Welcome back to our weekly dive into the vibrant startup ecosystem of the Middle East and North Africa!

This edition is packed with fresh insights on funding activities, strategic partnerships, and revolutionary tech developments.

Let’s get started!

💰 Weekly Funding Roundup

• Blend (KSA/Saas) closed a $1.3 million pre-seed round

• TWLM (KSA/FoodTech) secured $270,000

• Blockscout (UAE/Blockchain) raised $3 million

• Lucky ONE (Egypt/Fintech) raised $3 million through a convertible note

• 216 Capital (Tunisia) invested in eSteps Health

• Link Social App (KSA) raised an undisclosed round

• PIF (KSA) pumped $1.5 billion into Lucid Motors and invested $750 million in Magic Leap

• Oraseya Capital (UAE) invested in seven startups

• ADQ (UAE) acquired minority stake in Sotheby

• ADIA (UAE) invested in Flyr’s $295M capital raise

📰 In The News

• Saudi Arabia ranked 1st among G20 countries in workforce growth rate

• UAE and Morocco agreed to enhance their billion-dollar trade relations

• Oracle expanded its cloud services with a new region in Riyadh

• Cerebras Systems, backed by Abu Dhabi, filed for a US IPO

• ADIA consortium submitted a $6.9 billion bid for UK’s Hargreaves Lansdown

• Arab nations attracted $406bn in oil and gas investments

• Mubadala races to salvage its European start-up investments

🚀 Ecosystem Updates

• T-Vencubator launched a new initiative to fund Egyptian startups

• Abu Dhabi Chamber introduced the Abu Dhabi Business Connect platform

• DIFC partnered with Ripple to advance fintech innovation

• Hub71 partnered with Princeville Capital to promote climate tech innovation

• Etihad Credit partnered with Wio Bank to support Xport Xponential program

• Bina partnered with Zamzam to enhance entrepreneurial activities in Somalia

🦄 Startup Highlights

• CAMB.AI (UAE) is pioneering the field of AI-driven dubbing to overcome language barriers

• eSteps Health (Tunisia) introduced smart insole for detecting neurological diseases

• KarmSolar (Egypt) partnered with ValU (Egypt/Fintech) to launch electric charging stations

• Sav (UAE/Fintech) secured approval from Dubai Financial Services Authority

• Rehlacar (KSA) partnered with UPS Saudi Arabia to enhance logistics solutions

• Six Bahraini startups were chosen for Riyada accelerator program

🏆 Upcoming Programs & Opportunities

• Startupbootcamp Energy and Sustainability Accelerator - Saudi Arabia

• Raise: The Art of Fundraising (Cohort 6) - Bahrain

• Where's the Problem? by Vencubator - Egypt

• Xmatch Demo Day November - Egypt

• Google for Startups AI First Accelerator - MENA

• Reconstruction Tools Hackathon in Gaza - Global

• Llama Impact Grants - Global

📅 Must Attend Events This Week

• Jordan StartUp Expo, 14 August | Amman

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

• Startup Grind Hosting Access Bridge Ventures, 14 August | Amman

• Meet & Greet the DEP Session, 14 August | Virtual

• Founders Factory Gen F Mixer, 14 August | Cairo

• AstroLabs’ Meet & Greet, 14 August | Riyadh

• AiSalon, 15 August | Doha

🌟 Interesting Stuff

• UAE to lead MENA crypto adoption by 2025

• Explore the economic benefits of hosting the E-sports World Cup in Saudi Arabia

• Meet the top 10 Angel Investors shaping the startup landscape in Saudi Arabia.

• Turkey’s Instagram ban hits $57m-a-day e-commerce trade

• AI-powered water heaters could end cold showers and carbon pollution

• Analyzing how breaking up Google could reshape the internet's future

🤖 Techy Bytes

• G42 unveiled Jais 70B and 20 new AI models to lead Arabic NLP innovation

• X launching its payment service

• Airbnb to expand beyond short-term rentals

• TikTok partnered with Warner Bros to become a discovery engine for TV and movies

• Reddit testing AI-powered search result pages

• Cringy Elon Musk accused OpenAI of fraud and breach of trust