Startups in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) have raised $764 million across 42 rounds in November 2023, a jump of 390 per cent increase month on month (MoM) and a 74 per cent increase year on year (YoY). Discounting the debt rounds raised last month, the total reached $384 million, a rise of just over 180 per cent MoM. 

There was a resurgence across all stages of funding, with mega rounds comprising the highest proportion of the capital inflows. These include a $250 million debt round raised by Saudi Arabia-based Tamara, a $200 million Series D by Tabby, and a $130 million by MNT-halan in securitised bonds.

Taken collectively, the three rounds represented close to 76 per cent of the total raised in November.

As such, the countries headquartering the top fundraisers dominated the funding landscape. Saudi Arabia topped the charts with $338 million raised across nine deals, while the UAE came in second with $284 million spread over 22 deals. Egypt placed third with $130.5 million worth of five rounds.

Startups based in Kuwait, Morocco, Oman, and Tunisia received the remaining capital.

Sector-wise, fintech, unsurprisingly, came out on top for funding amount, thanks to Tamara and Tabby and second in terms of the number of rounds in the sector, with nine deals. MNT-Halan's round propelled the SuperApp sector to the second rank, while edtech was a distant third with $41.4 million, mostly coming from the single transaction of Saudi Arabia-based Noon.

There were also several rounds numbering in the tens of millions, these include Retailo’s $15 million, Ajras’ $28 million round, Flow48’s $25 million round, and Immensa’s $20 million round.

Of the 42 deals, 10 attracted direct global investment, with major contributions coming from US-based investors.

Regionally, it was the UAE-based investors who were the most active, participating in 21 deals. Modus Capital was the most prolific, as it invested $2.8 million in eight startups incubated through its flagship venture builder programme. Saudi-Arabia investors were the second most active, investing in 10deals.

As ever, male-founded startups received the majority of funds to the tune of $753 million worth of 29 deals, corresponding to $98.5 per cent. Female founders received less than two per cent of the capital, corresponding to $9 million, while male and female co-founded teams raised the remaining 0.2 per cent.

Last month, nine startups did not disclose the exact amount they raised; they include Nowmoney, Awfar, Lynk, Lath, Chari, Wayup Sport, Winshot, Akhdar, and Farcana. We assigned them a conservative amount of $100,000.

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