momken and EasyCash

• CME (IT/Lebanon) acquires Augmental Learning

• Liwwa (Fintech/Jordan) secures $5M loan from DFC

• Batelco (Bahrain) acquires Link Development (Egypt)

In The News

• Beltone launched a $2.4M project for Egyptian entrepreneurs

• OpenseedVC launches with a $10M first close

• IFC invests $150M in Africa’s SMEs

• G42 (UAE) and Microsoft to invest $1B in Kenya data center

• SBI Holdings, MISA, and BIM to establish a new fund in Saudi

• Qatar is offering incentives to global investors

Ecosystem Updates

• Global Prompt Engineering Championship winners revealed

• Mohammed Kilany (Palestine) wins the Kuwaiti Tech Innovators Award

• STC (KSA) announced the launch of inspireU General Program

• Iraq to launch the National Entrepreneurship Competition

• Three winners at Techstars Startup Weekend Bahrain

• Over 250 firms join Project Qatar

• CABSAT 2024 concludes its 30th edition

Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• Riyadh Seed Program by Flat6labs

• Anjal Z Program by Techstars

• Sedrah Accelerator

• Orange Corners Erbil Program

• The Dubai Food Incubator Program by The Co-Kitchens

• Founder Studio is looking for serial entrepreneurs

• Food System Challenge by Berytech

• L'Oréal BigBang Startup Challenge

• The Global D-Prize Competition

• Mastercard Women SME Leaders Awards

• Egypt’s Entrepreneurship Awards (EEA)

Cool Events

• SparkAngel - 26 May, Riyadh

• Smart Data & AI Summit Summit - 27 May, Riyadh

• Let's Meet SYEA - 27 May, Damascus

• Make it in the Emirates Forum - 27.28 May, Abu Dhabi

• Google For Startups Women in AI Demo Day - 28 May, Riyadh

• AWS Summit - 29 May, Dubai

• Kickstart Bahrain EdTech Demo Day - 30 May, Virtual

• Vodafone's AI Assistive Tools Hackathon - 30 May, Egypt

Interesting Stuff

• Saudi religious tourism harnesses economic benefits

• Saudi fintechs bring in $1B investments

• Saudi leads MENA construction with a $1.5T pipeline

• How Anghami is beating Spotify in MENA by Lara Fakhry

• Gaza startups seek opportunities in Egypt

• Alpen Capital highlights GCC-India investment opportunities

• Podcast: Mohamed Jawabri from Lendo (KSA)

Techy Bytes

• IBM to help Saudi Arabia train AI models in Arabic

• Meta unveils Chameleon AI to rival Google's Gemini

• Aramco to use Saudi’s first quantum computer

• Alike and DCT launched the Abu Dhabi Pass App

• Microsoft to make Windows an AI operating system, and partner with Truecaller to let its AI respond to calls

• Chinese AI Giants Slash prices in chatbot language model war.

• Amazon Unveils Alexa 2.0 with AI