Hello and welcome to this week’s roundup of the MENA startup world.

We’ve got the latest on investments, cool events, and tech news just for you.

Let’s get started!

Weekly Funding Roundup

• EQIQ (Iraq) led a $500K pre-seed round in Corrsy (Iraq/EdTech)

• Pathfinder (UAE/RetailTech) secured a $325M round

• Mamo (UAE/Fintech) secured $3.4M

• Watermelon Ecosystem (UAE/FoodTech) raised $4M

• Verbatica (UAE/EdTech) secured $700K

• Shurooq Partners (UAE) led a $1.5M round in Zyp Technologies

• Crowd Analyzer (UAE/Analytics) was acquired by Saudi investors

• Wa’ed Ventures (KSA) invested $15M in Rebellions (KSA/Generative AI)

• OTO (KSA/Logistics) raised $8M in Series A

• Kemitt (Egypt/Marketplace) raised an undisclosed round

In The News

• Jordanian Entrepreneurship Fund invested $2 million in Oasis500 Fund

• UAE-China trade to reach $200bn in 2030

• Dubai launched a Dhs105 million plan to improve mental health

• DIB led $3.2bn financing for GEMS Education

• Mubadala Capital bought a majority stake in Bugaboo

• Al-Takamul Group acquired 15% of Nabataty (KSA)

Ecosystem Updates

• Berytech (Lebanon) wrapped up batch 2 of REAF program while batch 6 of Agrytech program landed in the Netherlands

• Playbook (Bahrain) recognized by Forbes for its efforts in Women's Tech leadership

• MBZUAI (UAE) launched a six-day executive AI program

• Open Innovation AI (UAE) partnered with AMD to advance AI and GPU orchestration

• Falak Investment Hub (KSA) joined UNGC and launched a ClimateTech Accelerator

• Flat6Labs and Shell relaunching the Intilaaqah program in Egypt

• Banknbox (Egypt) and CSC Jordan partnered to drive financial inclusion

Startup Highlights

• Careem Pay (UAE) expanded its services to the Philippines

• Astra Tech's Quantix received a full CB UAE Finance Company License

• SerVme (UAE/Saas) partnered with myFatoorah (Kuwait/Saas) to enhance digital payments across the Middle East

• Aura (UAE/Fintech) partnered with Reem Finance (UAE/Fintech) to improve SME cash flow

• Paymob (Egypt/Fintech) partnered with Homegrown Ventures to boost E-commerce for FMCG startups

Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• Palestine Launchpad Program by SPARK | Palestine

• Sprout Program by INJAZ Lebanon | Lebanon

• Energy & Sustainability Accelerator by Startupbootcamp | Saudi Arabia

• Heya Raeda Program by TIEC | Egypt

• Plug and Play Cairo Program | Egypt

• Fashion Tech Factory Incubation Program by 1KUB | Tunisia

• Climate Tech Accelerator Program by Brinc | Virtual

• AI Xelerate Bootcamp by AB Xelerate | MENA

Must Attend Events This Week

• Tunisian Startup Ecosystem Panel | 30 July, Virtual

• Circular Economy Problem-Solving Workshop | 30 July, Ramallah

• The $100M Problem | 30 July, Riyadh

• Product/Market Fit vs Product/’Go-to-Market’ Fit Masterclass | 31 July, Ramallah

• To Raise or not to Raise? | 31 July, Dubai

• Market Research Workshop | 01 August, Basra

• Founders Live Cairo | 03 August, Cairo

• Matchmaking, Development, and Networking Event | 03 August, Mersin

Interesting Stuff

• Karim Beguir (InstaDeep) launched a project to train 10,000 Tunisian youth in AI skills

• Exploring the impact of Tunisia’s Startup Act

• How will interest-free loans boost UAE’s priority sectors?

• Sustainable city in Dubai deploying autonomous delivery robots

• How Saudi Arabia is leading the EV revolution globally

• Analyzing the surge in AI innovation in the Middle East

• The true impact of open immigration policies on MENA's economic growth

Techy Bytes

• Telegram plans to launch app store while userbase hits 950M

• Meta released its biggest open AI model and rolled out new Instagram AI tools

• Alphabet to invest another $5B into Waymo

• Google enhanced its Play Store with AI and made Gemini faster

• Adobe released new AI tools for Illustrator and Photoshop