Week 14 Biggest Startup Funding Rounds in Africa and the Middle East, Led by ScaleOps, as AI and Cybersecurity Drew the Biggest Checks

Startups across Africa and the Middle East raised a combined $299.4 million in disclosed funding this week, led by Israel’s ScaleOps, which topped the list with a $130 million Series C. Investors concentrated the largest checks in AI infrastructure and cybersecurity, while earlier-stage capital flowed into fintech, food tech and mobility from the UAE to Kenya and Angola. Israeli growth-stage deals — including ScaleOps, Qodo and Sett — accounted for the lion’s share of the week’s capital.

"With $299.4 million in disclosed funding this week, investor attention across Africa and the Middle East remained heavily concentrated in Israeli AI infrastructure and cybersecurity, sectors that together accounted for nearly 80 percent of the week's capital."

Key disclosed rounds illustrate the pattern: ScaleOps raised $130 million in a Series C led by Insight Partners, with existing backers Lightspeed Venture Partners, Glilot Capital Partners, NFX and Picture Capital also participating. The raise values ScaleOps at over $800 million and pushes total funding past $210 million, including a secondary that allowed employees to cash out. The company said the capital will be used to expand its product suite for AI infrastructure and agent management and to scale development teams; customers include Adobe, Wiz and DocuSign.

• Qodo — $70 million Series B led by Qumra Capital; total funding now $120 million. Investors include Maor Ventures, Square Peg, TLV Partners and individual backers from OpenAI and Meta. Qodo reported tenfold revenue growth over the past year and new contracts with Nvidia, Walmart and Box.
• Voltify — $30 million seed led by Aleph and Fortescue to commercialize battery-powered conversions for diesel trains, with backers Menomadin, Jimpact and The Dock.
• Sett — $30 million Series B led by Greenfield Partners, with F2 and Bessemer; total funding $57 million. Ben Feder joined as a strategic backer. Sett automates AI agent-based marketing for gaming studios, counting Zynga, Playtika and Papaya as customers.
• Scala Biodesign — $16 million Series A led by Grove Ventures, joined by TLV Partners and Deep Insight; additionally awarded a NIS 15 million (approx. $4.8 million) grant from the Israel Innovation Authority to scale ScalaOS, its protein design platform.
• CarniStore (UAE) — $12.2 million (AED 45 million) minority investment from Emirates Growth Fund (EGF). Founded by Daniel Wanies and Fikry Boutros in 2018, the premium protein retailer will use the capital for industrial-scale expansion and regional growth; the EGF investment is its first in the food sector.
• Huskeys — $8 million seed to automate web application firewall management; early customers include TikTok, Merlin Entertainments and Hugging Face.
• 4G Capital (Kenya) — $2 million strategic investment from GIF Growth. 4G has historically disbursed over $800 million across 6.8 million loans to more than 755,000 clients and expects $1 billion in total lending this year; the funds will strengthen its digital tools and reach more entrepreneurs.
• ANDA (Angola) — $1.2 million from BFA Asset Management’s Kimbo Fund to expand its multi-asset fleet and integrate electric vehicles. The company runs a "drive-to-own" financing model for motorcycle taxi drivers and was founded by Sergio Tati and Joerg Nuehrmann in 2022.

Beyond the headline rounds, smaller pre-seed and seed deals surfaced in the UAE — including estaie’s seven-figure pre-seed led by PlusVC and Orbit Ventures and Mezza’s seed backed by angel investors — underscoring continued early-stage activity. Looking ahead, the week’s mix suggests persistent investor appetite for Israeli AI and cybersecurity plays while patient, impact-oriented capital quietly targets operational markets in East Africa and Angola, supporting fintech and mobility firms that serve underserved entrepreneurs and informal workers.