Hey MENA entrepreneurs! We're back with another edition of your ultimate guide to the latest in the MENA startup world.

Let’s dive in!

Weekly Funding Roundup

• Holo (UAE/Proptech) raised an undisclosed pre-Series A round

• GrubTech (UAE/Foodtech) raised a $15M in Series B round

• Growdash (UAE/SaaS) raised a $1.8M seed round

• Param Labs (UAE/Gaming) secured $7M

• Aanaab (KSA/Edtech) raised an undisclosed round

• Iyris (KSA/Agritech) closed a $16M Series A round

• MIS (KSA) invested $1M in Elon Musk's xAI

• Prosperity7 VC (KSA) co-invested in Zhipu AI

• YoLa Fresh (Morocco/Agritech) secured a $7M in pre-Series A round

• Flat6Labs (Egypt) invested in Holoul (KSA/Proptech)

• IM Capital (Lebanon) portfolio company MEACOR secured $15M

In The News

• PIF (KSA) crowned world’s most valuable sovereign wealth fund and launched Neo Space Group

• TVM Capital closed a Saudi health tech fund

• MoIAT and EDB launched a $100M AI innovation program in UAE

• Algerian Startup Fund (ASF) launched a fund for energy projects

• Qatar Free Zone is establishing a global AI center

Ecosystem Updates

• Visa Everywhere Initiative 2024 finalists revealed (KSA)

• 500 Global and Sanabil announce Batch 7 (KSA)

• Six startups pitch at StartUp Bahrain

• Beban (Bahrain) entrepreneurs raise $4M+

• BENEFIT (Bahrain) launches Fintech Drivers program

• PwC Academy and Women Choice launch program for Saudi women

Startup Highlights

• Yalla (UAE) launches Yalla Invest

• Thndr (Egypt/Fintech) expands into the UAE

• Numa (Jordan) partners with Mamun (Oman) to support freelancers

• Flend (Egypt/Fintech) gets approval to fund SMEs

• Talabat (UAE) teams up with Dubai Taxi to expand their delivery fleet

• Egyptian footballer Mido is taking his academy global after Shark Tank win

Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• Virtual Accelerate Scale-Up Acceleration Program in Aleppo & Damascus

• Flat6labs Riyadh & Amman Seed Programs

• inspireU General Program by STC

• Let’s Build, Africa! By CcHub

• Good Food Makers Challenge by Plug and Play

• Hope Ventures opens applications to Beban season four

• Middle East Hacker House is looking for builders in the Deeptech space

• KPMG Global Tech Innovator Competition in Saudi Arabia

Must Attend Events This Week

• Fintech Future Summit - 04 June, Riyadh

• Eureka! GCC 2024 Grand Finale - 04 June, Dubai

• Fintech Summit Middle East - 05 June, Amman

• The GAMES Generative AI Summit - 05 June, Doha

• Forward·Inc Demo Day Spring '24 - 05 June, Virtual

• Mastercard Women SME Leaders Awards - 06 June, Dubai

• Demystifying Private Credit by Magnitt - 06 June, Virtual

Interesting Stuff

• Saudi IPOs have attracted a record $176bn in orders

• Dubai Press Club has launched the Arab Podcast Program and released a report on podcasting in the Arab world

• Dive into The Future of Generative AI, including trends and challenges

• Nearly half of MENA employees are considering entrepreneurship

• Discover why B2B in emerging markets makes sense by The Realistic Optimist

Techy Bytes

• Fans can now collect Ronaldo's legacy with a new NFT collection

• China launches a staggering $47.5B fund to boost its AI Chip industry

• Microsoft's AI Copilot arrives on Telegram

• Google rolls out Gemini's mobile experience to Arabic speakers worldwide

• PwC invests $1 Billion in ChatGPT enterprise solutions

• Apple reveals iOS 18

• Nvidia is now worth more than Amazon and Tesla combined