MENA Funding Grows 5-Fold in February

Investment in MENA startups surged nearly fivefold in February, reaching US$494 million across 58 deals, according to Wamda.

The sharp increase was driven by a shift from debt financing, which fell to 15 percent of total funding compared to 90 percent in January. Excluding debt, equity investments rose 371 percent month-on-month.

Saudi Arabia led with US$250.3 million across 25 deals, followed by the UAE with US$203.5 million from 15 deals and Egypt with US$27.5 million across eight transactions. Smaller investments were recorded in Oman, Morocco, and Jordan, as well as Tunisia, Bahrain, and Qatar.

Fintech dominated with US$274 million across 15 deals, followed by insurance tech with US$55 million, and logistics with US$28.5 million.

Marketing tech, education tech, AI, and clean tech also saw significant funding.

Later-stage rounds gained traction, with Tabby securing US$160 million in Series E funding, Flow48 raising US$69 million, and Applied AI closing US$55 million.

Despite the funding surge, gender disparity persisted, with female-founded startups receiving just US$200k — 0.04 percent of total investment — while male-led ventures secured 86.7 percent of funding.