Startup wrap — Funding and acquisition momentum continues in MENA

Startups across the Middle East and North Africa continued to attract investor attention this week, with several deals and an acquisition underscoring sustained momentum. Revora, a UAE-headquartered e-commerce AI startup, raised $2 million in a seed round to accelerate expansion in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Saudi-based Foodics completed a full acquisition of Greek AI firm Norma AI, and regional deals included investments in Tunisia’s RoboCare, Morocco’s Agenz, and UAE-based Rentify.

"Revora is already live in over 21 nations and the company’s revenue has grown ten times since the company focused on Saudi Arabia and the GCC in late 2024, and the team has plans to deepen their presence in the region with this latest funding round," the company said in a press statement.

Key details of the week’s transactions

• Revora — The e-commerce AI platform founded in 2021 by Shuvo Rahman and Daniyal Baig closed a $2 million seed round led by i2i Ventures and Oraseya Capital. Participants included Anchorless Bangladesh, Conjunction Capital, F6 Ventures, Hi2 Global, Orbit Startups, and strategic angels such as Salman Butt, co‑founder of Salla, plus operators from Bolt, Mubadala, and EY. Revora’s technology enables AI agents to automate product recommendations, recover abandoned carts, process payments within conversations, and structure merchants’ product catalogues for AI-powered commerce.
• Foodics acquires Norma AI — Foodics, a Saudi F&B SaaS platform, finalized a complete takeover of Greece-based Norma AI after initially making a minority investment in early 2025. Foodics said the deal folds Norma’s team into its dedicated AI division to accelerate development of agentic AI tools that deliver real-time insights for restaurant operators. Ahmad Al‑Zaini, co‑founder and CEO of Foodics, said: "Building an AI team from scratch sounds good on paper, but in reality it means taking away resources from existing solutions, hiring extra talent, integrating them, and weeks of trial and error before launching a finished product." He added: "Now, with an AI division under our roof, we’re becoming something closer to a decision-making partner for operators." Foodics said it now powers operations at over 40,000 branches across the GCC and North Africa and has processed more than 6 billion orders to date. George Henein, Norma’s co‑founder, commented: "By joining forces with Foodics, we gain the scale, resources, and reach to accelerate the adoption of what we’re building."
• RoboCare — Tunisia-based agri‑tech firm RoboCare secured a six‑figure investment from 216 Capital to support expansion across Africa and the Middle East, bolster commercial teams, and improve its AI models. Hassen Arfaoui, principal at 216 Capital, said the investment "fully aligns with its strategy of supporting high-potential tech startups capable of delivering concrete answers to the continent’s major economic, social, and environmental challenges."
• Agenz — Moroccan proptech Agenz raised an oversubscribed $5 million seed round led by BREEGA, Attijariwafa Ventures, and Saviu Ventures. Founded by Malik Belkeziz and Badr Belkeziz and later joined by Wassila Berrada and Ayyoub Mouadden, Agenz plans to expand from property data and transaction services into the financial infrastructure layer of real estate.
• Rentify — UAE proptech and fintech Rentify launched Earn AI, an AI platform to automate rental revenue management after raising $2 million in a seed round. The new funding brings Rentify’s total raised to $2.5 million, following a prior $500,000.

Outlook

The flurry of deals comes against a backdrop of robust regional venture activity: data shows MENA startups raised $7.5 billion in 2025, and in May startups pulled in $454.7 million across 33 deals — a 202 percent month‑on‑month surge and a 76 percent increase versus May 2025. With targeted product‑market plays such as Revora’s Saudi push and Foodics’ integration of AI capabilities, investors appear focused on companies that can scale regionally while delivering operational AI-driven improvements for enterprises across hospitality, real estate and e‑commerce.