Hello MENA founders and entrepreneurs!

This week, the MENA startup scene has been buzzing with exciting funding rounds, impactful acquisitions, and major ecosystem developments

Let’s dive into it!

Fundraising Roulette

Arable (KSA/Agritech) raised $2.55M seed round. The startup designs, manufactures, and operates farming solutions tailored specifically for Saudi’s climate

Ebana (KSA/Saas) raised $2.66M pre-series A round to expand operations in Saudi

Thanawi (KSA/Saas) raised $500k from angel investors. The startup helps enterprises manage exit operations and transfer shares in unlisted companies

Foz App (KSA/Coupons) raised $533k pre-seed round from undisclosed investors. The startup provides enterprises with solutions to manage loyalty and coupons

Elm (KSA) acquired Thiqah Business Services in a deal valued at $907M to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s ICT sector

Foaj Group (KSA) acquired Nuss, a content creation and marketing company

Pluto (UAE/Fintech) raised $4.1M pre-Series A. The startup provides enterprises with a spend management platform including credit card issuance

Ogram (UAE/Recruiting) raised $3M in funding to expand its services to Saudi Arabia

RetailHub (UAE/Saas) raised an undisclosed funding round from AngelSpark (UAE). The startup provides retailers with a platform for direct integrations between retailers and aggregators

DisrupTech Ventures (UAE) invested in Hamilton (USA)

Ventura Capital (UAE) invested in Owlstone Medical (UK)

Cira Education (UAE) sold an additional 37.5% stake to Social Impact Capital

Sampo (Oman/Saas) raised $750k in pre-seed funding. The startup helps e-commerce platforms optimize prices in real-time based on demand, supply, and market conditions

Arcapita (Bahrain) invested in a portfolio of high-growth AI companies

DataQueue (Palestine/AI) raised a funding round. The startup provides enterprises with solutions for conversational AI agents, a speech analytics tool for call centers, and an AI lifecycle management platform

MoneyHash (Egypt/Fintech) raised $5.2M in pre-Series A. The startup allows businesses to access an end-to-end payment operating system with over 200 pre-integrated APIs with payment service providers

Talent 360 (Egypt/HR) raised a six-figure funding round. The agency will use the funding to expand services into Saudi Arabia

Main Headlines

Abu Dhabi Executive Council approved a $3.54B digital strategy to fully integrate AI into all government digital services by 2027

500 Global launched the 500 MENA L.P to invest in high-growth technology startups across MENA

Investcorp (Bahrain) to manage a $110M private equity fund

Morocco announced the creation of the Morocco Fintech Center (MFC), an association dedicated to advancing fintech in the country, and has already partnered with 15 banks and institutions

UAE launched $40.8M headquarters for content creators

Ecosystem Updates

Startup Syria published the Rising From The Rubble report, which provides an overview of the startup ecosystem in Syria, entrepreneurship support programs and stakeholders, and startups

Jeddah University launched The Container incubator to support logistics-related businesses

NEOM, NTDP, and Outlier Ventures launched the FutureSpark Base Camp Accelerator to support Web 3.0 startup

Hope Ventures announced a Bahrain HQ coworking space expansion

Tamkeen launched the Bahrain Skills and Gender Parity Accelerator at Davos

Eyouth (Egypt) launched a $6 million initiative to leverage tech skills in Africa

Oman launched a program to advance Deep Tech

Significa Ventures and Changelabs launched the CVC Builder Egypt program

Startup Highlights

Daleel (Bahrain/Fintech) expanded to UAE

Dinar (KSA/Fintech) approved to experiment with its financial technology by Saudi’s Capital Market Authority in the Kingdom

Paymob (Egypt/Fintech) granted a Retail Payment Services License to offer its services within UAE

Pluto (UAE/Fintech) launched Pluto Connect to allow banks to offer its solutions to SMEs directly

SIDEUP (KSA/Logistics ) expanded to Oman

Open For Application

Create Smarter Digital Solutions Hackathon | Palestine

Flat6Labs Seed Program | KSA

Saudi Innovation Grant Program | KSA

Exel By Merak Game Development Program | KSA

CrowdLabel Challenge | UAE

EDGE Innovation Challenge | UAE

500 Global Scale-Up Program | Egypt

Fikra Ventures Incubator | Virtual

Digital Entrepreneurship Program | Virtual

SuiHub Accelerator Program | Global

Cool Events

• Gulf Family Businesses Forum | 27.01 Doha

• Saudization 2025: Navigating Regulations and Compliance | 28.01 Virtual

• Algeria Positive Impact | 28.01 Algeria

• UAE National Incubator Network Annual Forum | 28.01 Abu Dhabi

• Building Startup Communities with Techstars | 30.01 Virtual

• Climate Connect Workshop | 31.01 Iraq

• Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival | 01.02 Sharjah

• AI Everything Global | 04.02 Dubai

• Egypt VC Summit | 04.02 Cairo

Techy Bytes

Dubai Centre for Artificial Intelligence launched the Dubai AI Seal, a certification system for AI companies that is required to qualify as partners for Dubai government projects

Abu Dhabi Investment Office partnered with NIP Group (Sweden) to create a local esports academy, creative game studios, and a global exchange program

Egypt launched 2025-2030 National AI Strategy

Aramco partnered with an AI firm to turn emissions into useful products

Oracle to train 350,000 people in AI across the Middle East

Google Pay launching in Saudi Arabia by 2025