#87 -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
Tachyhealth (UAE/Healthtech) raised $5M Series A round to scale its AI-driven healthcare solutions across the GCC region
Oqood (UAE/LegalTech) raised $1M in a seed round to expand its AI-driven legal solutions and accelerate digital transformation across law firms in the Gulf
Engagesoft (KSA/HRTech) raised $3.5M in a Pre-Series A led by Silicon Badia to enhance its AI-driven employee engagement and organizational effectiveness platform
Nuxera AI (KSA/HealthTech) secured $2.5M in pre-seed funding from Sanabil Venture Studio to advance its Arabic-first AI platform for hospitals
EMMA Systems (Qatar/Aviation) secured an undisclosed seed round from Plus VC to expand its AI-powered SaaS platform, unifying real-time operational data for airports and airlines
Tagaddod (Egypt/Cleantech) raised $26.3M in a Series A to scale its renewable feedstock platform, digitizing waste-to-biofuel supply chains across Africa, Asia, and Europe
Amplify Growth Partnership (KSA-UAE) invested $5M in Turkish fashion brand Touché Privé to drive GCC expansion
More rounds → here
Main Headlines
MGX (UAE) acquired a stake in OpenAI as part of a global secondary share sale, aligning Abu Dhabi’s tech investment strategy
Thabet Investment (KSA) launched Everbridge Capital, a $100M Riyadh-based FinTech venture focused on bridging Saudi’s SR300B SME financing gap
UAE Ministry of Economy launched a national Entrepreneurship Program to train 10,000 citizens in startup and innovation skills
Emirates Development Bank launched an AED 500M financing package to support founders through co-lending programs, fintech partnerships, and non-financial mentorship
Janus Henderson secured $125.5M in the first close of its MENA Private Credit Fund IV, anchored by Abu Dhabi Catalyst Partners, and SVC, to provide Sharia-compliant financing and bridge the region’s $250B SME funding gap
JCIF (Jordan) acquired a 27% stake in leading health insurance administrator NatHealth, supporting AI-driven claim management and regional expansion across Jordan, Palestine, and Iraq
M2 Group (UAE) invested $10M to accelerate Falcon’s synthetic dollar protocol and DeFi infrastructure, bridging tokenized Treasuries with on-chain liquidity
Bybit secured the UAE’s first full Virtual Asset Platform Operator License, authorizing it to offer trading, custody, brokerage, and fiat conversion services across the Emirates
VARA fined 19 firms in a major crackdown on unlicensed virtual asset operations in UAE
More news → here
Ecosystem Updates
Dubai Founders HQ launched under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed to build a hybrid hub-and-digital platform supporting founders with mentorship, funding, and global expansion
Emerge FZCO (UAE) debuted as a founder-first ecosystem enabler, offering global startups licensing support, setup services, and investor access
Federal Youth Authority introduced a national initiative to empower Emirati founders through incubators, mentorship, and the new Made by Youth certification
Careem introduced its first Careem Food Awards, recognizing 180 restaurants across 30 categories in Dubai and Abu Dhabi through public voting
Spring (Bahrain) rebranded as a unified venture and ecosystem platform, merging its venture studio and innovation services to scale startups and national programs across MENA
National Bank of Oman concluded its 2025 Fintech Hackathon, awarding top prizes to teams Card Shield, Payce, and Kanzie for innovative banking solutions
Bahrain Fintech Bay × Ripple partnered to accelerate blockchain and digital asset adoption, launching proofs of concept, talent programs, and pilot projects
Thiqah (KSA) unveiled the Sharakah Program, an open innovation platform connecting startups with government and private stakeholders to scale solutions across key sectors
Orange Jordan × ICON launched the second phase of their Startup Growth Acceleration Program in Al-Karak and Aqaba
Tahfiz Niswa Program (Morocco) launched to boost female social entrepreneurship, aiming to create 5,000 jobs and support 400 women-led cooperatives by 2028
TIEC (Egypt) welcomed 33 new startups into the third cohort of its Creativa Incubation Program, supporting pre-seed ventures across EdTech, energy, e-commerce, and smart cities
