Why Saudi Arabia could soon rival Dubai for fintech funding

Why Saudi Arabia could soon rival Dubai for fintech funding

Saudi Arabia is witnessing “exciting growth” when it comes to funding fintech start-ups, according to Muhammed Mekki, co-founder of AstroLabs, which has been developing the digital ecosystem in the Middle East for the last seven years.

AstroLabs was the first international business incubator licensed in the kingdom and partnered with Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Investment (previously SAGIA) in 2018, making it a partner of choice to support businesses expanding into the country.

Muhammed Mekki told Arabian Business: “Right now it's the market that I'm seeing have the most exciting growth relatively. I think Dubai remains the epicentre in terms of number of deals, size of deals and the underlying maturity of the start-up ecosystem, but there's no doubt that Saudi is sprinting forward, really propelled by this combination of a compelling, deep,