#59 This week In MENA's Startup Scene!
Dive into the latest Startup News, Trends & Opportunities shaping the MENA region
Hello and welcome back awesome MENA founders! Eid Mubarak to all celebrating Eid al-Fitr!
Despite the holiday break for many, the MENA startup scene saw continued activity. Big funding rounds, key M&A deals, policy shifts, and AI news marked another busy week.
This week, we cover the essential investments, ecosystem updates, startup highlights, AI developments, and opportunities you need to know.
Let's dive in!
Fundraising Roulette
OSN+ (UAE) secured a $57M investment from Warner Bros for a 30% stake
YAP (UAE/Fintech) closed $41M to enhance fintech services across MEA
COCA (UAE/Fintech) raised an undisclosed round to scale its payments app in UAE
Valeo (UAE/Healthtech) raised a $12M Series B round to enhance personalized healthcare in GCC
Code & State startup studio (UAE) secured $3M to incubate stablecoin ventures
NKN Media (UAE) secured AED 35M for global expansion and IP development
Lumi AI (UAE/AI) closed a $3.7M seed round led by AgFunder
Armoir (UAE/Luxury Travel) secured undisclosed Pre-Seed funding from Plus Venture Capital
Arabian Pay (KSA/Fintech) raised an undisclosed round from Al Bassami Holding Group
Nayla Finance (KSA/Fintech) secured a $4M seedround to expand its operations
Procode (Bahrain/Gaming) raised an angel round to advance gaming and esports in MENA
Stakpak (Egypt/AI) raised $500K Pre-Seed to expand teams in Egypt/U.S
Main Headlines
Basatne acquired Cartlow to enhance sustainable trade solutions Middle East
MGX (UAE) acquired a stake in Khazna Data Centers
Aramco (KSA) acquired a Peruvian fuel distributor to expand its downstream operations
Al-Areeb Holding (KSA) secured a 30% stake in Pioneer Landmar
Atlas Capital launched a private equity division, targeting $100M for its first Morocco-focused fund
Morocco raised €2B in eurobonds to fund 2030 World Cup infrastructure
Oman established the Investment and Commerce Court via Royal Decree
Iraq imposed annual fees of up to $760 on select content creators
Egypt announced Tax incentives for startups with annual revenues up to 20M EGP
Bahrain approved an environmental tax on companies and launched its Golden Residency Visa program for 2025 to attract global talent and investment
Ecosystem Updates
UAE ranked among top 5 economies supporting women entrepreneurship.
QNB Egypt signed a sponsorship agreement with Nile University’s startup accelerator
Orange Jordan launched an incubation phase for 100 entrepreneurial ideas from its hackathon
PayPal partnered with Ignyte to enhance cross-border payments for UAE startups and SMEs
TIEC announced startups selected for Flat6Labs-powered Invest IT Program.
Sharjah Chamber revealed a three-year plan to boost the emirate’s economy
Ras Al Khaimah Entrepreneurship Council showcased UAE investment opportunities
Startups Highlights
Aura (UAE) partnered with Sharjah Media City and Mazeed to expand SME financing access
VLens (Egypt) secured an FRA license for electronic verification and non-banking financial services
Khaled Mousa launched Dinar, a digital platform for Bahraini business news
E4YJobs (Tunisia) connecting industrial firms with Industry 4.0 talents
Compound (UAE) to launch in MENA in Q4 2025
Dubai Waste Lab transforming food waste into compost to support sustainable agriculture
XTB (Fintech) expanded to the UAE with a Dubai office after securing licenses
Open For Application
FinTech Challenge | Palestine
Prisight AI-Startup Accelerator | UAE
Dubai Future Experts Program | UAE
MINT Fintech Hackathon | Egypt
International Entrepreneurship Diploma | Arab Region
Tech Pathways | MENA
Orange Social Venture Prize | Africa & MENA
ClimateLaunchpad | Global
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield | Global
Techy Bytes
Intelmatix (KSA) launched an AI Advisor for enterprise decision-making
SDAIA digitized 3B+ transactions to support the Saudi Green Initiative
Saudi researchers leveraging AI to combat plastic pollution
DEWA (UAE) plans to become the world’s first AI-native utility
ADGM partnered with Chainlink to enhance blockchain regulation and tokenization in UAE
Egypt boosted AI startups with its new National AI Strategy and plans to train 30,000 Egyptian specialists in AI by 2026
Google unveiled a next-gen family of AI reasoning models
Elon Musk confirmed xAI acquired X and Tesla will launch in Saudi Arabia next month
OpenAI unveiled new image generator for ChatGPT
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. Wishing you a blessed and productive time ahead after the Eid holiday!
Until next time,
The Startup on the GO (ستارتب على الماشي)! Team