Iran Turkish payments startup Iyzico closes $13M Series C On July 15, Barbaros Ozbugutu and Tahsin Isin were celebrating in Istanbul. After years of bureaucracy, their online payment company... Alexandra Locke • 20 January, 2017 turkey iran Commerce
U.A.E Startup Emirates: the most well-funded tech startups in the UAE in one infographic This article is a crosspost from CB Insights. All of the companies in our infographic are based in the Emirate of Dubai.... Willam Altman • 09 January, 2017 Investment uae CB Insights
Regional 2016 was very generous to MENA's startups #Wamda2016 People on the internet aren’t too sad to let go of 2016. Memes surrounding the US presidential elections, comedy sketches on the... Teeb Assaf • 04 January, 2017 Wamda2016 MENA startups
Egypt Egypt’s Vezeeta gets $5M Series B Vezeeta, an Egypt-based automated physician, clinic and hospital bookings platform received $5 million in series B funding led by... Lucy Knight • 30 December, 2016 Vezeeta Egypt BECO Capital
U.A.E Jisr Venture Partners like to look outside MENA [Know your VC] Jisr Venture Partners founder and chairman Waleed Albanawi is making another investment into the food and beverage (F&B) space by... Elias Jabbe • 28 December, 2016 Investment jisr venture partners ReserveOut
Tunisia Left out: Tunisian startups demand attention Tunisian entrepreneurs think the government should pay more attention to them rather than focusing on megaprojects, after a major... Lilia Blaise • 21 December, 2016 Tunisia2020 economy startup
Regional What's happening to innovation in the GCC? #Wamda2016 Stagnant oil prices mean the GCC’s economic situation today does not look rosy, and the 2016 Global Innovation Index (GII) shows the... Julia Eberhard • 20 December, 2016 Wamda2016 MENA startups
Egypt Who's investing in Egypt now anyway? [Know your VC] Egypt’s economy is in bad shape, so who would want to invest in startups and SMEs in this current gloomy atmosphere? Tarek Fahim,... Radwa Rashad • 05 December, 2016 Know your VC Endure Capital JuiceLabs
Regional Between a rock and a hard place: the trend towards for-profit social enterprises [Opinion] Reducing the focus of my work as a social entrepreneur to become a social intrapreneur wasn’t an easy decision. I started working... Kamel Al-Asmar • 01 December, 2016 Social Entrepreneurship social enterprise Scaling
Egypt EAEF reinvests in Egypt’s Smartcare Medical Services Smartcare Medical Services in Egypt has secured another 12 million Egyptian pounds (US$762,000) from the Egyptian-American Enterprise Fund,... Rachel Williamson • 17 November, 2016 Smartcare Medical Services Egypt Series A
Regional Series A investment: when, how, who? [Know your VC] In the growth cycle of a startup the Series A round can be a critical hurdle, but investors say there is a lot startups can do to... Eduard Cousin • 21 November, 2016 Series A Investment Venture Capital
Jordan Communication key to soothing rocky VC-startup romance Part of a maturing ecosystem are the growing pains that go along with it. As startups continue to pop up, so do VC funds, but like any... Dana Ballout • 13 November, 2016 Funding Investment VC
Lebanon Arab world’s streaming app Anghami raises Series B Lebanon-born music streaming app Anghami has raised a Series B round at an undisclosed value, the company said in a statement. The round... Rachel Williamson • 02 November, 2016 anghami Middle East Venture Partners Investment
Regional Get your house in order: what to expect from due diligence [Opinion] Before an investor will give your startup money, they will dig into your books to find out whether there is anything they need to know... Abdulrahman Hammad • 03 November, 2016 due diligence Investment list
Global Hikma Ventures makes second US investment Hikma Ventures made their second investment announcement in just over a month with their contribution to a $21.5 million series C round of... Lucy Knight • 20 October, 2016 Hikma Ventures Hikma Pharmaceutical Investment
Regional Holidayme.com secures $7M funding, a boost for regional travel industry UAE online travel agency Holidayme.com has raised $7 million in Series A funding from Silicon Valley-based Accel Partners, Saudi... Dana Ballout • 12 October, 2016 Travel holidayme Geet Bhalla
U.A.E Has Falafel Games raised the largest round for a gaming startup in MENA? Falafel Games, one of the first gaming studios to emerge in the Middle East, just closed a round of $2.6 million. The funding round was... Lucy Knight • 11 October, 2016 falafel games MEVP Investment
Bahrain Bahrain’s Eat raises $2M Editor’s note: this article was updated on October 12 to include a comment from Reserve Out. In what they are labelling... Lucy Knight • 10 October, 2016 Eatapp eat Bahrain
Iran Iran startup Snapp raises $22M Series A Iranian ride sharing startup Snapp has secured a 20 million euro (US$22 million) Series A investment. The deal, reported in Tech... Rachel Williamson • 10 October, 2016 Snapp Iran Internet Group Rocket Internet
U.A.E Compareit4me closes $2.4M funding round The financial comparison site Compareit4me.com has closed a funding round of $2.4 million. According to a statement released by the... Lucy Knight • 26 September, 2016 Investment Compareit4me.com Wamda Capital
U.A.E Wrappup closes $800K investment round Wrappup, an app that solves time wasting meetings by recording and flagging the important moments, has closed a seed round of... Lucy Knight • 21 September, 2016 Wrappup BECO Capital Investment
Global US digital health startup gets Hikma Ventures funding Hikma Ventures announced today their participation in a $47.6 million Series B round for Chrono Therapeutics. Chrono is a US-based... Lucy Knight • 08 September, 2016 Investment Hikma Ventures MEMakersGE
Turkey Wamda Capital invests $2.2M in Insider Wamda Capital announced today a $2.2 million Series A investment in Insider, a smart digital platform for marketers to personalize,... Dana Ballout • 21 September, 2016 Insider turkey Wamda Capital
Egypt Egypt payments startup Paymob signs deal with A15 Egypt payments startup Paymob has signed an undisclosed deal with local financier A15. The companies did not say how much the deal... Rachel Williamson • 02 September, 2016 A15 Paymob Investment