Infographic: The Surge Of Mega-Round Investments In The MENA The growth of funding in the MENA region has exceeded US$4 billion in both 2021 and 2022, and the number of mega-rounds of $300 million or more has seen an increasing trend with three seen in 2021, and six in 2022, including two scaleups listing on stock exchanges.
By Ashok Raman
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The growth of funding in the MENA region has exceeded US$4 billion in both 2021 and 2022, and the number of mega-rounds of $300 million or more has seen an increasing trend with three seen in 2021, and six in 2022, including two scaleups listing on stock exchanges.
Image credit: Lucidity Insights
Through the years, there have been large funding rounds, with Careem being one of the first ones to pave the way, having raised $500 million through December 2016 and the first half of 2017. The marquee fundraising was from Noon in 2017, the Saudi Arabia-based e-commerce platform. More recently, Kitopi, the foodtech startup, has been aggressively fundraising, reeling in large funding in both 2021 and 2022.
Image credit: Lucidity Insights
In 2022, there was a significant shift in the number of funding rounds, where scaleups raised funding, and a trend towards larger check sizes, and the funding bracket gained momentum. In the $100 million to $1 billion range, funding rounds increased by 100% between 2021 and 2022. Other funding ranges also saw increases between 20% to 87%.
Image credit: Lucidity Insights
Considering the source of capital raise, venture capital and corporate rounds accounted for over three quarters of the capital raised, while initial public offerings (IPOs) and initial coin offerings (ICOs) accounted for nearly equal share. Telegram's ICO in 2017 resulted in a $1.7 billion raise, while the region experienced two major exits in IPOs from Jahez International and Swvl raising over $400 million each.
Image credit: Lucidity Insights
To get the lay of the investor landscape across Dubai and the wider MENA, and for insights provided by the investors backing the startups and scaleups that are changing the face of entrepreneurship in the region, check out our report, Dubai's Venture Capital Ecosystem, by clicking here.
This article was originally published on Lucidity Insights, a partner of Entrepreneur Middle East in developing special reports on the Middle East and Africa's tech and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Related: Infographic: The Top 10 MENA Countries For Tech Startups In 2023
