Week 31: Africa & Middle East Funding Led by Epic Markets

Startups across Africa, the Middle East and Israel raised a combined $30.82 million in disclosed funding rounds this week, with capital concentrated in fintech and AI infrastructure and the two largest individual checks tied at $10 million each. The week’s biggest rounds were led by Epic Markets, a UAE-based fintech building retail access to institutional-grade execution, and Modus, an Israeli AI infrastructure startup developing context-aware systems for enterprise agents.

"bringing institutional-grade trade execution to individual investors across multiple asset classes," said Epic Markets in describing its product focus, after receiving a $10 million injection from Karatage as the company's first disclosed funding round. The startup said it will use the capital to build out its platform and underlying technology ahead of launch.

Modus also closed a $10 million seed round, led by Insight Partners and joined by Soma Capital along with a group of Israeli tech executives and founders. The company describes its product as a "Context Warehouse" that continuously learns how a business actually operates, enabling enterprise AI agents to work with the right context rather than simply ingesting more raw data. Modus — which has 12 employees, all based in Israel — will direct the funding toward further platform development.

Deal breakdown and sector focus

• Total disclosed funding this week: $30.82 million.
• Largest rounds: Epic Markets (UAE) — $10 million; Modus (Israel) — $10 million.
• Lead investors named: Karatage (Epic Markets); Insight Partners (Modus); Soma Capital (Modus).
• Primary sectors attracting capital: fintech and AI infrastructure.

The rounds mark a pattern of smaller, more distributed checks compared with previous weeks, where single large rounds dominated totals. Epic Markets’ raise is notable as the company’s first publicly disclosed financing and comes ahead of a planned product launch that aims to offer retail traders execution capabilities often reserved for institutional players. Karatage’s participation signals investor interest in platforms that seek to bridge retail and institutional market infrastructure.

Modus is positioning itself in the enterprise AI stack by addressing context management — an area that many startups argue is critical to making AI agents reliable and actionable in business settings. By framing its product as a "Context Warehouse," Modus emphasizes continuous learning about how enterprises operate, a capability it says improves the relevance and safety of AI-driven workflows. Insight Partners’ lead on the round brings a well-known growth-stage investor into the seed mix, while Soma Capital and seasoned Israeli founders and executives add local industry know-how and networks.

Outlook

With $20 million of the week's $30.82 million flowing to two companies focused on market infrastructure and enterprise AI, investor appetite in the region appears concentrated on propositions that either unlock access to sophisticated financial tools or make AI agents more enterprise-ready. Both Epic Markets and Modus plan to use their new capital to accelerate product development ahead of commercial launches, a move that could spur further fundraising or strategic partnerships as they scale. For the broader ecosystem, the week underlines that funding activity remains active but fragmented, with investor dollars distributed across multiple smaller rounds rather than channeled into a handful of mega-deals.