Stake (🇦🇪 UAE), a digital real estate investment platform providing options for income-generating properties in Dubai, has raised a $14 million Series A round, led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), along with aramco's Wa'ed Ventures, Mubadala, Al Jomaih Holding and Republic.

Sahl (🇪🇬 Egypt), a fintech that allows you to charge your electricity card directly from your phone in less than a minute by using NFC technology, has raised $6 million in Series A and seed funding, led by Ayady for Investment and Development, joining existing investors Egypt Pay, Delta Electronic Systems, and E-Finance.

QStay (🇦🇪 UAE), a technology driven hospitality company providing vacation rentals that combine the service and convenience of a premium hotel with the privacy and comfort of home, has raised $4.6 million in a pre-Series A funding round.

NOW Money (🇦🇪 UAE), a fintech that provides migrant workers with access to essential banking services, including remittances, bill payments, and savings accounts through a user-friendly, multi-language mobile app, has closed a $4 million equity round.

i‘SUPPLY (🇪🇬 Egypt), a B2B medtech digitising pharma with a solution to quickly predict and overcome supply chain disruptions, has raised a pre-Series A round, led by Disruptech Ventures, OneStop Capital, Axian Investment CVC and Egypt Ventures, bringing their total funding to $2.5 million.

Tahdir (🇸🇦 KSA), an edtech facilitating tools to automate daily school and educational management processes, has closed a pre-Seed funding round of $270,000 from a group of angel investors.

The Potcast Productions Company (🇪🇬 Egypt), has closed a pre-Seed funding round with strategic investments from Innovative Media Productions, the media powerhouse behind Egypt’s Shark Tank Show, and investor Ahmed Tarek Khalil.

Waves (🇰🇼 Kuwait), a traveltech offering an online marketplace for booking sea trips, marine activities and chalets, has closed an investment round for an unknown amount, co-led by BNK Capital and Aujan Enterprises.

Orisdi (🇮🇶 Iraq), an e-commerce platform offers a range of products across various verticals including perfumes and cosmetics, has raised a six-figure bridge round, with participation from investors including Al Sharqiya TV Group and Iraq Venture Partners, amongst others.

🏗️ Say hello to Tenderd (🇦🇪 UAE), an AI-powered analytics platform that converts data from heavy equipment in construction, manufacturing, and logistics into actionable insights which reduce cost, increase utilisation and lower emissions.

And the YC-backed start-up just raised $30 million in its Series A round.

• Founded in 2018 by Arjun Moha, the contech currently operates in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, collaborating with over 300 companies worldwide.

💰 Investor lowdown: The round was led by A.P. Moller Holding, with new investors Quadri Ventures and Saurya Prakash (a product leader at Stripe) and existing investors Wa’ed Ventures, Nakhla Ventures, SOMA Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures.

• Tenderd previously raised $5.8 million in 2019, marking the largest seed round in the region at the time, with investments from Y Combinator, BECO Capital, Paul Graham, Peter Thiel, and several other investors.

⚙️ Break it down

Tenderd began as a marketplace for heavy equipment rentals, including bulldozers, excavators, cranes, rollers, and trucks. It later pivoted to a SaaS platform, offering end-to-end management of heavy equipment and machines.

Tenderd's software unifies machine data on a single platform, automating operations, reducing carbon emissions, and cutting costs.

It allows businesses to monitor equipment location, access detailed vehicle statistics, prevent breakdowns with predictive maintenance alerts, and reduce fuel costs and CO2 emissions by tracking fuel usage.

Tenderd’s telematics platform, powered by AI, provides project owners and contractors with a robust tracking system to increase equipment productivity, enhance safety, and lower emissions, ultimately resulting in greater efficiency.

🔮 Flashforward

The fresh funding will enable Tenderd to expand its global footprint, advancing its mission to integrate AI with physical operations in the construction, mining, and industrial sectors.

🇶🇦 Rasmal Ventures, a Doha-based VC firm, has launched its debut $100 million fund to invest in startups in Qatar, MENA, and beyond. Rasmal Innovation Fund I has secured over $30 million in its first close, with backing from various institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. Claiming to be the first home-grown Qatari VC fund, it is sector-agnostic, focusing on supply chain logistics, climate-tech, fintech, B2B SaaS, and AI. The fund will invest across seed to Series B stages.

🤖 UAE-based Polynome Group has announced a $100 million fund for AI startups, launching in Q1 2025, at the AI Retreat. The fund will invest $500,000 to $5 million in seed to growth-stage startups in technology, AI software, and robotics. CEO Alexander Khanin emphasized their "Founders for Founders" approach and the fund's support for up to 40 companies over five years.

🇪🇬 HSBC Egypt has initiated procedures to launch a $31.5 million fund to invest in SMEs and startups, particularly in the fintech sector. Managed by EFG Holding, the fund is expected to launch in the third quarter of this year. The Suez Canal Bank and other financial institutions are also contributing to the fund, which has received approval from the Central Bank.

🇯🇴 Jordan’s Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund (ISSF) has invested $2 million in VentureSouq Fund II, managed by UAE-based VC firm VentureSouq, to support the Jordanian startup ecosystem, particularly the fintech sector.

🇲🇦 The International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to invest up to $4 million in EmergingTech Ventures Fund II (Emtech II), an early-stage Moroccan VC fund targeting an initial close of $40 million. Emtech II will invest in companies operating in Morocco, Tunisia, and Francophone West Africa.

🤖 The “AI Retreat” at Dubai’s Museum of the Future earlier this week provided a prime opportunity for leading chip and data storage companies, including Nvidia, Google Cloud, Microsoft, AWS, Oracle, and IBM, to present their innovations to top UAE government officials. As Dubai accelerates its AI integration across government services, UAE Minister of Artificial Intelligence Omar Al Olama emphasised the nation's ambition to become a premier hub for advanced chip manufacturing.

• Over the weekend, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, installed 22 Chief Artificial Intelligence Officers across departments that govern areas such as community development, human resources, customs, policing and civil aviation.

🚗 Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) is advancing its electric vehicle (EV) market with CEER, its EV maker, announcing a $2.2 billion deal with Hyundai Transys to supply drive systems. Starting in 2027, the decade-long agreement will support CEER’s production of SUVs, sedans, and coupes. CEER, a joint venture between PIF and Foxconn, aims to boost EV adoption in the kingdom to 30% by 2030, up from the current 1%.

📊 This Eid Al Adha, Careem is introducing a unique and convenient way for residents in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to partake in the traditional practice of 'Udhiya' or 'Qurbani' through their Careem Quik Groceries service. Partnering with Dhabayeh Al Emarat, Careem now enables customers to purchase goats or sheep directly from the app, simplifying the process of performing this significant ritual during the festive season.

• Philip Bahoshy. How long does it take a MENA startup to exit?

• Hasan Zainal. From 2,390 screened decks to 27 deals

• Eden Rabbie. Removing accelerators from our MENA investment datasets

• Peter Walker. Founders - don't raise a small seed round

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