Hello and welcome back to your weekly dose of what’s happening in the MENA startup world

As we gear up for another week, the MENA startup ecosystem is buzzing with activity, so let’s get started!

Weekly Funding Roundup

FlapKap (UAE/Fintech) raised $34M Pre-Series A

YouMatch (UAE/Dating App) secured $1.5M Seed funding

Rewardable (UAE/Web3) secured an undisclosed seed round

Cubin (UAE/Automation) raised an undisclosed round

Regards (KSA/Experiences Gifting) raised $1.5M

UmrahCash (KSA/Fintech) secured $500,000

Qomel Factory (KSA/Pharmaceutical) secured SAR 50.7M

IO Kitchens (Oman/Saas) raised $2.8M Seed Round

Paymob (Egypt/Fintech) raised $22M in Series B Extension

KWIKS (Morocco/HR) raised MAD 8M

In The News

Sultan Ventures acquired Acasia

Entlaq acquired a stake in Brotinni (Egypt/FoodTech)

Arcapita acquired majority stake in NeoPay

Fawry (Egypt/Fintech) acquired majority stake in Svreico

First revenue-based Islamic financing fund for SMEs launched in Egypt

Launch Africa Ventures launched Mezzanine Impact Fund

Dubai launched its new AI Security Policy

Ecosystem Updates

DMCC launched AI Centre

Hub71 welcomed 21 startups in cohort 15

Dubai AI & Web3 Festival attracted 6,800 visitors from over 100 countries

10 Startups graduated from Flat6Labs

AstroLabs concluded the second cohort of banker technologist program

QFC Digital Assets Lab in Qatar welcomed twenty-four participant

Exis MENA partnered with Google to launch NAQLA program

Startup Highlights

Sulmi (UAE/Mobility) launched first UAE-made e-motorcycle in Sharjah

Fasset (UAE/Fintech) launched IOWN Blockchain

AHOY and Hyperfusion unveiled project Jeriko

MenaMoney (Bahrain/FIntech) partnered with UAE and Gulf Insurance Federations

Contact (Egypt/Fintech) launched Contact Credit

Oyster (Lebanese-Owned) is now valued at over $1.2 billion

Alraedah (KSA) launched TRAY Cloud POS in Saudi market

Ejari (KSA/Proptech) won KPMG Global Tech Innovator competition

Orient (UAE/Fintech) launched platform to trade gold seamlessly

Open For Application

Agrytech Accelerator by Berytech | Lebanon

Become a Future 100 Company | UAE

Athar ClimateTech Accelerator | Egypt

Ebda3 Ma7ali Incubation Program | Egypt

Tech Cofounder Program by FasterCapital | Egypt

Women Entrepreneurs Without Limits | Tunisia

DarE Incubator | Mena

Cool Events in September

• Conteq Expo 24 - 16/09 | Doha

• Private Capital in Mature vs. Emerging Markets - 17/09 | Magnitt, Virtual

• Marketing & Communications Workshop - 17/09 | In5, Dubai

• C3 Impact Accelerators 2024 Online Info Session - 18/09 | Virtual

• The Middle East Banking Innovation Summit - 18/09 | Dubai

• Sharjah Investment Forum 2024 - 18/09 | Sharjah

• VC Spotlight: The Crucial Role of Ecosystem in Venture Capital - 18/09 | HUB71, Abu Dhabi

• Digital Transformation Summit Qatar - 19/09 | Doha

• StartUp Weekend Bahrain - 19/09 | Manama

• Banking and Fintech Summit - 21/09 | Cairo

Techy Bytes

UAE ministry introduced AI chatbot to enhance services

SDAIA to launch AI Center of Excellence and an index to evaluate Arabic AI models

Aramco introduced an AI supercomputer and an advanced AI platform called Norous

OpenAI launched o1-mini, looking to launch Strawberry AI Model and raise a new round on a $150B valuation

Google and Apple to pay $2.7B and $15B fines respectively to EU

A Billionaire completed the first private commercial spacewalk in history