Startups in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) raised $299 million across 79 deals in March 2022, a 22 per cent decrease month-on-month but a 71 per cent increase year-on-year. This takes the total amount raised in the first quarter of 2022 to $934 

million, an increase of 38 per cent compared to the same period last year.

In terms of deal value, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt took the lead accounting for 93 per cent of the total amount raised in March.

Over half of the funding went to UAE startups thanks to fintech tabby's $54 million Series A round and healthtech startup Altibbi's $44 million Series B round, although the latter is now planning to relocate its headquarters to Saudi Arabia to drive its future growth. 

The rise in the number of funds in Egypt is beginning to show, where startups in the country raised the second-highest amount of funding at $86.8 million, with fintechs Lucky and Khazna attracting $25 million and $38 million respectively. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia-based startups raised the third highest amount with $39.7 million.

Sector-wise, fintech continues to dominate investor interest, with $135 million raised, accounting for 45 per cent of total investment value. Fintech also saw the highest number of deals, contributing 18 deals to the total deal count. This was followed by healthtech and logistics, which together attracted $83 million across 14 deals. 

The majority of funding value was driven by later-stage investment. Of the $299 million raised, $182.6 million was directed towards startups at the Series A and Series B stages. Meanwhile, Seed and pre-Seed deals dominated the funding landscape in terms of deal count, while the average ticket size at Seed currently stands at $2 million. 

Saudi Arabia-based investors were the most active, taking part in 31 deals, followed by investors based in Egypt who took part in 20 deals. Investors in the US remain the most active foreign investors in the region, taking part in 16 deals. 

Startups founded by men accounted for 86 per cent of the investment raised in March. Startups with both male and female co-founders fared better last month, attracting 12 per cent of the $299 million, while female-founded startups received less than 1 per cent.

Startups that did not disclose the exact amount they raised include, Nakhla, IoT Kids, WaffarX, Chefaa, and PrintHub. We assigned them a conservative amount of $100,000.

 

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