Hola awesome entrepreneurs!

It’s time again to explore what’s new and exciting in the MENA startup ecosystem.

Are you ready to dive in?

Here’s what we have for you this week!

Weekly Funding Roundup

• 44.01 (Oman/ClimateTech) raised $37M

• MNT-Halan (Egypt/Fintech) raised $157.5M

• Dopay (Egypt/Fintech) secured $13.5M

• Mubadala and Qatar Investment Authority invested $600M in TEN

• Ades (KSA) raised $3bn backed by PIF

• Wa’ed Ventures (KSA) led a $6.5M round for aiXplain

• Ogram (UAE/HR) closed an expansion funding round

• EQ2 Ventures (UAE) invested in Uncover Skincare (Kenya)

• Majarra (UAE/Digital Content) acquired Lableb (UAE/AI Search Engine)

• Power League Gaming (UAE/Esports) was acquired by Muller & Phipps

• TechMal (KSA/PropTech) completed a $1 million seed round

• Okhtbout (KSA/Car Service) secured 1M SAR

In The News

• Saudia agreed to purchase 50 air taxis from Germany's Lilium

• Masdar (UAE) secured USD 1 billion to expand global renewable projects

• ADGM announced a significant license fee reduction for multiple sectors

• UAE and Indonesia to trade in local currencies

• Jordan launched a national blockchain network

• Dubai businessmen initiated Air Kerala, a new low-cost airline

• Mubasher launched Sharikat Mubasher to support the Saudi startup ecosystem

Ecosystem Updates

• JOIN Fincubator (Jordan) hosted Jordan’s first university fintech hackathon

• Seven teams won the MASA Fintech hackathon in Jordan

• Hub71 (UAE) and Princeville Capital partnered to support ClimateTech startups globally

• e& UAE revealed the winners of SMB Awards 2024

• Algeria Startup Challenge programs led to 34,000 direct and indirect jobs

• Egyptian startups dominated at the North African startup competition

Startup Highlights

• myZoi (UAE/Fintech) launched UAE’s first inclusive digital wallet

• 5dVR (Egypt/VR) expanded to Saudi Arabia

• Hala Ride (UAE/Mobility) expanded to Egypt

• Mozn (KSA/Fintech) recognized as one of the top 250 global Fintech companies by Statista and CNBC

• 4Sale (Kuwait/Marketplace) expanded its online platform into the automotive sector

• Takka (Egypt/Fintech) celebrated over one million app downloads

Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• The Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator | Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan

• Makers ConTech Innovation Program | Egypt

• Fintech Accelerator Program Fall'24 | Egypt

• Fintech for a Future Accelerator | Egypt

• IF Social Impact Prize | Global

• Future of Capitalism Competition | Global

• THRIVE Global Impact Challenge | Global

Must Attend Events This Week

• Women Spark's Demo Day - 24 July | Virtual

• Hub71 Info Session - 24 July | Virtual

• Throwback Thursday Episode #2 - 25 July | DIFC, Dubai

• Building in Public: Transparency, Community, and Innovation - 25 July | Dubai

• PR Strategies for a Successful Product Launch - 25 July | In5 Tech, Dubai

• Unlocking UAE: How European Startups Can Leverage the UAE Market - 24 July | Virtual

Interesting Stuff

• Falcons (KSA) won the Esports World Cup

• PIF (KSA) increased its stake in Newcastle United to 85%

• The UAE is set to introduce self-driving vehicles

• Article: What exactly is an AI agent?

• Report on H1 2024 Saudi Arabia Venture Capital

• Report on the Bahrain Startup Ecosystem

Techy Bytes

• Massive IT outage rocked the globe

• Google to acquire cloud security company Wiz for $23B

• Google created self-replicating digital life forms

• OpenAI unveiled GPT-4o mini

• UAE’s TelecomGPT could be a game-changer in the AI space globally

• Abu Dhabi launched an AI tender to predict epidemic threats

• Apple, NVIDIA, and others face backlash over scraping data from YouTube