{"id":102896,"date":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-04-23T00:00:00","slug":"uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The <\/strong>UAE attracted USD 206 mn in venture capital funding in 1Q 2025<\/strong>, trailing only Saudi Arabia, according to Magnitt's <\/span>Venture Investment Summary report (pdf)<\/a>. This represented 30% of total MENA region funding and growth of 149% y-o-y, and was driven by a a jump in its Series A and B investments to USD 128 mn, up from USD 14 mn in the same period last year. KSA raised a total of USD 391 mn.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/strong>Emirates <\/strong>was also the runner-up to KSA in terms of transaction numbers<\/strong>, despite the 47 recorded marking a 22% y-o-y decline as early stage investor activity waned. The region's other major markets \u2014 KSA and Egypt \u2014 also both saw a y-o-y decline in transactions for the period. Early-stage transactions in the UAE fell 34% y-o-y.<\/span><\/p>\n

UAE-based venture capital firm <\/strong>PlusVC<\/a><\/strong> was the region's lead investor<\/strong> in terms of the number of investments<\/strong>, which were more than double those of runner-up Hub71.<\/p>\n

REGIONAL PICTURE-<\/p>\n

Venture capital funding in MENA rose <\/strong>58% y-o-y to USD 678 mn d<\/strong>espite transaction volumes dropping 21% y-o-y<\/strong>, according to Magnitt\u2019s report. M&As saw a 163% y-o-y increase, and \u201csigns of IPO recovery further underscored improving exit visibility,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

The culprits: <\/strong>Continued activity from wealth funds, startup ecosystem events, and interest rate cuts<\/a> like those from the Central Bank of the UAE at the end of last year helped rally investor sentiment and liquidity, resulting in an uptick in both small and large investments, the report said.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019s doing the most in MENA? <\/strong>Fintech led funding in 1Q 2025, with investments surging 362% y-o-y to USD 384 mn, accounting for 57% of the region\u2019s total, driven by Tabby\u2019s USD 160 mn<\/a> mega transaction. Enterprise software ranked second with a 112% y-o-y funding increase, while e-commerce and retail, education tech, and transport and logistics also made the top five list.<\/p>\n

The quarter showed a clear shift towards investment in more established <\/strong>Series A and B startups<\/strong> with more robust financial models. Tickets under USD 1 mn dropped, while mid-range and large investments were on the up.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? <\/strong>Magnitt reckons new US tariffs and high global interest rates may increase uncertainty and impact future investment activity, while Wamda<\/a> separately sees investors favoring safer, later-stage ventures amid risk aversion and a more difficult environment for early-stage startups.\u201cIn venture capital, this uncertainty is likely to impact three areas: the deployment of capital from LPs to VCs, VC\u2019s willingness to make decisions in uncertain times, and finally, startups\u2019 ability to raise funds,\u201d said Magnitt CEO Philip Bahoshy in a press release (pdf)<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Investors favored more established startups during the quarter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1548],"tags":[79,78,147,274],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-102896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-startup-watch","tag-fintech","tag-startup-watch","tag-startups","tag-venture-capital","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"932f0ff4-5414-4899-a344-9a24424a5120","order":"7","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025, Magnitt says","related_issue":[102884],"teaser":"Investors favored more established startups during the quarter","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2025\/4\/.a6c9370d-2d29-4bfb-8cf7-748e0e4a0f92.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nUAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025 - UAE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Investors favored more established startups during the quarter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\"},\"wordCount\":429,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"fintech\",\"STARTUP WATCH\",\"startups\",\"VENTURE CAPITAL\"],\"articleSection\":[\"STARTUP WATCH\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\",\"name\":\"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025 - UAE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"caption\":\"UAE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025 - UAE","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025","og_description":"Investors favored more established startups during the quarter","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/","og_site_name":"UAE","article_published_time":"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025","datePublished":"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/"},"wordCount":429,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["fintech","STARTUP WATCH","startups","VENTURE CAPITAL"],"articleSection":["STARTUP WATCH"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/","name":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025 - UAE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2025-04-23T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/04\/23\/uae-ranks-second-in-mena-venture-funding-in-1q-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UAE ranks second in MENA venture funding in 1Q 2025"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","name":"UAE","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization","name":"UAE","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","caption":"UAE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/3\/360.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102896\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/102884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102896"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=102896"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=102896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}