Hello and welcome awesome MENA founders and entrepreneurs!

This week, the MENA startup scene has been buzzing with exciting funding rounds, major headlines, and tons of new opportunities.

Yaal! Let’s jump in!

Fundraising Roulette

Tabby (KSA/Fintech) raised $160M in a Series E and doubled its valuation to $3.3B ahead of its upcoming IPO

Lobah Games (KSA/Gaming) raised $12M in funding

Ajras (KSA/PropTech) raised a $1.5M Pre-Series A round

Saudi Venture Capital (KSA) invested in Artal Growth Opportunities Fund

Aramco Ventures (KSA) invested in Spiritus (USA)

Klaim (UAE/Healthtech) secured a $26M Series A round

FanTV (UAE/AI) raised $3M to develop AI-powered content creation tools

BILRS (UAE/Fintech) secured an undisclosed round

Talabat (UAE) acquired InstaShop (UAE) for $32M

Foras (UAE) acquired a 36% stake in Beban Crowdfunding (Bahrain)

Capital Haus (UAE) acquired a stake in Equity Story Group

Motherbeing (Egypt/Femtech) secured $200K pre-seed round

Mrkoon (Egypt/Cleantech) raised bridge funding from A Ventures

Widebot (Egypt/AI) raised $3M in a Pre-Series A

PayTabs acquired a majority stake in PayTabs Egypt

ValU (Egypt/Fintech) completed a securitization bond issuance worth EGP 463.3M

ORA Technologies (Morocco/Superapp) secured a $1.9M Pre-Series A round

LoftyInc Capital launched its third fund for Seed and Series A investments in Africa

Main Headlines

Fayafi (UAE) announced a $50M social impact fund

Aramco paid a $21B dividend despite a profit slip in 2024

A Qatari Fund is in talks to invest $1B in a Vietnamese EV maker

Oman’s Hyduqm expects an $8B investment in its green hydrogen project

PwC reported that Egypt is considering a new tax on foreign revenue

Morocco selected five investors for its $31.9B green hydrogen projects

Ninja Express Delivery (KSA) is in talks with investors to raise over $1B

Deem (UAE) secured $400M in debt financing from JP Morgan

Micropolis (UAE) is set to debut on the New York Stock Exchange with a $15.5M IPO

Ecosystem Updates

QRDI Council launched a small business innovation grant to support early-stage ventures in Qatar

Monsha’at (KSA) reported a 67% increase in commercial registrations

BuildPalestine published the Social Entrepreneurship Landscape in Palestine report

Iraq launched five new initiatives to empower women entrepreneurs

The World Bank is considering an additional $50M in funding to support Jordanian startups

ABAN launched Africa’s first sports and creative investor network

Palestinian Ministry of Labor signed an MoU to enhance Palestinian entrepreneurship in Europe

African Startups faced a 50% drop in investments in 2024

Startup Highlights

Gems Education (UAE) announced a $300M investment plan

Tamara (KSA) secured a SAMA license for consumer finance and BNPL services

Hubpay (UAE) introduced digital business accounts for SMEs

Sir Al Oud (Tunisia) expanded into European markets after gaining traction in the GCC

Ajman Economic Department launched the fourth edition of Entrepreneurship Week

Open For Application

MBRIF Innovation Accelerator | UAE

LIFE Pitch Night | UAE

Future Built Assets Accelerator Program | KSA

Ryadah's Pitching Competition | KSA

MINT Fintech Hackathon | Egypt

LIRA 2025 | Lebanon

Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship | MENA

Paper Plane Program | Africa

DTS PRIZE (Start-ups) | Global

Techy Bytes

Morocco exploring CRISPR gene editing to enhance agricultural resilience and food security

Makkah launched an AI-powered Qur’an-learning project

Fujairah introduced an AI curriculum for school students to build early digital skills in UAE

Qatar launched AI and XR sandboxes at Tasmu Innovation Lab

SLRB launched an electronic property ownership certificate in Bahrain

Google unveiled a new AI system designed to assist scientists in research and discovery

Microsoft expanded its cloud footprint with its first Azure Region in Kuwait