#81 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!
We are bringing you the latest round-up of startup news, updates, and opportunities in the MENA region.
Fundraising Roulette
Holo (UAE/Proptech) secured $22M in a Series A led by Impact46, with backing from Mubadala, Rua Growth Fund, anb seed, and others, to expand its digital mortgage solutions into Saudi Arabia and across the GCC
Maalexi (UAE/Agri-fintech) secured a $20M Shariah-compliant credit facility from Amwal Capital Partners to scale operations in the UAE and KSA, support thousands of SMEs, and strengthen regional food security
Cointel (UAE/Crypto) raised $7.4M in a strategic round led by Avalanche and Japan’s Sugafam Inc. to expand its AI-native crypto education and intelligence platform into North America and other global markets
Seraya (UAE/Proptech) raised $1.8M in a seed round led by a KSA-based family office and DLL, bringing total funding to $2.15M, as it scales its premium serviced apartments business in Dubai with 92%+ occupancy and plans to expand to 50 units by end of 2025
Spoilz (Saudi Arabia/Gaming) secured investment from Merak Capital, Impact46, and others to expand its game development and LiveOps services
Sheba Joy (Saudi Arabia/Gaming) raised $293K in a pre-seed round led by Merak Capital to expand production, attract talent, and develop culturally grounded games from its new Riyadh headquarters
Munify (Egypt/Fintech) raised $3M in a seed round led by Y Combinator, with participation from BYLD and DCG, to build a cross-border neobank serving Egyptians abroad and expand across the Middle East
Mubadala (UAE/Sovereign Wealth Fund) invested $35M in UK-based graphene semiconductor firm Paragraf, acquiring a 12.8% stake as part of a $55M round to fuel global expansion and scale next-generation electronics production
Main Headlines
Bluecove Capital (Bahrain) and CICC Capital (China) launched a $500M joint investment fund to support the expansion of Chinese companies in technology, green energy, and advanced manufacturing across the Gulf region
Saudi Esports Federation and Merak Capital (KSA) signed an MoU to accelerate the gaming ecosystem with talent development, startup enablement, and initiatives linked to the $80M Merak Gaming Fund and Vision 2030
Oman launched its Golden Residency program for investors on August 31, alongside new initiatives to support high-performing Omani companies and accelerate digital transformation as part of Vision 2040
Qatar issued a new corporate governance law requiring listed companies to enhance transparency, granting them one year to comply, as the country strengthens market discipline and investor confidence
Iraq’s Central Bank announced the upcoming launch of Riyada Bank, a specialized institution dedicated to financing SMEs, offering collateral support and risk-mitigation mechanisms to expand credit access for entrepreneurs
onebank (Egypt/Fintech) secured CBE approval to become Egypt’s first fully digital bank, backed by CI Capital and Egypt Post, targeting youth and SMEs with a mobile-first model supporting financial inclusion
Egypt announced new measures to attract large companies to list on the EGX, with plans to introduce derivatives, activate market makers, and expand financial instruments
Ecosystem Updates
P16 Saudi Growth Accelerator (Palestine to KSA) concluded with a Riyadh Demo Day at The Garage, showcasing six Palestinian startups prepared for KSA expansion through IFC, Flow Accelerator, and Parachute 16
Sharjah Islamic Bank launched a new Ruwaad 2025 cohort to develop Emirati talent through leadership, technical training, job rotations, and mentorship
Al Baraka Islamic Bank hosted an Entrepreneurship Masterclass with INJAZ Bahrain for employees’ children aged 9–15, covering financial literacy, creative thinking, leadership, and startup basics
Orange Jordan concluded the 9th Orange Social Venture Prize, naming Hi Health-Technologies, Recycle of CO₂, and EyeLocate as winners who advance to Cape Town finals across 17 countries for prizes up to €25K
Cairo University launched AI Hackathon 2025, unveiling a university-wide AI strategy, a new company to commercialize intangible assets, and the CU AI Nexus 2025 conference on October 18–19
Zain Group expanded its Zain Great Idea accelerator to Iraq, offering selected startups a Silicon Valley program and access to Zain Ventures and ZainTECH support, building on 7,000 entrepreneurs upskilled and $135M raised
Oman Environmental Innovation Platform celebrated the graduation of 10 startups, with four pitching to investors, and three be’ah tek winners recognized for circular-economy solutions
MENACatalyst Foundation organized a Ramallah hackathon under the 21st Century Skills project, engaging 100 students and crowning six winning teams focused on green and social innovation
Future Entrepreneurs Bootcamp concluded a nationwide program across 11 governorates in Oman, engaging 530+ students and launching 33 new startup ideas under the Promising Omani Startups umbrella
Fayoum University and Athar Accelerator signed a cooperation protocol to strengthen entrepreneurship training and mentorship in Egypt
Startups Highlights
Botim (UAE) introduced MENA’s first integrated gold investment service in partnership with O Gold, enabling 8.5M+ users to buy, sell, and lease fractional gold (from 0.1g) with 3% annual returns
