MENA
BRKZ, a construction tech startup eyeing MENA, emerges from stealth with $8M
Saudi Arabia is poised to become one of the largest global construction hubs, owing to its trillion-dollar infrastructure and the real estate projects that are underway in the country. Yet…
RemotePass, which helps companies onboard, manage, pay and retain remote workers, raises $5.5M
As remote work becomes increasingly prevalent, organizations globally are adapting, especially regarding onboarding procedures for new employees and navigating cross-border payment complexities. This new age of work has led to a…
COTU Ventures launches $54M fund for pre-seed and seed startups in MENA
Dubai-based early-stage venture capital firm COTU Ventures is announcing that it has raised $54 million for its inaugural fund to support startups in the Middle East from pre-seed to seed…
Honor of Kings, Tencent’s massively popular mobile game, has its eye set on the international market in 2024. Starting on February 21, the multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game will…
DXwand raises $4M to scale its conversational AI platform serving enterprises in MENA
DXwand, a Cairo- and Dubai-based startup that leverages conversational AI to help businesses in the Middle East automate customer service and employee assistance, has raised $4 million in Series A…
Re-commerce marketplace Soum gets $18M backing to scale in MENA
The global re-commerce market is poised for growth as consumers increasingly settle for pre-owned goods to save on cost, and as some observe conscious consumption. With the global re-commerce market…
Omniful, a supply chain and e-commerce enablement startup, emerges from stealth with $5.85M
Supply chain and e-commerce enablement startup Omniful has today emerged from stealth with $5.85 million seed funding led by VentureSouq, with participation from 500 Global, DASH Ventures, Jahez Group, SEEDRA…
Immensa, a MENA-based additive manufacturing and digital inventory platform, raises $20 million
The global energy spare parts market is valued at over $90 billion, with the Middle East representing about 35% of this sector. This sector remains largely untapped by existing additive…
MENA VC Flat6Labs’ new fund to back startups in East, West Africa
Flat6Labs is amongst the most active VCs in Africa, having invested in more than 100 startups to date across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. And now, after…
A few years ago, Richard Schrems was working as a human resources consultant in Riyadh, and at one point sought to implement a tech solution for his clients to help…
Crypto adoption skyrockets in Middle East and North Africa due to favorable economic climate
Crypto markets grew the most in the Middle East and North Africa in 2022 due to economic incentives and regulation.
Egyptian startup Convertedin raises $3M, caters to e-commerce brands in MENA and Latin America
Convertedin, an Egyptian startup that operates a marketing operating system for e-commerce brands, has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Saudi Arabia-headquartered Merak Capital. Other participating investors…
Egyptian healthtech startup Vezeeta cuts 10% of 500-person staff
Vezeeta, a healthtech startup operating in the Middle East and Africa, reportedly laid off about 10% of its staff last week. The number of affected employees isn’t known; however, multiple sources…
Qureos, a UAE-based edtech and remote work marketplace that is changing how people upskill and get jobs across the globe, plans to grow the uptake of its platform by 10…
Colabs gets $3 million seed to expand across Pakistan, launch back-office SaaS solution
Lahore-based coworking space startup Colabs is set to roll out a SaaS product to enable businesses to meet back-office needs including company registration, talent sourcing and management, payroll processing, and…
Singapore-based Volopay accelerates APAC and MENA expansion with $29M Series A
Volopay, a Singapore-based fintech startup, raised a $29 million Series A in debt and equity financing as it seeks to further expand its footprint in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and…
Egypt-based celebrity platform Minly acquires Dubai’s Oulo to consolidate its position in the GCC
Minly, a MENA-based media and entertainment startup, announced today that it has acquired Oulo, a Dubai-based celebrity shoutout platform, for an undisclosed fee. The acquisition is coming six months after…
Medal.tv, a video clipping service for gamers, enters the livestreaming market with Rawa.tv acquisition
Medal.tv, a short-form video clipping service and social network for gamers, is entering the livestreaming market with the acquisition of Rawa.tv, a Twitch rival based in Dubai, which had raised…
YELA secures $2M to reproduce Cameo’s celebrity success with an app for the Middle East
The Cameo app, where celebrities send video messages to paying fans, has taken off globally. But now the concept is set to come to the Middle East and South Asia.…
Dubai-based buy now, pay later platform tabby raises $50M at $300M valuation
These past few years have seen the emergence of buy now, pay later services worldwide, with leading players raising buttloads of cash to serve an insatiable young adult population who…
Egypt’s Minly raises $3.6M to connect celebrities and fans through personalized experiences
In the past couple of years, we’ve seen a growing trend of creators adopting digital and social media, not just as a supplement to their media presence but also as…
Sequoia leads $5M pre-seed in Egypt’s 1-month-old digital bank Telda
Egypt has a population of over 100 million people. The country has a high mobile and internet penetration necessary for a young and tech-savvy population with 61% below 30. But…
After a record year for Israeli startups, 16 investors tell us what’s next
Israel’s startup ecosystem raised record amounts of funding and produced 19 IPOs in 2020, despite the pandemic. Now tech companies across industries are poised for an even better year, according…
Rolling updates on Beirut, a city and a tech community devastated
It was only relatively recently, in October 2018, that TechCrunch held Startup Battlefield MENA to unpack startups in the Middle East and North Africa. When TechCrunch went looking for a…
Here are the companies that pitched in Startup Battlefield MENA
Today in lovely Beirut, Lebanon TechCrunch held its first Startup Battlefield in the country. Over 700 people watched the show on site, which featured speakers from throughout the Middle East…
Middle East startups are growing fast, and that’s even before the flying taxis arrive
The flight from Tehran to Dubai is about two hours, similar to the flight from New York to Chicago. The flight from Cairo to Beirut is one hour and 15…
Founder Institute Quietly Expands Into The Middle East, With Focus On Supporting Female Entrepreneurs
Talk to 500 Startups’ Dave McClure about what’s important for his seed fund and accelerator going forward and, it’s not just about finding and supporting whiz-bang entrepreneurs, it’s supporting entrepreneurial…
Is The Next Big Game Company In The Middle East? Peak Hits 9.7M DAU, Revenue Up 600% Since Jan. 1
Over the last several months, the biggest Western social gaming companies have been making moves, and attracting attention as a result. Japanese gaming giant GREE bought Funzio for $210 million…
