#61 This week In MENA's Startup Scene!
Dive into the latest Startup News, Trends & Opportunities shaping the MENA region
Hello and welcome back, MENA founders!
It was an incredibly busy week across the MENA region, almost hard to keep up! We saw major funding rounds, significant M&A activity, crucial policy and regulatory updates impacting business in MENA, alongside a continued surge in AI platform launches and national strategies dominating headlines.
Let's get straight into it!
Fundraising Roulette
Paytic (MENA/FinTech) raised $4M from AfricInvest to expand digital payment solutions in Africa
AgNext Technologies (UAE/AgTech) secured an Undisclosed investment from Hashgraph Group to integrate DLT and enhance food supply chain transparency
Rentify (UAE/PropTech) secured $500K in pre-seed funding to digitize the UAE property ecosystem
FeeSolution (KSA/FinTech) raised a SAR 1.125M Pre-Seed round to develop its digital school payment platform
Sary (KSA) and ShopUp (Bangladesh) merged to form SILQ Group, backed by a $110M investment to create a large B2B commerce platform for the Gulf & Emerging Asia
STUCK? (KSA/AI) raised a six-figure Pre-Seed round for its AI language intelligence platform
Lucidya (KSA/AI) secured a SAR 5M grant from NTDP to scale operations and expand
Saudi-backed Lucid Motors raised $1.1B through a convertible notes offering primarily to repay existing debt
Saudi investors invested in **Haball (**Pakistan) $52M Pre-Series A round for its KSA expansion
Main Headlines
UAE clarified corporate tax rules, offering exemptions for Qualifying Investment Fund investors and tax transparency for specific partnerships to enhance its investment hub status
MANTRA (UAE) launched a $108M Ecosystem Fund to invest globally over 4 years in blockchain tokenization projects at any stage
Saudi Arabia implemented major Commercial Registration & Trade Name law reforms (effective April 3), simplifying processes and allowing English names
Iraq initiated a comprehensive banking sector reform to modernize infrastructure, align with global standards, and boost economic stability
Jordan recorded $1.637B in Foreign Direct Investment for 2024, with finance/insurance and ICT sectors receiving the largest shares
Morocco to invest $105M (MAD 1B) over 4 years (2025-28) via the PNARDI program to boost scientific research and retain talent
Algeria launched new specialized funds (incl. energy) aiming to support 20,000 startups by 2029
EFG Holding prepares a $10 Billion IPO pipeline across Egypt and Gulf markets
World Bank approved $1 Billion financing for Jordan to bolster economic resilience, support reforms, and create jobs
Saudi Arabia's Creator Economy grew by 32% in Q1 2025, driven by influencer marketing and content commerce
Ecosystem Updates
Oman Arab Bank showcased its entrepreneur support initiatives, including the Tomoohi program & training, at Oman Chamber meeting
Spring Venture (Bahrain) launched Cohort 8 of its Raise' bootcamp, mastering the art of fundraising to help founders secure investment & scale
Five One Labs & IOM partnered to host workshops empowering Iraqi women entrepreneurs with climate resilience & green business practices
Saudi Electronic University launched the Kingdom's first-ever Sports Technology Accelerator to champion innovation in the field
Algeria prepares to launch a national startup map & directory, making its ecosystem easier to navigate via the updated Startup.dz platform
Bahrain FinTech Bay & ZenData partnered to deliver critical cybersecurity training, enhancing skills to combat threats in finance and other sectors
Startups Highlights
Rabbit (Egypt) entered the Saudi market with its rapid (~20 min) grocery delivery, establishing a Riyadh HQ and aiming for 20M items delivered by 2026
Tap Payments secured its full UAE Payment Services License, completing its regulatory sweep across the entire GCC region
Basata (Egypt) partnered with Connect Money to launch the Basata Card, offering versatile payment features to boost Egypt's digital transaction efficiency and cashless transition
Yalla Plus (KSA) launched Yalla AI, its powerful generative AI platform with deep Arabic understanding (MSA & dialects) for content creation, business analytics, and more
Toobit (MENA) earned the prestigious Best Crypto Exchange MENA 2025 title at the World Business Outlook Awards for its innovative, secure, and user-focused trading experience
Trippido (UAE) launched its global travel platform, offering a unified solution for travelers and empowering agencies with efficient B2B management tools
Open For Application
Startup Syria Launchpad | Syria
AlUla Bootcamp | KSA
Sustainable Bus Shelter Cooling Challenge | UAE
EGA Ramp-Up | UAE
Plug and Play Fintech AI Incubator | MENA
Conscious Investor Fellowship | MENA
Forward Business and Startup Booster Program | Virtual
IsDBI AI Hackathon on Islamic Finance Standards | Global
Techy Bytes
Saudi Ministry of Hajj & Umrah launched a multilingual digital guide (16 languages), offering pilgrims essential info on rites, health, safety, and contacts for a smoother journey
Presight launched LifeSaver, a unified AI platform designed to make emergency and crisis response smarter across the entire lifecycle, from prevention to recovery
CODED (Kuwait) launched Academy X 2.0, a free program set to empower 500 young Kuwaiti women (14-18) with vital future skills in tech, AI, and entrepreneurship
Capgemini boosts its global AI capabilities by opening a Center of Excellence in Egypt (May '25), developing advanced AI solutions for global clients, and doubling its local tech workforce
UAE & Google Cloud launched a world-class Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to bolster regional defenses, share knowledge, and cultivate cyber talent
Tamkeen (Bahrain) launched a major initiative to train 50,000 Bahrainis in AI by 2030, boosting national tech skills across leadership, general use, and specialist tracks
Saudi Arabia & Japan team up via GLOE & Hawk Gaming to boost their esports industries, merging Japanese creativity with KSA's market ahead of the 2027 Olympic Esports Games
Starlink launched its satellite internet service in Jordan, aiming to bridge the digital divide with high-speed access, especially for remote and underserved areas
YouTube launched "Music Assistant", an AI tool letting creators generate unique, copyright-free instrumental tracks from text prompts for their videos
Google Cloud launched Agent2Agent (A2A), an open protocol enabling secure communication and collaboration between AI agents from different vendors across enterprise systems
That’s a wrap for this week!
We hope this week's digest of the latest funding, insights, and ecosystem news helps you stay ahead in the fast-paced MENA region.
Stay tuned for more insights next week