Welcome back to your weekly journey through the MENA startup landscape!

Guess what day it is? That's right—Saudi National Day! And there's no better time to tune into the latest and greatest in the MENA startup world -> Let's get you up to speed!

Weekly Funding Roundup

Seez (UAE/SaaS) raised $4.2M

Plain Tiger (UAE/E-commerce) raised undisclosed round

Darent (KSA/Proptech) raised seed round

LIVSHO (KSA/E-commerce) received SAR75,000 grant from Misk

TESS Payments (Qatar/Fintech) raised funding

LabLabee (Algeria/Edtech) raised $3.4M

Bekia (Egypt/Cleantech) raised $150k seed round

Farid (Egypt/Edtech) raised $250k pre-Seed

Settle Payments (Egypt/Fintech) raised $2M Pre-Seed round

Userguest (Morocco/Saas) raised $2.4M seed funding

In The News

Mubadala (UAE) acquired a stake in Revolut (UK)

VentureSouq (UAE) invested in Pathao (Bangladesh)

MGX (UAE) joined consortium to invest $100b in global AI infrastructure

Dubai announced AI and robotics R&D grants and launched its new AI Security Policy

Sharjah launched AI-powered license

UAE to mandate women on boards from 2025

Saudi Arabia ranked 1st for government strategy in Global AI Index 2024

Sharaka (KSA) launched a new fund to invest in startups

GCC central banks cut interest rates

Bank of Palestine secured USD 65 Million for economic recovery

Egyptian entrepreneurs launched $42M NextEra Education initiative

Ecosystem Updates

Microsoft welcomed 12 startups to AI GrowthX Accelerator in UAE

SRTI Park launched the Deal program in Sharjah

TDeFi concluded cohort 3 of the Web3 Acceleration Program

BLDR Ventures welcomed Launchpad's second cohort

Palybook showcased 5 exceptional startups in Kuwait

SDB launched Fintech Hub Program in Saudi Arabia

Athar Climate Accelerator graduated 5th cohort

i-be to establish a startup studio in Oman

Startup Highlights

Peec (UAE) to offer repurposed electric cars for only Dh70,000 in 2025

talabat (UAE) partnered with the Asian Football Confederation

Podeo (UAE) to distribute podcasts to millions of taxi passengers

Qiwa (KSA) won Middle East Excellence Awards

Beyon Money (Bahrain) won Best Mobile Payments App Award

Kenzz (Egypt) launched Kenzz TV

Takhzin (Egypt) won MINT X EEA Startup competition

Subsbase (Egypt) won two awards at The Global Economics Awards

Open For Application

Sedrah Incubator | Saudi Arabia

Mashroo3i Program | Bahrain

Orange Corners Incubator | South Sudan

FinTech Accelerator Program | Morocco

Impact Beyond Borders 24 | Morocco

Dubai RDI Grant Initiative (500K to 1.5M AED) | UAE

From Innovation to Creation Startup Grants | Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Tunisia

Pitch your startup to COREangels MEA | MENA

Register your startup on the Investment Map | Egypt

Cool Events This Week

• Future Tech Event - 23/09 | Muscat

• Orange Corners Cycle 5 Demo Day - 23/09 | Virtual

• DecarboMed - 24/09 | Tunis

• Fintech Gulf 2025 - 25/09 | Dubai

• Women in Technology - 25/09 | Sharjah

• VC Spotlight: From Founder to VC - 25/09 | Abu Dhabi

• PowHer Networking: Meet Founders - 25/09 | Ramallah

• EdVentures Leaps Roadshow - 25/09 | Alexandria

• Techstars Pitch Series - 25/09 | Virtual

• Women In Tech Roadshow - 28/09 | Beirut

Techy Bytes

G42 & NVIDIA to create Earth-2 Climate Tech Lab in Abu Dhabi

Botim launched Send Now, Pay Later remittance service

Saudi Arabia's Allam LLM now available on Microsoft Azure

Yemen became first Middle Eastern country to access Starlink satellite internet

Neuralink’s Blindsight received clearance from the FDA

Snap introduced AI video-generation tools

Instagram launched Teen accounts

YouTube launched Communities