Dubai-based MAGNiTT.com, one of the largest investment data platforms for investors, entrepreneurs, and corporates in the Middle East, announced that it has raised close to $1 million in seed funding.

The round was led by 500 Startups, along with other regional VCs and angel investors including Middle East Venture Partners, KISP Ventures, Financial Horizon Group, and iNet.

MAGNiTT’s founder, Philip Bahoshy, said: “As a startup ourselves, we are delighted with the strong support we have received from the ecosystem for our Seed round. The funds raised will allow us to accelerate our growth, by further enhancing our platform to better serve our existing markets in the first instance, and consequently extending our geographical reach by expanding outside the region where we look to solve similar pain points.”

MAGNiTT differentiates itself from other players by providing users with a rich data platform on a subscription model and by allowing startups and investors to connect directly.

Sharif El-Badawi, partner at 500 Startups said: “At the heart of understanding an industry or building a nascent, fast evolving ecosystem, is knowing who the actors are and the activity taking place. Accurate data and objective transparency for startups, investors and enablers was almost non-existent before MAGNiTT. Now it is the defacto source for researchers and reporters within and outside the MENA region. At 500, we value data and transparency tremendously and it was clear to us that backing MAGNiTT made good business sense all around.”

​Walid Mansour, partner and chief investment officer at Middle East Venture Partners, said; ​"For us, as a MENA-focused venture capital firm that invests in the early and growth stages of innovative companies run by talented entrepreneurs, MAGNiTT is a strategic investment on several levels. Firstly, the platform brings much needed reliable and trustworthy information and analysis to our ecosystem.  Secondly, we feel that Philip's vision for MAGNiTT, to foster and help accelerate entrepreneurship in MENA, is aligned with our vision and will help many other startups successfully secure funding and in turn be part of the transformation of our region."

Having released over 20+ reports since inception, a core focus of the MAGNiTT platform is education through data driven analysis for its subscribers. The platform currently hosts 5,500 start-ups, over 12,000 users including 300+ individual investors and 150+ funding institutions, be VCs or Angel Investors.

Coinciding with the funding announcement, MAGNiTT has just released its new website, with enhanced user profiles, investment tracking notifications, research and analytics tools and a startup job portal for startups and VC portfolio companies. The company is also growing its technology team by onboarding new tech experts.