Africa & Middle East Startups Raise $239.63M in Week 35

Startups across Africa, the Middle East and Israel raised a combined $239.63 million in disclosed funding this week, driven largely by two major rounds in AI security and fintech. The largest rounds were a $140 million financing for Israeli AI security firm Alice and a $68 million Series C for UAE-based fintech Fasset, together accounting for more than 85% of the week's disclosed capital.

"Alice, which rebranded from ActiveFence in January, helps test clients' AI models for vulnerabilities and offers guardrails to protect against them during production," the company said in its description of the product and mission.

The $140 million injection into Alice was led by Apax Digital, with participation from Samsung, SentinelOne, Norwest and CRV. The round brings Alice's total funding to $280 million and values the company between $700 million and $800 million. The company said the new capital will be used to grow and expand its AI security offerings, positioning itself as a specialist in testing and hardening models against exploitation and misuse in production environments.

Fasset's $68 million Series C, led by Japan's SBI Group, values the UAE-based fintech at $1 billion. The company operates a Sharia-compliant digital bank built on stablecoins and offers accounts, cards and cross-border payments across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Series C follows a $51 million Series B closed just four months earlier, underscoring rapid recent fundraising activity for the startup. Fasset said it will use the new capital to scale its stablecoin banking platform and to establish a joint digital bank in Malaysia with its new Japanese partner.

Other notable details from this week's activity

• Total disclosed funding across the region: $239.63 million.
• Top two deals: Alice ($140 million, AI security) and Fasset ($68 million, fintech).
• Alice's funding-to-date: $280 million; implied valuation: $700–800 million.
• Fasset's valuation after Series C: $1 billion; prior Series B in the same year: $51 million.
• Lead investors: Apax Digital (Alice) and SBI Group (Fasset); other participants in Alice's round include Samsung, SentinelOne, Norwest and CRV.

Both rounds highlight investor appetite for startups addressing the intersection of emerging tech and regulated financial services. Alice's focus on model vulnerability testing and production guardrails aligns with growing demand from enterprises deploying AI at scale, while Fasset's combination of Sharia-compliant banking and stablecoin rails aims to bridge regulatory and payments gaps across large markets in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Looking ahead, Alice will likely invest the proceeds into product development and commercial expansion to capitalize on enterprise demand for AI risk mitigation, while Fasset's plans to scale its stablecoin banking platform and to set up a joint digital bank in Malaysia point to an execution phase that will test adoption of crypto-backed, compliant banking services across cross-border corridors. With the two largest rounds this week concentrated in security and fintech, investors are signaling particular confidence in companies that can marry technical capability with regulatory and operational trust.