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

We’ve got the latest on:

• Investment news & acquisition roundups

• Startup ecosystem updates

• Events, programs & opportunities

Let’s get started!

💰 Weekly Funding Roundup

• Cartona (Egypt/e-Commerce) closed an $8.1 million Series A round

• Educatly (Egypt/EdTech) raised $2.5 million

• Synapse Analytics (Egypt/AI) raised $2 million

• Qardy قرضي (Egypt/Fintech) closed an undisclosed round

• MNT-Halan (Egypt/Fintech) acquired Tam Finans (Turkey)

• Intelmatix (KSA/DeepTech) raised $20 million in a Series A

• Ahli Fintech invested in Capifly (KSA/Fintech)

• Velents AI (KSA/SaaS) raised an undisclosed round

• Brev.dev backed by Nama Ventures (KSA) acquired by NVIDIA

• National Pulse (UAE) invested in Aleta Planet (Singapore/Fintech)

• Kanoo Ventures (UAE) invested in CorrosionRADAR

• WakeCap Technologies (UAE) acquired Crews by Core

📰 In The News

• ADIA bid $5 billion for Indian Haldiram, and considering a $1 billion investment in Nestlé

• Saudi Public Investment Fund signed $50 billion deal with Chinese financiers

• UAE and Qatari funds invested in India’s Adani

• Al Ansari Financial Services to acquire BFC Group Holdings for $200 million

• Bahrain opened registration for Saudi companies in its Takamul program

• Saudi Arabia crowned as Premier Web3 Hub by Adaverse

🚀 Ecosystem Updates

• Monsha’at launched a Real Estate innovation accelerator

• Saudi Media Academy launched a media business accelerator in partnership with China

• The first batch of the Saudipreneur program graduated

• Egypt Innovate announced the winners of its North Africa 2024 initiative

• Startupbootcamp partnered with Meta

• Google unveiled 10 startups for its African acceleration program

• Jobtech Alliance invested in eight new African tech startups

• Fifty finalists were selected for the 2024 Africa’s Business Heroes competition

🦄 Startup Highlights

• Yango Drive introduced Tesla Cybertruck rentals in Dubai

• WideBot (UAE) expanded its Arabic AI capabilities

• SARsatX (KSA) launched Airborne Sensor SSX-1

• Idealz (UAE) expanded to Lebanon and Mexico

🏆 Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• Startups Investment Readiness Program | Qatar

• Contech Entrepreneurship Innovation Program | Egypt

• EBRD Star Venture Program | Egypt

• Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator Project Cycle 2 | Egypt

• Startup Scale-up Program | Libya

• Digital Entrepreneurship Program by Forward Inc | Virtual

• WFP Relief & Resilience Innovation Challenge | Global

• Future for Nature Awards | Global

• The Pivot Challenge | Global

📅 Must Attend Events in August

• 06 August | Attract Investors to Raise Funds | Manama

• 07 August | Founder Institute GCC Graduation Showcase | Virtual

• 07 August | Startup Grind Hosting Gold House Ventures | Amman

• 14 August | Jordan StartUp Expo | Amman

• 14 August | Startup Founder's Guide to Building AI Products | Virtual

• 28 August | Unlocking the Power of Social Selling | Virtual

• 30 August | Sustainability Innovation Awards 2024 | Dubai

🌟 Interesting Stuff

• UAE to welcome 6,700 millionaires from all over the world by the end of this year

• Saudi Arabia officially bid to host FIFA World Cup 2034

• Gulf investors showing renewed interest in Egypt’s startups

• Industrial giants continue to expand their investments in Morocco

• Here's what you need to know about the EU AI Act

• Exploring what could Kamala Harris’ potential presidency mean for Middle East tech landscape

🤖 Techy Bytes

• Nvidia slowly becoming the IBM of the AI Era

• Google released new open-source AI models

• Canva acquired Leonardo.ai

• Egypt adopted E-KYC technology to protect investor data in the gold sector

• AI clones to revolutionize content creation according to Zuckerberg

• TikTok now lets you find songs by singing or humming them