1. Barakah (🇸🇦 KSA), a foodtech that helps restaurants, bakeries, and groceries fight food waste by enabling them to sell their surplus inventory, has raised an undisclosed funding round from German-based VC FoodLabs.

2. Receiptable (🇧🇭 Bahrain), a fintech firm that bridges the data gap between banks and retailers through digital receipts has raised a pre-Seed round for an unknown amount, led by HP Spring Studios, a venture fund that is backed by both the Al Waha Fund of Funds and Hambro Perks.

3. Pharmacy Marts (🇪🇬 Egypt), a healthtech aiming to digitise the pharmaceutical sector’s supply chain to improve patient access to medication, has raised a six-figure bridge round, led by Acasia Ventures.

4. IncurA (🇪🇬 Egypt), a healthtech developing innovative, patent-protected medical device solutions, has raised a pre-Seed round for an undisclosed value, from regional investors, including Tiye Angels, Kaust Innovation Ventures (KIV), UI Investments, Pharos Holding, and AUC Angels.

5. Moove (🇦🇪 UAE), a Dubai headquartered global mobility fintech that democratises access to vehicle ownership for mobility entrepreneurs, has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round, with Mubadala, who led Moove’s previous funding round in 2023, participating alongside Uber who led the round.

In 2020, Haithem Kchaou and Chehir Dhaouadi spotted a gap in how Arabic content was being created and consumed online. 

And with 465 million Arabic speakers globally, the need for Arabic digital content that can be personalised and made more accessible to speakers is a no-brainer.

So with that in mind the pair co-founded the Tunisian-born, UAE-based ClusterLab. 

• And they've just raised a cool $600,000 in pre-seed funding!

💰 Investor lowdown: The round was led by regional and angel investors, including Karim Beguir, co-founder and CEO of the AI start-up InstaDeep.

⚙️ Let’s break it down: 

ClusterLab offers different AI products, two of which are called Reedz and Elm. 

📚 Reedz is a mobile app offering concise, AI-powered summaries of audiobooks and podcasts in Arabic.

📚 Elm is an edtech app that seeks to make learning more accessible and engaging through AI-driven personalisation.

🤝 Partnerships

• Collaborated with InstaDeep on a national AI initiative for Tunisia's Ministry of Higher Education.

• Earned a spot in the Nvidia Inception Program for AI startups.

🔮 Flashforward

ClusterLab will use this fresh funding to look at research and development with a focus on enhancing their large language models (LLMs) and NLP capabilities to refine their UX across offerings.

🇯🇴 ISSF (The Innovative Startups and SMEs Fund) has invested an additional $1.5 million in the Jordanian VC firm Propeller’s second fund to take its total investment in the Propeller Ventures II (PVII) to $5 million.

• ISSF serves as an anchor LP for the fund, alongside key investors such as SVC, Capital Bank of Jordan, and select individual backers, including a notable ex-executive from Careem.

🚁 Time for take-off

Launched in 2017, Propeller focuses on investing in pre-seed and seed-stage startups throughout the region, with a keen interest in those developing SaaS, enterprise software, and cloud infrastructure.

The fund, boasting a total size of $15 million, achieved its initial close in 2021.

• Noteworthy investments by the fund include OpenCopilot (YC 24’), Gameball, Arabot, Anecdote and Derq.

📖 Background

ISSF was set up by Jordanian government as a $98 million fund to invest in local startups.

The World Bank invested $50 million and Central Bank of Jordan $48 million in it.

• The fund is managed privately and has invested in local and regional fund managers including Silicon Badia, Oasis 500, Shorooq Partners, Arzan Venture Capital, Vision Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst.

🇴🇲 Zameeli, an Omani platform connecting freelancers with SMEs, has concluded its equity crowdfunding through the Omani fintech Mamun. Founded in 2021 by Tariq Al Habsi and Aysha Alqmashouai and initially supported by the Oman Technology Fund, Zameeli aims to create a community for Omani entrepreneurs and tech professionals. The partnership with Mamun sets the groundwork for Mamun’s upcoming secondary market launch, expected to benefit the Omani tech sector.

🇸🇦 SVC has invested $30 million in Olive Rock Partners Fund I to support buyout deals in mid-market companies, marking a strategic enhancement in financing for startups and SMEs in Saudi Arabia. This move is part of SVC's fund investment program and highlights the significance of private equity partnerships in advancing the country's SME sector and investment landscape.

🌍 P1 Ventures, a US and pan-African VC, has reached a second close of $35 million for its second fund, aiming for $50 million. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is now its first public institutional investor. Launched in 2020 by Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny, P1 Ventures targets early-stage African startups to bridge the funding gap. After a $25 million first close in September 2023, it's expanding in Dakar and Nairobi and emphasizing AI-powered SaaS investments.

• Lights, camera, action! AI is making films. Will it steal human creativity soon?

• Why can’t we be friends? Gemini AI could be coming to the iPhone.

• Self-therapy. Reddit CEO Steve Huffman is paid more than the heads of Meta, Pinterest, and Snap — combined

• If it ain’t broke… Formula 1 chief appalled to find team using Excel to manage 20,000 car parts

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