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

Anghami (UAE) raised $55M round

CredibleXn (UAE/Fintech) also raised $55M seed round

Revibe (UAE/Cleantech) raised $7M series A round

Omniops (KSA/AI) raised $8M round

Motery (Kuwait/Fintech) raised $8M Seed round

InvoiceQ (Jordan/SaaS) raised $1.2M pre-series A round

Talaty (Morocco/Fintech) raised an undisclosed round

Arcapit (Bahrain) acquired a majority stake in NEOPAY (UAE/Fintech)

Wamid (KSA) acquired DirectFN

Oman Investment Authority invested in Elon Musk’s xAI

CP Middle East to acquire Qardy (Egypt/Fintech)

2PointZero (UAE) invested in Archer Aviation

Wa’ed Ventures (KSA) invested in EME (Netherlands)

Main Headlines

MEVP (UAE) secured $150M commitment from SVC for its Middle East Venture Fund IV

Raed Ventures (KSA) also secured a commitment from SVC for its Raed III L.P fund

Hashgraph Ventures (UAE) awarded a fund management license from ADGM

Virtual Assets Authority in Dubai approved Bitpanda (Austria)

Space42 (UAE) secured $5.1B from UAE government to develop new satellites

Saudi Arabia discovered Lithium reserves in oil fields

NEOM partnered with Samsung to accelerate construction automation

Iraq Venture Partners secured $2.7M to support young entrepreneurs

Egypt to localize 23 high-priority sectors

Ecosystem Updates

NEOM Media launched accelerator program for Saudi startups

C3 (UAE) partnered with UAE National Incubator Network by Sandooq Al Watan

Ethara (UAE) launched UAE’s first sports and entertainment innovation hub

Hub71 (UAE) partnered with ADIB to bolster global startup growth

Fintech News published UAE Fintech Report 2024

Women Entrepreneurs Association in Morocco announced new strategic roadmap

Startup Highlights

Careem expanded 20-minute grocery deliveries to Abu Dhabi

oliv (Egypt) received Fintech lending license

Jahez (KSA/food delivery) started trading on Saudi Stock Exchange

Nice One (KSA/eCommerce) announced its share price at IPO at $9.31 (35 SAR)

Moustashir (Algeria) to list 25% of the company on the Algerian Stock Exchange

Foundster (UAE) launched AI-powered company formation platform in Dubai

MNT-Halan (Egypt/Fintech) expanded to UAE

Halo AI (KSA) launched a platform to revolutionize brand-creator collaborations

Dubai Expat launched MINT E-commerce platform to support young moms

Reme-D won 1st place in the Wharton Africa New Venture Competition

Open For Application

EcoLeap GreenTech Accelerator | Palestine

Green FinTech Innovation Challenge | Jordan

Flat6Labs Seed Program | KSA

Misk Accelerator | KSA

Level Up Gaming Accelerator | KSA

The FORGE Program | Morocco

Green Growth and Jobs Accelerator | Egypt

Join Knowledge & Innovation Community | Lebanon

BRAIN 4.0 Deeptech Program | Africa

Cool Events

• Core Istanbul Expert Session | 23.12 Istanbul

• Flat6Labs Cycle 6 Pitchathon | 28.12 Amman

• AI Salon Dubai | 04.01 Dubai

• 1 Billion Followers Summit | 11-13.01 Dubai

• Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) | 12-18.01 Abu Dhabi

• MEVCA Investors Summit | 30.01 Abu Dhabi

Techy Bytes

Drones to deliver food and medical supplies in Dubai

DMCC launched DMCC Crypto Centre Metaverse

ZAKA launched AI startup competition

Saudi Arabia ranked first globally in Youth AI Competition

Apple Pay goes live in Egypt

OpenAI announced new o3 models and launched a $200/month subscription

Perplexity AI closed a $500M funding round