Mena startups raised $101 million in August 2023

Mena startups raised $101 million in August 2023

Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $101 million across 26 deals, a six per cent increase month-on-month in terms of deal value. Year-on-year, the funding amount suffered a steeper 73 per cent decline.

Saudi Arabia led in the total funding raised last month, with $54 million raised across eight deals. The top fundraisers were inventory management platform Rewaa and traveltech FlyAkeed, which secured $27 million and $15.2 million, respectively. Coming in second was the UAE, whose startups attracted $44 million spread over nine deals. Both countries accounted for 97 per cent of the total funds raised in August.

Egypt was a distant third at $1.5 million, with HR-tech startup Talents Arena being the largest beneficiary with its $750,000 round. Tunisia, Morocco, and Palestine took the fourth, fifth, and sixth ranks.

When it comes to sector funding, logistics bagged the most capital with $36 million, thanks primarily to Rewaa’s Series A round. This was followed by traveltech, healthtech, and Web3. These four sectors were the most funded, contributing 76 pe rcent of the total funding received in August. 

Fintech slipped to the fifth position funding-wise but topped the charts in terms of deal count. Within