Funding Trends in African and Middle Eastern Startups - Week 32, 2025 (Infographic)
Booming Startup Funding in the Middle East and Africa
Startup funding in the Middle East and Africa is experiencing a robust growth, with a significant rebound seen in the first half of 2025. The region witnessed a total of $2.1 billion in startup funding across 334 deals, marking a 134% year-over-year increase compared to H1 2024.
Saudi Arabia emerged as the dominant market, raising $969 million in fintech alone, with an overall $231.5 million invested in 38 startups in Q2 alone. This surpassed the UAE, which secured $541 million in capital during the same period, spread over 52 deals.
The fintech sector led the funding, with 38 startups raising $170 million in Q2 and a total of $596 million in H1 2025. This represents a tripling of year-over-year investor interest. Proptech and traveltech also attracted substantial investments, with $77 million and $40 million raised respectively.
Notable investments include Alaan, a UAE-based B2B spend management platform, which secured a $48 million Series A round. Saudi's logistics startup Salasa secured $30 million Series B led by Artal Capital. Local AI startup Deep.SA raised $1.2 million to scale AI products.
The funding for South African startup Flood will be used to allow companies to roll out all-in-one customer platforms without having to build from scratch. Egypt's Suplyd, a digital procurement platform for restaurants and cloud kitchens, raised $2 million in a pre-Series A round.
In Iraq, logistics aggregator Boxy closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round. The Saudi AI space is also seeing growth, with Deep.SA's funding indicating a boost for homegrown AI products.
Despite macroeconomic challenges such as currency volatility and regional tensions, investor activity remained strong. Government support in Saudi Arabia through sovereign wealth funds and incentives helped sustain momentum. There was also record-breaking M&A activity in the MENA region.
In Africa, startups are continuing to secure smart funding, with a focus on local solutions with global potential. The energy in Middle Eastern and African startups is high, with companies raising smart money, building for real needs, and gaining global attention while maintaining their local edge.
In summary, H1 2025 was a robust period for startup funding in the Middle East and Africa, led by a strong rebound in MENA with Saudi Arabia emerging as the dominant market and fintech driving much of the investment growth. The funding for Flood shows a growing appetite for modular, scalable tools, and e-commerce is gaining serious ground in Saudi Arabia, with logistics enablers like Salasa being increasingly seen as foundational pieces of the wider digital economy puzzle.
- The surge in startup funding in the Middle East and Africa has seen a significant influx of capital into the technology sector, with fintech, proptech, traveltech, and local AI startups receiving substantial investments.
- The funding for Flood, a South African startup, will enable companies to build customer platforms without starting from scratch, showcasing a growing interest in technology solutions that promote scalability and adaptability in the region.
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