The Middle East and North Africa's (MENA) startup ecosystem experienced a remarkable surge in activity during February 2025. The region witnessed a significant influx of investment, with startups raising a total of $494 million across 58 deals. This impressive figure represents a nearly fivefold increase compared to the investment amount secured in the same month of the previous year.

In January, debt financing constituted 90% of the total investment. In contrast, February saw a significant drop in debt financing, which made up only 15% of the total investment that month.

Excluding debt from both months reveals that February recorded a 371% month-on-month (MoM) increase in investment activity.

LEAP sends Saudi Arabia to the top

Startups in Saudi Arabia raised $250.3 million across 25 deals last month, leading the region in fundraising. This rise was driven in part by the LEAP 2025 conference, where many startups announced their closed deals. The UAE followed in second place, with 15 of its startups raising $203.5 million. Egypt came in a distant third, with just $27.5 million raised by eight startups. Oman returned to the top four with two startups raising $6 million.

Fintech dominates again

Fintech led all sectors last month with $274 million raised across 15 deals. Insurtech followed in second with $55 million across two deals, while logistics took third place, securing $28.5 million in four deals.

Last month, the fintech sector secured $274 million through 15 deals, leading all sectors in fundraising. Insurtech followed with $55 million raised across two deals, while the logistics sector ranked third, securing $28.5 million in four deals.

Investors pay attention to later stages

February also witnessed an improvement in the number of later-stage deals, with Tabby raising $160 million in Series E funding. Both Ula and Merit Incentives secured $28 million in Series B funding. Additionally, Taager and Khazna successfully closed their pre-Series B rounds, raising $6.7 million and $16 million, respectively.

However, in terms of deal count, the majority of investments went to the pre-seed stage, where 15 startups bagged $22 million, while startups at the Series A stage saw a cash influx of $158 million distributed over seven rounds, and 10 seed-stage startups received $27.8 million.

Startups operating in the business-to-business (B2B) model took the lead as the most funded in February, garnering $191.6 million through 33 transactions, and the business-to-consumer (B2C) model raised $138.5 million in 18 deals, while six startups operating in both domains secured $164 million.

Startups that operate in the business-to-business (B2B) domain were the most funded in February, raising $191.6 million across 33 deals. Business-to-consumer (B2C) startups raised $138.5 million across 18 deals, while 6 startups that operate in both domains raised $164 million.

As ever, startups led by male founders garnered the largest amount of investment, bringing in $429 million, accounting for 87% of the total investment for the month. Meanwhile, startups with female founders only received $200,000, and the remaining amount was invested in startups co-founded by both genders.

These monthly reports are a collaboration between Wamda and Digital Digest.