#78 This week In MENA's Startup Scene!
Dive into the latest Startup News, Trends & Opportunities shaping the MENA region
Welcome back to MENA Startup Digest!
Another week, another awesome digest! Latest funding rounds, startup stories, and ecosystem updates coming your way
Let’s get right into it!
Fundraising Roulette
Alaan (UAE/Fintech) secured a $48M Series A round to expand its corporate spend management platform, offering real-time expense controls and automated financial workflows for businesses across the region
Salasa (KSA/E-commerce) raised $30M Series B to scale its tech-driven e-commerce fulfillment services and enhance delivery infrastructure across the Kingdom
Deep.SA (KSA/AI) raised $1.2M to scale its AI-powered consumer behavior analytics platform, enabling brands to deliver more personalized and data-driven customer engagement
Bouk (KSA/Foodtech) secured pre-seed funding in record time to expand its coffee benefits app, connecting users with exclusive offers from local cafes and roasters
Omq (KSA/AI) raised SAR 4.5M Pre-Seed to advance its AI-powered customer service solutions, enabling businesses to automate and personalize user interactions
Boxy (Iraq/Logistics) raised $1.5M in a pre-seed round led by EQIQ, supporting its mission to digitize last-mile delivery and optimize logistics infrastructure in Iraq
Suplyd (Egypt/Logistics) secured $2M Pre-Series A to grow its restaurant supply chain platform, streamlining procurement and logistics for F&B businesses in Egypt
Wuilt (Egypt/E-commerce) secured $2M to expand its online store-building platform across regional markets, empowering SMEs with easy-to-use e-commerce solutions
Main Headlines
Algérie Télécom launched an $11M AI fund to accelerate digital transformation and foster AI-driven innovation across key industries
Wa’ed Ventures (KSA) secured a strategic exit as GE Vernova acquired its portfolio company Alteia
Qatar announced a $4B investment to drive Syria’s economic recovery, targeting infrastructure, energy, and industrial development
Savvy Games Group backed Territory Studio’s Riyadh launch, expanding Saudi’s footprint in creative design and gaming production
Egypt’s FRA introduced new regulations for digital real estate investment platforms to boost transparency, protect investors, and expand access to property-backed assets
Jordan’s Central Bank launched a landmark AI regulatory framework for the banking sector
Iraq unveiled a five-year plan to diversify its economy, focusing on renewable energy, manufacturing, and private sector growth
Kuwait Oil Company launched a landmark AI innovation center with Microsoft to accelerate digital transformation and energy sector innovation
Qatar launched a digital platform to enhance public-private partnerships, streamlining collaboration on infrastructure, energy, and technology projects
Ecosystem Updates
Flat6Labs rebranded as F6 Group to expand its investment reach and scale entrepreneurship programs across new markets
UAE participated in the first Global SME Ministerial Meeting in South Africa
Green Growth Accelerator graduated its second cohort in Jordan
Mustaqel Program launched to empower 330 student entrepreneurs through training, mentorship, and project funding in Oman
Alexandria University awarded five student teams in its entrepreneurship competition
ITIDA launched the Start IT Perks platform and welcomed a new startup cohort in Egypt
Egypt launched new tech and entrepreneurship initiatives to equip school students with innovation and startup skills
Raya FutureTECH kicked off its third accelerator cycle in Egypt to support and scale local tech ventures
Startups Highlights
Thndr (Egypt) enabled remote retail trading on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, expanding cross-border investment access for Egyptian users
Monak (Oman) partnered with Mastercard to launch a digital financial platform tailored for migrant workers
ONE (Bahrain) integrated an e-marketplace with a Shari’a-compliant BNPL service
Digified (Egypt) secured landmark FRA approval to pioneer AI-powered digital onboarding
Libyan Spider launched Abjad, an AI-powered tool designed to accelerate website development and streamline digital presence creation
Open For Application
Berytech & ILO Innovation Program | Lebanon
Imtiaz Award for Female Entrepreneurs | Bahrain
Riyada Tech Accelerator | Bahrain
Startup Grind Pitch Battle | Qatar
CREATIVA Tech Launchpad | Egypt
GrowImpact Program | Tunisia
UM6P Explorer Program | Morocco
Technopark and Plug and Play Accelerator | Morocco
Green Forward Programme | MENA
Pan-Arab Entrepreneurship Exchange | Regional
NBA Africa Triple-Double Accelerator | Africa
Techy Bytes
Dubai introduced the region’s first fully autonomous AI-powered parking system
HUMAIN (KSA) partnered with Groq to launch OpenAI’s latest open-weight models with day-zero access
UAE’s Presight partnered with Dow Jones to deliver AI-powered risk solutions, combining advanced analytics with global market intelligence
UAE launched TelecomGPT-Arabic, a specialized Arabic LLM for telecommunications
Reboot (Bahrain) unveiled AI-focused education programs to equip the future workforce with critical AI skills and digital literacy
Google rolled out Jules, its AI coding agent to revolutionize software development with advanced code generation and automation capabilities
Anthropic launched Claude Opus 4.1, enhancing AI coding and reasoning capabilities for enterprise applications
OpenAI introduced GPT-5, setting a new benchmark in AI capabilities with advanced reasoning, coding, and multimodal understanding
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
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