Welcome back to your weekly update on what’s happening in the MENA startup world!

September is here, and it’s kicking off with some serious momentum. Startups are raising, accelerators are accelerating, a few mergers here and there, and of course lots of cool events to attend

Let’s get started!

Weekly Funding Roundup

myco (UAE/Web3 Streaming) closed a $10 million Series A round

Verofax (UAE/Web3 ) secured a $3 million round

Zenfuse (UAE/Crypto) secured $500,000 in an Initial Coin Offering

Powder Beauty (UAE/E-commerce) raised an undisclosed pre-Series A round

Hulexo (UAE/ERP) raised a seed round from Arzan VC (Kuwait)

Flat6Labs (Egypt/VC) invested in MoneyLoop (KSA/Fintech)

Sakan (Kuwait/Proptech) acquired hapondo (Qatar/PropTech )

In The News

Intersect closed a $5 million fund to extend the runway of Palestinian tech startups impacted by the ongoing war

Saudi Arabia launched the Digital Future Readiness Program

Gulf Investors launched a $200 million Waad Investment Fund

Hodler and GEWAN launched a $500 million Digital Energy Fund in UAE

Mubadala acquired UCB’s business in China

e& enterprise acquired GlassHouse (Turkey)

MaxAB (Egypt) merged with Wasoko (Kenya), creating one of the largest e-commerce platforms in Africa

Ecosystem Updates

Orange Corners Baghdad to launch its 9th cohort

Dubai AI Campus partnered with Google Cloud

Flat6Labs wrapped the Climate Finance Accelerator (CFA) in Egypt

TDF celebrated the first Grow Accelerator cohort in Saudi Arabia

Emirates Development Bank launched a student entrepreneurship bootcamp

Jordan Start welcomed 21 new startups into its incubation program

Idealab Cycle 3 welcomed 53 Clean and AgriFood tech solutions from across Lebanon

Startup Highlights

ArabiQuest (Bahrain/Edtech) won first place at StartUp Bahrain’s Pitch series

CoinMENA (Bahrain/Crypto) partnered with Bitpanda

Talabat (UAE) preparing an IPO on Dubai Financial Market

Paymate (UAE/Fintech) partnered with NPCI Bharat BillPay

FlapKap (UAE/Fintech) partnered with Aramex

Menthum (Egypt/Fintech) launched a USD fixed-income fund

Open For Application

REAF Ideathon Fourth Edition - 21-22 Sep | Baalbeck

Intersect Startups-in-Residence Program | Palestine

IPSAR Accelerator Program | Saudi Arabia

Web Summit Qatar ALPHA Startup Program | Qatar

Antler Residency Program | Middle East

Techstars Web3 Accelerator | Worldwide

Sber AI Journey Contest (Prize $90.000) | Worldwide

Cool Events in September

• Seamless North Africa - 02/09 | Cairo

• 24 Fintech - 03/09 | Riyadh

• Flat6Labs' Demo Day - 04/09 | Amman

• Highway to 100 Unicorns - 04/09 | Virtual

• Qima24 - 06/09 | Beirut

• Future Banks Summit & Awards - 09/09 | Riyadh

• Flat6Labs Demo Day - 10/09 | Riyadh

• Dubai AI & Web3 Festival - 11/09 | Dubai

• Saudi Event Show - 11/09 | Riyadh

Interesting Picks

Discover the pioneering role of Emirati Women in shaping the future of AI

A deep dive into venture capital in the UAE

Learn more about the future of gaming careers in the MENA region

From Local to Global: The Urgent Shift for MENA’s Startup Scene by Dana Labin

Explore a comprehensive guide on startup funding stages

Techy Bytes

Vodafone Qatar introduced 1st instant SIM in the world

Mohammed Bin Rashid Library exploring AI integration in virtual talk sessions

National Bank of Egypt launching a Touch Card for visually impaired individuals

Google working on AI that can hear signs of sickness

Microsoft, Nvidia, and Apple to fund OpenAI’s next big thing

WhatsApp to replace phone numbers with usernames

Gmail users on Android can now chat with Gemini about their emails

France has released and formally charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov

Brazil's top court ordered a ban on Elon Musk’s X platform