MENA startups raised USD 760 million in February, according to a report by Wamda and Digital Digest.
MENA startups raised USD 760 million in February, according to a report by Wamda and Digital Digest. The funds were raised across 48 deals. By comparison, January saw USD 104 million raised across 22 deals.
MENA startups: Markets and deals
Egypt placed first in terms of deal value. However, the vast majority of this came from fintech MNT-Halan’s securing of USD 400 million in funding, as it achieved unicorn status, being valued over USD 1 billion. Outside of the MNT-Halan deal, 15 Egyptian fintechs raised a total of USD 22 million in January.
Saudi came in second with USD 316 million raised across 13 deals. e-gifting marketplace Floward raised USD 156 million, while foodtech startup Nana raised USD 133 million.
The UAE raised USD 8 million across seven deals.
Startups based in Bahrain, Morocco and Oman also received increasing levels of funding as VC firms look further afield.
Investment timing
Late-stage startups received 93% of the funding, according to the report, however early-stage startups secured the majority of the deals, this figure was driven by the 12 startups that graduated from Flat6Labs’ Cairo Seed program. Seed and pre-Seed stage startups received a markedly lower level of funding than startups at other stages.
MENA startups – sectoral analysis
The top three sectors by investment were super apps, e-commerce and foodtech, these accounted for over 90% of the funding. Healthtech, fintech and mobility were next on the list.
In terms of deal count, fintech accounted for 10 deals worth over USD 13 million. Logistics, mobility and HR followed on.
These trends support earlier reporting that suggested that fintech, while still dominant in terms of funding, was losing its lead to other sectors in MENA and Africa as a whole.
Investors and founders
February saw a marked decline in international funding, with only nine deals attracting foreign investment. Regional investors participated in 41 deals.
Male-founded startups raised 99% of the funding, across 45 deals. Only one round was raised by a female founder. Co-founded companies accounted for two deals, worth a total of USD 2 million.
Fund launches
February saw a number of investment funds launching within the MENA region.
Impact46 launched a USD 133 million fund, with Flat6labs launching their USD 20 million Saudi Seed fund.
Hub71+ Digital Assets launched a USD 2 billion ecosystem dedicated to nurturing Web3 startups.
STV launched a USD 150 million investment platform.
CoreAngelMEA, the regional extension of global angel networking group CoreAngels, also launched and will focus on regional tech startups.