Venture capital funding in Saudi Arabia surged 116% y-o-y to USD 860 mn from 114 investments in the first half of 2025, establishing the Kingdom as the leading venture market in the MENA region, according to Magnitt’s Emerging Venture Markets (EVM) press release (pdf). The growth was fueled by the return of mega-transactions (over USD 100 mn), including rounds for Ninja and Tabby.

Who else topped the region? The UAE logged USD 447 mn in funding, an 84% y-o-y increase across 114 transactions, according to Magnitt’s EVM report (pdf). This marked the UAE’s highest deployment level since 1H 2020. Meanwhile, Egypt’s total VC funding increased 90% y-o-y to USD 185 mn.

Bucking the EVM trend: VC funding across all EVMs dropped 7% y-o-y to USD 4 bn — the lowest half-year level since 2017. The decline was primarily due to a 32% drop in Mega rounds and a continued investment contraction in Southeast Asia, which has historically been the largest EVM market.

The MENA picture: Total VC funding in the MENA region rose 92% to USD 1.5 bn across 310 investments in 1H 2025. The figure marks the region’s strongest half-year performance since 2022 and represents 39% of total funding across EVMs — which include the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Pakistan, and Turkey — up from 19% in the same period last year.

Fintech was the standout sector in 1H 2025, with funding across the broader MENA region tripling y-o-y to USD 596 mn.

Our MVPs: Riyad Capital emerged as the most active investor by estimated capital deployed, while Plus.VC led in terms of the number of investments, according to a separate Magnitt brief (pdf).

The market is maturing: Some 42% of Series A and B rounds exceeded USD 20 mn, up from just 10% a year ago. This reflects a growing preference for ventures with proven traction and scalability as investors back companies that are ready to accelerate.

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