Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $297 million across 29 deals in April 2022 a drop of just $2 million month-on-month, but a 60 per cent increase year-on-year, bringing total funding amassed in January-April 2022 to over $1 billion.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE continue to dominate venture capital (VC) inflow in Mena. It was Saudi Arabia’s startups that raised the most last month with $195 million thanks to Foodics' $170 million Series C round. The UAE emerged second on the list with $61.5 million, with Millennial Brand’s $35 million growth round leading the way.  

Egypt-based startups raised $37 million in April, a 57 per cent drop when compared to March. Proptech Pylon was the country's top fundraiser in April, securing $19 million in a Seed round.

In terms of deal count, the UAE recorded the highest number of deals, followed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but overall deal count dropped dramatically month-on-month from 79 investment deals in March to 29 in April. 

Last month, high-value mega rounds were a major contributor to the overall funding value; however, they made up a small percentage of total funding volume. Early stage funding continues to dominate the number of deals with 17 pre-Seed and Seed stage startups raising $55 million in April, accounting for 18.5 per cent of the total value raised. 

Sector-wise, SaaS and e-commerce startups contributed 85 per cent to the total amount raised last month. Fintech was the top segment in terms of the number of deals as startups in this space raised $9.8 million across four deals, a drop of 97 per cent when compared to the $135 million raised by fintech startups in March. 

B2B startups led the pack in terms of the deal amount for April 2022, raising over $223 million across 13 deals, followed by B2C startups, which raised $70 million across 14 deals.

As ever, startups founded by men took the bulk of investment, with $259 million, across 25 deals, while startups with both male and female co-founders raised $3 million across two deals, accounting for 1 per cent of the capital inflow. Female founded startups performed well last month, accounting for 12 per cent of the total amount raised thanks primarily to Millennial Brands. 

Investors based in Saudi Arabia were once again the region’s most active, participating in 13 deals, followed by investors in the UAE who took part in 10 deals. Of the 29 deals last month, 14 attracted overseas funding, with US investors taking part in 10 deals. Egypt-based startups had the highest concentration of overseas investors.

In April, five startups did not disclose the financial details of their transactions. They include Qidz, Remmsh, Rology and Gathern. We assigned the former two a conservative amount of $100,000 and the latter two $1,000,000.

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