Accelerated Investment Surge in MENA Startups for July
The startup investment climate in the Middle East and North Africa witnessed a remarkable upswing in July, with total funding soaring to $783 million across 57 transactions.
This surge represents a staggering 1,411 percent increase from June and more than double the capital amassed in July 2024, indicating a robust trajectory for the third quarter of 2025, as outlined in Wamda’s latest monthly report.
The substantial increase was largely attributable to two significant megadeals, underscoring a persistent investor enthusiasm for later-stage, high-growth ventures.
Saudi Arabia emerged as a leader in regional funding, securing $396.5 million across 16 deals, closely followed by the UAE, which raised $359 million through 22 startups.
The Kingdom’s strong performance was bolstered by three notable funding rounds: the Q-commerce platform Ninja’s $250 million raise, leading to its unicorn status; foodtech startup Calo’s $39 million Series B extension; and SaaS provider Lucidya’s $30 million Series B funding.
Emerging ecosystems exhibited marked shifts in the funding landscape. Iraq claimed the third position with a single $15 million transaction for InstaBank, surpassing the historically dominant Egypt.
Morocco followed in fourth place, propelled by Ora Technologies’ $7.5 million round.
Once consistently in the top three, Egypt has now dropped to fifth, recording a mere $4 million across seven startups. Analysts attribute this decline to macroeconomic challenges, including currency instability, which have limited Egypt’s capital influx.
By sector, deeptech has overtaken fintech for the first time in several months, amassing $250.3 million through four deals.
E-commerce matched the deeptech sector in funding, also raising $250 million, primarily spurred by Ninja’s record-setting round.
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) startups ranked third, attracting $89 million across 12 deals, while fintech fell to fourth place, securing $61 million in 11 transactions. The report notes, “This shift reflects a growing appetite for IP-heavy, innovation-led ventures and scalable consumer platforms, even as fintech funding cools.”
Significantly, two megadeals—Ninja and XPANCEO—accounted for 56 percent of total funding in July, skewing the metrics toward substantial capital deployments. Series A rounds demonstrated strength, raising $267 million across three startups.
Later-stage transactions totaled $158 million, while 26 early-stage enterprises collectively raised $36 million. Debt financing constituted only 2 percent of the overall total, reinforcing the ongoing dominance of equity-based funding in the region.
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The investment arena has also seen a resurgence of interest in consumer-focused business models. Business-to-consumer startups captured $534 million in funding, reversing a trend from earlier in the year that favored enterprise solutions and B2B ventures.
Business-to-business startups raised $202.4 million across 32 deals, with remaining funds diversified among direct-to-consumer and hybrid models.
However, disparities in venture funding persist; startups led exclusively by male founders raised $774.5 million across 43 deals. Mixed-gender teams secured $5.8 million, while female-led ventures attracted a paltry $3 million from eight transactions.
Despite heightened visibility of women in entrepreneurship, funding allocations remain imbalanced, suggesting that systemic barriers still inhibit capital access for women-led startups.
As 2024 progresses, MENA startup funding has already eclipsed the total accumulation for the entirety of 2024.
This momentum reflects the region’s ongoing evolution from nascent to mature innovation ecosystems, with capital increasingly flowing into emerging hubs beyond traditional markets.
The sustained activity underscores a burgeoning confidence among global and regional investors.
“With record-breaking rounds in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, alongside unexpected appearances from emerging markets like Iraq and Morocco, investor interest is diversifying beyond conventional centers,” the report elaborated.
Coraly.ai Secures $2 Million in Pre-Seed Funding
Coraly.ai, a proptech firm dedicated to optimizing lead generation for real estate professionals, has successfully raised $2 million in a pre-seed funding round.
The investment was spearheaded by the Salica Oryx Fund, which is managed by Salica Investments and is located in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, joined by EQ2 Ventures and various strategic angel investors.
Originally founded as Coralytics and recently rebranded, Coraly.ai leverages artificial intelligence to streamline real estate sales workflows.
“Real estate agents globally are underserved by fragmented, outdated sales tools. Through Coraly.ai, our mission is to simplify growth with AI that just works,” asserted Fouad Bekkar, founder and CEO of Coraly.ai.
“This funding provides us the necessary momentum to further propel product innovation and expand into critical growth markets,” Bekkar added.
The capital will bolster the company’s product development trajectory, focusing on engineering recruitment and advanced AI features.
FASTFACT
The Kingdom’s performance was bolstered by three major rounds, including Q-commerce platform Ninja’s $250 million raise led by Riyad Capital, foodtech startup Calo’s $39 million Series B extension, and SaaS provider Lucidya’s $30 million Series B.
