MENA Startups Raise $96.1 Million in Two Weeks as Saudi Arabia Leads Fintech Investment - إنت عربي

Startup investment activity across the Middle East and North Africa accelerated in the two-week window between July 12 and July 26, with 10 companies announcing new financing totaling $96.1 million across seven disclosed rounds and three undisclosed deals. Saudi Arabia dominated the period, attracting $84 million across three disclosed rounds — equal to 87.4% of the disclosed capital raised — led by a major Shariah‑compliant financing deal for fintech platform Fina.

"The funding will support embedded finance solutions tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)," the reporting on the Fina transaction states, highlighting the deal's strategic focus on SME financial services.

Context and sector breakdown

Investment during the fortnight spanned six sectors: artificial intelligence, fintech, e-commerce, healthcare, hospitality and mobility. Fintech was the clear leader, drawing $77 million across two disclosed transactions involving Saudi-based Fina and Morocco’s ORA Technologies, plus an undisclosed round for Qatar’s SkipCash. Mobility and delivery was the second-largest sector thanks to a $10 million deal for Syrian startup Labby. Artificial intelligence recorded $8 million in disclosed funding, principally from a Saudi investment in Think, with an additional undisclosed tranche for UAE-based Azraq. Healthcare also featured, with Egyptian healthtech Reme‑D closing a $1.45 million Pre‑Series A round.

Key investment highlights

• Fina (Saudi Arabia): Secured $75 million in Shariah‑compliant financing from UK-based investment manager Fasanara Capital. The financing is the period’s largest single disclosed transaction and is intended to bolster embedded finance services for SMEs.
• Labby (Syria): The Syrian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology signed a $10 million investment agreement to launch Labby, a digital platform aimed at accelerating digital transformation and supporting the country’s technology ecosystem.
• Think (Saudi Arabia): Received an $8 million disclosed investment to support its artificial intelligence initiatives.
• ORA Technologies (Morocco): Secured an additional $2 million as part of its $10 million Series A, backed by a consortium of local investors; ORA operates in food delivery and fintech.
• Reme‑D (Egypt): Raised $1.45 million in a Pre‑Series A round led by Anara Impact Capital, with participation from Global Innovation Fund, Africa Health Ventures and other investors to expand advanced molecular diagnostics for autoimmune diseases and viral hepatitis.
• Azraq (UAE): Completed an undisclosed round; the company develops AI‑powered data center infrastructure.
• SkipCash (Qatar): Raised an undisclosed funding round in the fintech space.

Geographically, besides Saudi Arabia’s overwhelming share, Syria ranked second in disclosed capital for the period with two deals totaling $10.1 million covering e-commerce and mobility. The mix of disclosed and undisclosed rounds underscores ongoing investor appetite across both established and nascent markets in the region.

Outlook

With fintech commanding the lion’s share of disclosed capital and AI also attracting sizeable allocations, the pattern of investment over these two weeks suggests continued investor interest in financial infrastructure and AI capabilities in MENA. The sizeable Shariah‑compliant financing for Fina and institutional backing for companies such as Think and ORA indicate that capital is flowing both to incumbents expanding services for SMEs and to startups building next‑generation digital and AI platforms. How these injections translate into market expansion, product rollouts and regional scaling will become clearer as companies disclose follow‑on uses of proceeds and subsequent funding rounds.