Welcome back to your weekly journey through the MENA startup landscape! This week we are bringing you the latest news, trends and opportunities from across the region

Let’s get started!

Fundraising Roulette

WarburgAI (UAE) raised $250K

Brands.io (UAE/Domains) raised seed round

Morshdy (Bahrain/Edtech) raised seed round

Fincart (Egypt/Logistics) raised undisclosed round

Cathedis (Morocco/Logistics) raised MAD 7M

AngelSpark (UAE) invested in MilkStraw AI

TASARU (KSA) invested in Blacklane (Germany)

tali ventures (KSA) by stc invested in NorthLadder

Ayen (KSA) acquired Elmawkaa (KSA/Proptech)

Edafa VC (Egypt) acquired 25% of Bonyan (Egypt/Edtech)

Main Headlines

Neom (KSA) raised $24B from private sector

PIF (KSA) signed $51B Japanese deal and set to acquire 54% of MBC Group

Beta Lab (KSA) launched $300M fund

BIM Ventures (KSA) to launch $200M fund

ScienceWerx launched $100M fund in Saudi

Iwan Ventures launched SAR50M Venture Builder initiative

Qatar launched Talent Community program

Kuwait reopened work visas for foreign nationals

Deloitte launched $30M Innovation Hub in Cairo

Jordanian Innovation Fund invested $5M in Rua Growth Fund

Ecosystem Updates

Startupbootcamp Mena announced winners of Meta Llama Design Drive in UAE

stc selected startups for the first inspireU Advanced program

Taqadam welcomed its 8th cohort in Saudi

Algerian Startup announced Battle Pitch winners

HasoubLabs (Palestine) announced Startup School's Demo Day winners

TiE Women announced MENA Finals 2024 winners

Startup Highlights

Hubpay (UAE/Fintech) launched UAE’s first fully automated hedging platform for SMEs

Awaed (KSA/Fintech) partnered with Investcorp

Talabat Egypt announced EGP52M competition

360Moms (Jordan) launched AI Mom Assistant to support mothers globally

GamerG.gg (Jordan) reached Global Visa Everywhere Initiative finals

Alefredo EdTech (Jordan) reached top eight at Global WISTA

Open For Application

WE4F Call for Innovations | Lebanon

KSU Angel Investors Program | Saudi Arabia

Pitch to investors at Biban24 | Saudi Arabia

SANDBOX Startup Investment Program | UAE

The Catalyst Accelerator Program | UAE, Egypt, Oman

MASAAR Accelerator Program | Egypt

Cool Events This Week

• ADIPEC 2024 | 04-07.11 Abu Dhabi

• Athar Festival | 05.11 Riyadh

• Fintech Future Summit | 05.11 Dubai

• Biban 2024 | 05-09.11 Riyadh

• Personal Branding for Startup Founders | 05.11 Abu Dhabi

• The Real AI Summit | 08.11 Dubai

• Carerha Summit 24’ | 08.11 Dubai

Techy Bytes

PIF to launch AI Hub in Dammam

Google to invest $15M in AI Skills, Research, and Infrastructure for MENA

Majid Al Futtaim launched Active Gaming Facility in Dubai

Coding courses to be included in schools in Abu Dhabi

Tarjama& (UAE) unveiled an advanced Arabic AI translation model

MIT using large language model to teach robots new skills