Coraly.ai also plans to fortify its foothold in the UAE, initiate operations in Saudi Arabia, and launch pilot programs in France and the United States.
“Salica Oryx Fund is pleased to be an early supporter and investor in Coraly.ai. It symbolizes a substantial advancement in real estate marketing technology, providing an AI-powered platform that fundamentally transforms property marketing and presentation online,” stated Ivo Detelinov, general partner at Salica Oryx Fund.
Patrick Thiriet, CEO of EQ2 Ventures, remarked, “AI is poised to significantly enhance productivity across many sectors where professionals still employ outdated software products. The property market is among these verticals, with real estate agents spending excessive time on nonproductive tasks.”
Coraly.ai’s international growth strategy is underpinned by a go-to-market partnership with SNPI, France’s largest real estate union, which represents over 14,800 agencies.
In North America, the company has secured its inaugural US-based multiple listing service partner, with pilot initiatives anticipated to commence shortly.
Breadfast Secures $10 Million to Scale Operations
Egypt’s quick-commerce grocery delivery platform, Breadfast, has raised $10 million as part of its Series B2 round.
This investment was led by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, complemented by contributions from Novastar Ventures.
Founded in 2017, Breadfast has evolved from a bakery delivery service into a comprehensive on-demand grocery and household goods provider. This new funding elevates its valuation between $382 million and $400 million.
The capital infusion will facilitate the expansion of fulfillment centers in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, and Mansoura, with plans to penetrate additional Egyptian cities. Furthermore, it aims to invest in Breadfast Pay, a fintech extension offering digital savings, withdrawals, and branded payment cards.
The fintech division is crucial to the company’s ambition of developing a broader super-app ecosystem that integrates commerce and financial services to enhance customer engagement and retention.
Impact46 Invests $6.66 Million in MENA Gaming Studios
Impact46, a Saudi Arabia-based venture capital firm, has invested over SR25 million ($6.66 million) in five gaming studios — Fahy, NJD Games, Game Cooks, Starvania, and Alpaka — as part of its SR150 million Gaming Fund launched in March 2024.
The studios encompass mobile, PC, console, and hybrid-casual gaming, reflecting the burgeoning creative and technical prowess of the MENA region’s gaming ecosystem.
“We regard gaming as more than a mere sector; it’s a language of youth, culture, and creativity,” remarked Basmah Al-Sinaidi, managing partner at Impact46.
“Through these investments, we are supporting creators who are not just launching games but building the infrastructure, narratives, and platforms that will define the next era of content in the region.”
Fahy and NJD Games have focused on mobile titles developed in Saudi Arabia, while Game Cooks, now based in Riyadh, has crafted over 22 titles spanning VR, PC, and mobile platforms, garnering multiple international accolades.
Starvania specializes in fantasy games for PC and consoles, while Alpaka concentrates on developing hybrid-casual mobile games in the action genre.
These investments follow earlier support for Spoilz, a developer of culturally inspired mobile games, and Spekter Games, a publisher crafting games for chat-based platforms with Web3 integration. Together, this portfolio exemplifies Impact46’s commitment to nurturing a local gaming ecosystem.
This initiative resonates with Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia’s National Gaming and Esports Strategy, which aims to position the Kingdom as a global gaming powerhouse.
Key enablers in this mission include the Saudi Esports Federation, CODE, and the Esports World Cup Foundation.
Perle Closes $9 Million Seed Round
The UAE-based startup Perle, which is developing a decentralized AI training data platform, has completed a $9 million seed funding round led by Framework Ventures.
The funds will facilitate the launch of Perle Labs, a crypto-native ecosystem designed to augment human contributions to AI model training.
Perle employs blockchain technology to ensure transparent payments, on-chain attribution, and verifiable work histories for contributors.
“As AI models evolve in complexity, their success is contingent upon their ability to manage the long tail of data inputs — those rare, ambiguous, or context-specific scenarios,” explained Ahmed Rashad, CEO of Perle.
“By decentralizing this process, we can foster global involvement, mitigate bias, and significantly enhance model performance.”
The platform supports the full lifecycle of AI development, encompassing multimodal data collection, reinforcement learning from human feedback, and assistant fine-tuning.
It combines human expertise with adaptable workflows to accelerate the accuracy and scalability of training data.
Perle targets developers and enterprises seeking more robust, transparent, and scalable AI data pipelines, with a long-term vision of decentralizing the AI supply chain and empowering contributors globally.
Source link: Arabnews.com.
