June 2024 saw a slowdown in MENA’s start-up scene as 38 tech ventures raised USD 116 million, for a total of USD 882 million for the half-year. While June’s fundraising fell 59% month over month, it increased 182% over the same time in 2023.
Last month, businesses in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped the regional investment charts with USD 82.5 million from 15 deals. With four firms raising USD 15 million, Egyptian start-ups raised the second-highest amount. Having raised USD 13.5 million, seven businesses saw Saudi Arabia fall to third place. There was also noteworthy activity in Iraq, where six firms raised an estimated USD 1.2 million; however, since Orisdi, BonLili, and Alsaree3 withheld their investment valuations, the actual sum may have been higher.
There were no large-scale transactions last month; Tenderd’s USD 30 million deal in June had the largest ticket size. Thanks to Tenderd’s agreement, the fintech industry regained its top spot in terms of funding in June 2024, securing USD 38 million over ten deals. The tech sector came in second. Three proptech startups, meanwhile, reversed their May lead and raised USD 19.6 million in June.
Pre-Series A start-ups received USD 45 million of June’s investment, accounting for the majority of the funds raised. Five start-ups raised USD 27.3 million in the Seed stage. While eight pre-seed stage firms raised USD 3 million and eight more won grants totalling USD 140,000, early-stage start-ups continue to draw interest from investors when it comes to investment volume.
Business-to-business (B2B) firms raised USD 66.4 million in 18 deals in June, which accounted for 74% of the total investment. In contrast, 20 business-to-consumer (B2C) startups raised USD 49.5 million.
As usual, companies run by men received the vast majority of funding, USD 103.4 million, or 89% of the total, while only two firms led by women raised USD 20,000.
What’s New In H1 2024?
Due to the war in Gaza and the possibility of a further military escalation in the area, there has been a great deal of uncertainty, which has affected the start-up ecosystem. As a result, local and international venture capital firms (VC) have adopted a “wait-and-see” approach, which has resulted in a 46% decrease in total funding in the first half of the year compared to their USD 1.6 billion in 2023. But if you take out the USD 644 million in debt financing for H1 2023, the fall becomes 12%.
Some 98 companies raised USD 453 million in Q2 of 2024, a 5% rise from Q1’s USD 429 million and a 9% decrease from the same period in 2023. This represents a notable surge in fundraising.
With 91 UAE-based start-ups raising USD 455.5 million in H1 2024, down from USD 604 million in H1 2023, the UAE has maintained its position as the region’s most funded ecosystem. Saudi Arabia has come in second with USD 300 million of the overall funding, down from USD 554 million in H1 2023.
Even though the GCC countries are heavily investing in Egypt’s real estate and tourism industries, the nation’s economic crisis has gotten worse. It is largely due to the nation’s massive national debt, which accounts for 96.4% of GDP, as well as a persistent inflation rate of 32.5% and an energy crisis that has left many households in the country without electricity for up to six hours a day.
As a result, the Egyptian start-up scene lost a great deal of momentum in H1, with only 33 companies raising USD 83 million, a decrease of 80% from the same time in 2023. With six Moroccan businesses receiving USD 12.5 million, the ecosystem is growing at the same time.
Has The Fintech Era Reached Its Peak?
Proptech became the most funded sector in the first half of 2024, raising USD 200 million through 14 deals, surpassing fintech, which raised USD 156 million through 50 deals.
E-commerce businesses raised USD 33.6 million in 19 transactions, down from USD 194 million in H1 2023, while SaaS startups came in third place with USD 164 million over 23 acquisitions. The food industry saw a sharp downturn as well, going from USD 183 million in 2023 to USD 24 million in 2024.
Debt financing only made only 17% of funding this year, compared to 39% of funding in H1 2023.
Investors continue to favour the Seed stage, funding 52 Seed rounds with USD 131 million, even if up to 17 Series A businesses have raised the majority of investment, USD 169 million.
Throughout 17 agreements, the pre-Series A start-ups raised USD 96 million, while Salla’s pre-IPO round brought in USD 130 million.
Comparing B2B And B2C
This year was particularly difficult for the business-to-consumer (B2C) model, which raised USD 356 million from 86 deals, a 64% decrease from 2023. Conversely, the business-to-business (B2B) market saw a startling 153% increase, rising from USD 186.6 million in the first half of 2023 to USD 473 million in 2024.
The investment made in female-led firms saw a concerning decrease as well, totalling USD 1.8 million across 15 agreements in H1 2024 as opposed to USD 6 million raised by 22 start-ups the year before. In the meantime, 170 firms with male founders received USD 760 million in funding.
Over the last six months, Saudi Arabian venture capitalists have contributed the most cash, with 60 agreements in H1. Next in line are UAE-based venture capitalists, with 41 deals, and Egyptian venture capitalists, with 24 investment deals.
With 31 start-up investments, the US was the region’s top foreign investor. The United Kingdom came in second with 19 rounds.
The two most active investors in H1 2024 were Hope Ventures in Bahrain and RZM Investment, both located in Saudi Arabia, with seven agreements each. Flat6Labs and Disruptech came in second and third, respectively, with six and five deals.
The state of investments saw a slowdown in the first half of the year, but this does not necessarily portend how things will perform in the remaining months. It can be viewed as a necessary consolidation to gauge the mood of the market toward each industry, or as a stop in the action, allowing venture capital firms to shut their funds and investors to think about varying their investment portfolios in response to changes in the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate.
Several venture capital firms have opened for business in the last six months, promising to invest billions of dollars in tech start-ups in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). Q3 investment volumes will probably reflect these efforts.