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

EdfaPay (KSA/FinTech) raised $5M Pre-Series A

Nybl (KSA/AI) raised an undisclosed round

Shipfinex (UAE/Maritime) raised $1.5M seed round

ariika (Egypt/furniture) raised $3M Series A-extension

Qara (Egypt/Supply Chain) raised $2.6M

Amenli (Egypt/InsurTech) raised $2.3M

Global Ventures (UAE) invested in Locad (Singapore)

Qatar Investment Authority invested in Cresta (AI)

Qatar Development Bank invested in Wahed (Fintech)

CDG (Morocco) invested in Upfund (France)

Main Headlines

Jada Fund of Funds invested in SEEDRA Ventures Fund II

Talabat's IPO has been fully subscribed within minutes of opening

Merak Capital launched $80M fund

EFG Hermes launched $300 million Saudi Education Fund

Egypt’s Financial Regulatory Authority launched a regulatory Fintech sandbox

Abu Dhabi granted a commercial license to BlackRock

PwC Middle East acquired Emkan (KSA/EdTech)

Future Fund Oman unveiled $2B investments

Ecosystem Updates

AHOY to support 10,000 entrepreneurs and upskill 30,000 software developers

Suihub launched global accelerator for WEB3 startup innovation

San3a TechFemme launched STEM for Social Good program in Egypt

Bina incubator to be launched in Morocco

StartUp Bahrain announced its Pitch series winners

Dubai Angels partnered with MEVP to ****boost MENA tech ecosystem

XMatch second edition launched in Egypt

Startup Highlights

talabat Egypt launched Saktna Wahda to empower street vendors

EaseMyTrip (UAE) partnered with BNZ Green to promote eco-friendly travel

Fundbot (KSA) partnered with Mastercard to accelerate Payments in UAE and Saudi

Nuzul (KSA) won Project PropTech award

Tabby (KSA) launched a comparison tool for e-commerce stores in Middle East

Turpal (UAE) featured in Hot 25 Travel Startups

Open For Application

DTEC ScaleUp Bootcamp | Dubai

Green Sprint Program by Startupbootcamp | UAE

InvestIT Program | Egypt

Qatar Tech Awards | Qatar

ALX Founder Academy | Africa

Catalyst Program | Mena

Berytech Seeking Consultants for ScaleSmart Program | Lebanon

Launch your startup in Masdar City Free Zone for AED3,500 | UAE

Cool Events This Week

• Business Solutions Summit | 25.11 Cairo

• The Theology of AI and Defense by Hub71 | 25.11 Abu Dhabi

• Fundraising for Startups Workshop | 25.11 Manama

• Big 5 Global | 26-29.11 Dubai

• Start-up City | 26.11 Dubai

• Global Women’s Forum | 26.11 Dubai

• ADFinanceWeek | 27-30 .11 Abu Dhabi

• The Anatomy Of A Shark Tank Pitch | 27.11 Cairo

• ESG Reporting and Data Summit | 28.11 Dubai

• Unicorn Startup Fundamentals | 29.11 Virtual

• Mastering Networking for Professional Growth | 01.12 Virtual

Techy Bytes

Saudi’s Digital Government Authority launched framework to standardize digital services

KAUST (KSA) awarded Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling

Bill Gates reviewed progress of $200M agricultural innovation projects in Abu Dhabi

e& UAE and Open Innovation AI launched AI Lab to drive National AI strategy

UAE launched digital KYC platform to enhance banking transparency and combat financial crime

Egypt launched innovative digital filter to reconstruct damaged ancient artifacts

Instagram launched a reset button to restart your recommendations algorithm

WhatsApp launched a voice message transcript feature