Shark Tank Egypt launched its fourth season, following EGP 874M in previous investments and 817M digital views
More updates → here
Startups Highlights
Huru (UAE) launched with Central Bank of the UAE licensing, providing unbanked and low-income workers with zero-balance IBAN accounts, remittance, and savings tools
Fasset (UAE) secured regulatory approval in Malaysia to pilot a stablecoin-based Islamic bank under the Labuan FSA
Space42 (UAE) shipped three domestically integrated SAR satellites to the US, marking the UAE’s first locally tested advanced platforms
Metric × Nabta (UAE) launched a $12M partnership to deploy financial intelligence across 1,000 clinics in MEA
Takalam × Inception (UAE) introduced Sanad, the region’s first bilingual AI assistant for therapists
Strataphy (KSA) won the Enersol Energy Challenge 2025 at ADGM for its geothermal Cooling-as-a-Service model
QSalary × Jisr (KSA) partnered to enable on-demand salary access for over 500K employees across 4,500 companies
Amwal Tech (KSA) secured a US patent for its biometric authentication system
Compare360 (Lebanon) relaunched its digital insurance aggregator under Chedid Capital to offer car, health, travel, and pet insurance
Valu (Egypt) closed its EGP 1.09B bond issuance, the second under its EGP 10B securitization program with EFG Hermes
Taskedin (Egypt) offered free access to 1,000 entrepreneurs at Techne Summit
More highlights → here
Open For Application
Smart Retail Challenge | UAE
Competition by Ignyte and du for startups to build AI-powered retail solutions that improve demand forecasting and inventory for SMEs, with a $10,000 prize for the winning project
TON × Ignyte: Chain the Future Challenge | Global
Global hackathon inviting students, startups, and scale-ups to build Web3 products for payments, business, and tokenization on TON blockchain within Telegram
MENA Angel Investors Summit 2025 | Bahrain
Apply to showcase your startup at the 10th MENA Angel Investors Summit hosted by Tenmou, connecting founders with 300+ investors and VCs from across the region
Innovate For Tomorrow Accelerator | UAE
Dubai Holding, in partnership with in5, invites global scale-ups to join its circular economy accelerator, offering an AED 850K prize pool, mentorship, and a funded pilot project
More Programs and Opportunities → here
Interesting Picks
Professor Omar Yaghi made history as the first Saudi Nobel laureate in Chemistry, recognized for pioneering reticular chemistry and developing MOFs and COFs
Revolut Co-Founder Nik Storonsky relocated to the UAE, joining a wave of high-profile founders leaving the UK after tax reforms
SRMG CEO Jomana Al-Rashed made history as the first Saudi named to the TIME100 Next list, recognized for transforming the Middle East’s media landscape
Saudi Arabia granted citizenship to Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick and Red Sea Global CEO John Pagano, aligning with Vision 2030 to attract global talent
More picks → Here
Techy Bytes
TII fired the UAE’s first liquid rocket engine, marking a breakthrough in sovereign space tech and advancing the nation’s ambitions for Moon and Mars missions
KAUST × Deloitte teamed up to accelerate AI innovation in Saudi Arabia, linking research and industry to drive Vision 2030 goals and build national AI talent
Qatar launched the region’s first AI knowledge system for government excellence, an internal platform that uses AI to assist officials in performance evaluation and decision-making
RAK Ceramics deployed the UAE’s first commercial self-driving trucks in Ras Al Khaimah
OpenAI launched In-Chat Apps and introduced AgentKit, creating a new ChatGPT app ecosystem and developer toolkit to simplify AI agent creation and integration
Alibaba formed a new robotics and embodied AI team under Qwen, expanding its focus from digital AI to physical intelligence and signaling a push into real-world robotics applications
More tech → here
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
More Topics: AI | Gaming | Fintech | Femtech
More regions: KSA | UAE | Egypt | Syria | Morocco
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