InvoiceMate (UAE) won the Ignyte × du Business Challenge for SME capital access, adding a $10K prize to traction of 1,700+ SME users, $200M+ tokenized invoices, and $4.3M+ in financed receivables
Space42 (UAE) signed a 5-year MoU with Angola’s SISM spanning seven domains, including satellite communications, Earth observation, AI, HAPS, and national security drones
Fuze (UAE) was penalized by Dubai’s VARA after an investigation found AML deficiencies, unlicensed virtual asset activity, and governance failures, with the company now implementing a regulator-supervised remediation plan
OmniOps (KSA) signed a strategic MoU with Groq to accelerate high-performance, low-latency, locally hosted AI inference for public and private sectors in line with Vision 2030
Enjaz (KSA) partnered with Orange Egypt to launch free-fee remittances to Orange Cash wallets, offering senders zero transfer fees and recipients EGP 500 cashback across a 140-branch network and digital channels
Valu (Egypt/Fintech) introduced Shop’IT, an in-app marketplace with integrated cashback and exclusive deals, unifying shopping from partners like Amazon, 2B, and B.Tech inside the Valu app
PALM (Egypt) launched Egypt’s first incentivized goal-based savings app after securing an FRA portfolio management license, offering daily yields, zero fees, EGP and USD portfolios, and optional Sharia products
Tactical (UAE) launched MAiK , an AI creative studio for social-native content, offering brands a model-agnostic playground to experiment with AI-generated storytelling at speed and scale
Journify expanded into KSA with AstroLabs to scale its AI customer data platform, following a $4M round in Jan 2025, $1M ARR in nine months, and campaigns reaching 30M users
Open For Application
Zain Great Idea | Regional
Tech accelerator for founders in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, KSA, and UAE with mentorship, investor access, and a 14-day Silicon Valley sprint (deadline: Sep 20, 2025)
EBRD Star Venture Programme | West Bank & Gaza
24-month scaleup support (mentoring, diagnostics, investor links) for high-potential startups co-funded by the EU (deadline: Sep 15, 2025)
Expand North Star – Palestine Pavilion | UAE
Opportunity for Palestinian startups/SMEs to exhibit in Dubai, meet investors, and explore GCC expansion (event: Oct 12–15; apply by Sep 5, 2025)
Sharjah Women Impact Fellowship | UAE
16-week Sheraa fellowship for 12 founders with AED 500K equity-free grant, leadership labs, and investor roadshows (apply by Oct 5, 2025)
GovJam 2025 Innovation Challenge | Saudi Arabia
National challenge for startups to build digital government solutions; grants up to SAR 150k plus salary support and lab access
OCIF Entrepreneurship Challenge | Iraq
Six-week business simulation for youth-led startups with weekly decision rounds and cash prizes (apply by Sep 15, 2025, Erbil)
Djezzy Open Innovation Impact Challenge | Algeria
Startup competition to boost digital inclusion; winners get 200,000 DZD, expert access, and potential collaboration with Djezzy
Green Growth & Jobs Accelerator | Tunisia
5-month hybrid program for 25 SMEs/startups to scale with expert mentorship, strategy workshops, and green growth support
OST Greenification Program | Tunisia
9-month OST program offering in-kind funding (up to 60k TND) + mentorship to launch/scale green projects (apply by Sep 21, 2025)
BRAIN Accelerator 5.0 | Pan-African
1-year hybrid accelerator for seed DeepTech (climate/health): SA bootcamp, tailored mentorship, investor access, and global immersions
Promoted
Cool Upcoming Events
REN Summit 2025 | Refugee Entrepreneurship Network | London | September 19
A global gathering on the future of refugee entrepreneurship, bringing together ecosystem leaders, funders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs for keynotes, panels, workshops, and networking at Loughborough University, London.
Techy Bytes
HUMAIN (KSA) launched HUMAIN Chat powered by the ALLaM 34B Arabic LLM, offering real-time search, multi-dialect speech, and seamless AR/EN switching (KSA-only, web/iOS/Android)
University of Dubai launched CyberSHE, a bootcamp to train 1,500 women in cybersecurity over three years using UoD’s C-SAR labs and industry mentorship
ADGM, TII & partners launched the UAE’s first quantum-secure communications testbed using QKD across a live three-node network in Abu Dhabi
National Curriculum Center in Saudi Arabia launched a nationwide AI curriculum spanning elementary to university, rolling out to 6M students from 2025–26
KACST (KSA) concluded an 8-week advanced tech program for 27 students from 11 universities, yielding projects in VR cycling, robotic arms, AV navigation, sign-language translation, and assistive GenAI
Egyptian Tax Authority formed an AI task force to modernize tax operations and services
WhatsApp launched Writing Help, an in-chat AI that rephrases messages and adjusts tone (professional, funny, supportive) with on-device private processing
Google rolled out AI language-practice in Google Translate plus enhanced live conversation in 70+ languages, including Arabic
Perplexity launched a revenue-share program paying publishers 80% from Perplexity Pro
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