In March, startups in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) raised $254 million across 54 deals. A report by Wamda stated this was up by 186 per cent month-on-month from February, which was $88.7 million, and over 1.17 per cent year-on-year from the $251 million raised in March last year.
Interestingly, March saw a significant rise in funding for B2B startups, which raked in $188 million, accounting for 74 per cent of the total rounds. Thus, the first quarter of the year closed at $459 million.
A significant chunk of the funding was picked up by SaaS companies, which attracted $130.6 million across nine deals. Fintech startups raked in $40 million over 12 deals, and four e-commerce startups raised $18 million.
The biggest bets were made at LEAP24, held from March 4th to 7th in Riyadh, which pushed Saudi startups to the forefront. The startups in the kingdom raised $198 million across 25 transactions. Of this, $139 million went to Salla’s pre-IPO round. The UAE was in second place with $39 raised by 12 startups, followed by Egypt, with eight startups raising $7 million.
During LEAP, there was also a significant pumping of investments into funds. Arcapita Capital launched the $500 million KSA Logistics Fund III. The National Development Fund’s two VC Funds were valued at $120 million, and over $100 million was invested into UAE’s Gulf Capital and RDIA.
A significant chunk of the funding was picked up by seed rounds that raised $49 million, followed by four Series A startups that raised $38.5 million. Grants totalling $1.75 million were awarded to 16 startups.
Apart from this, the month of March also saw a rise in M&A deals, such as MBC group acquiring a 14 per cent stake in Anghami and Egypt’s MNT-Halan acquiring Pakistan’s Advans Microfinance Bank. Classera, the edtech company, purchased Saudi Arabia’s expert solutions, and RasMal acquired Pentugram. Saudi’s T2 acquired Omani data analysis startup Promize. Mitgo acquired Embedded, among others.
