The amount invested in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region fell drastically in April 2024, with only 19 startups raising $55 million, a 78% fall month-on-month (MoM) from $254 million raised in March but an 87% increase year-on-year (YoY).

Apparently, the ecosystem is still suffering from the first-quarter downturn, with most venture capital (VC) companies maintaining a cautious approach.

The largest ticket size last month went to Fortis, a UAE-based fintech that received $20 million in Series A, followed by WEE's $10 million pre-Series A round and Tunisia's Qodek, which got $8 million in Series B.

One of the most notable trends last month was a decrease in investment in Saudi Arabia, with only three Saudi startups receiving $4.8 million, while UAE-based businesses earned $32 million across six deals, followed by Egyptian startups, which received $8.7 million over five deals.

Fintech was the most funded sector in Apirl, with four firms raising $25.7 million, $20 million of which went to Fortis. Then there's e-commerce, which received $10.5 million in two rounds, and an AI startup (Qodek) raised $8 million. Meanwhile, three SaaS providers received $3.5 million.

Last month, the majority of investment went to later-stage startups, as Fortis claimed $20 million in its Series A round, while pre-Series A attracted $14.3 million, and $8 million went to Series B.

Investors' appetite for business-to-business (B2B) remains strong, which recorded $42.5 million across 12 transactions. B2B2C harvested $11 million, and business-to-consumer model (B2C) secured $1.2 million.

In April, only one female-founded firm secured $100,000 in funding, while male founders received $43 million, with the remainder going to male and female co-founded companies.

Motion within the ecosystem

Last month, the Egyptian and Saudi ecosystems came together, with ten Egyptian companies winning the opportunity to explore the Saudi market and expanding into the Kingdom under the joint Saudi-Egyptian programme VMS Bridge.

Numerous venture capital firms launched their funds in April, including Abu Dhabi's ADQ, which collaborated with the Oman Investment Authority (OIA) to launch the Jasoor Fund, a $180 million technology-focused fund. Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures (VKAV), a Nigeria-based venture capital firm, has also completed a $60 million final close for its pan-African VC fund.

In terms of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Bahrain-based alternative asset manager Investcorp acquired NSEIT, the digital technology division of India’s National Stock Exchange (NSE), in a deal valued at $120 million.

April also saw US tech giant Microsoft showing interest in a regional AI player, G42, pouring $1.5 billion in investment for a minority stake with the aim of delivering advanced AI solutions with Microsoft Azure across various industries and markets.

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