MENA-Based Startups

An astonishing amount of $1.031 Billion has gone into the MENA-based startups in the year 2020 alone. A 13% increase in the cash put into the startup has been observed.

Surprisingly, the total count of the region decreased by 13% despite reaching a new high of $1 billion and marking a new height.

Saudia Arabia, Egypt, and the UAE alone made up for 68% of the overall deals finished in 2020, making these three places the hotspots.

From these three, UAE came at the top with 56% of regional capital deployed making up as much as $579 Million on its own with 26% of the overall deals and 129 transactions in one year.

Egypt marked the second position with $179 million and Saudia Arabia in the last place with $152 Million.

The largest increases in 2020 were made by Bahrain, with the largest increase of 200%, Saudia Arabia with 55%, and Egypt with 31%.

Amongst different sectors, E-commerce was way ahead of the rest with a funding of $162 Million in capital and Food and Beverages and healthcare tripling their funding to $122 Million and $72 Million respectively.

Furthermore, the number of investors participating in a minimum of one round of MENA in 2020 was 243 with 22% on investments coming from international accounts.

Acceleration of the acceptance of technology across emerging markets occurred due to the ongoing pandemic. Startup data platforms have also helped many businesses and governments to get real-time and reliable information that helped them make informed policies and decisions.