Saudi startups dominated MENA funding in September, with 13 startups raising a combined USD 165.3 mn during the month according to Rasmal’s latest MENA Startup Funding Report. This is a 12x m-o-m increase from August’s USD 13.9 mn. The UAE came in second position with USD 114.3 mn raised across 28 startups, followed by Egypt at USD 25 mn across eight startups.

Jeddah + Riyadh at the forefront: Four Jeddah-based startups raised USD 83.4 mn across four transactions, making it the second-most attractive city in the region for startups, followed by Riyadh startups, which secured USD 66 mn across nine transactions. These were driven by Shift’s USD 82.8 mn investment from Merak Capital, and car marketplace Syarah’s USD 60 mn series C round last month. Dubai led the pack in terms of the most attractive city in the region for startups, with 25 startups raising a combined USD 107.3 mn.

Regional snapshot: MENA startups raised a combined USD 328.3 mn across 60 startups last month, down from USD 566 mn in August. The region raised USD 1.1 bn across 143 startups in 3Q 2024. The lion’s share of investments in September — some USD 129.4 mn — was concentrated in late-stage VC funding. Meanwhile, seed-stage funding declined 17% m-o-m to USD 57.3 mn, and Series A grew 187.8% m-o-m to USD 54.7 mn.

REMEMBER- Saudi and the UAE accounted for 68% of MENA-based venture investors and contributed to 8% y-o-y growth in the number of local investors in the region in 1H 2024.

The three most attractive sectors: Fintech startups secured USD 134.8 mn in September, up from USD 47.2 mn in August. This was followed by the logistics sector at USD 83 mn, and the software development sector with USD 52.6 mn.

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