1. Soum (🇸🇦 KSA), a re-commerce marketplace for electronics, has raised $18 million in Series A funding in a round led by Jahez, with participation from Isometry Capital along with existing investors Khwarizmi Ventures, Alrajhi Partners, and Outliers Venture Capital.

2. Zeroe (🇦🇪 UAE), an AI-enabled enterprise SaaS platform that allows companies to measure emissions and report on decarbonisation performance, has raised $2.2 million in a Seed round led by Indonesian investor Owen Rahadiyan.

3. Spare (🇸🇦 KSA), an open banking fintech startup that allows businesses to access their customers' financial data, enabling them to build innovative financial products, has raised a $3 million round led by Vision Ventures with participation from Wa'ed Ventures, Seedra Ventures, global investment firm 500 Global, and angel investors.

4.  Tabby (🇦🇪 UAE), the shopping and financial services app has secured a $700 million debt financing round from J.P. Morgan, ahead of its planned IPO in the kingdom.

5. Velents (🇸🇦 KSA), a HRtech platform that provides a data-driven AI-based hiring platform, has closed a seed round for an undisclosed amount, led by A15 with participation from Nibras Capital, AUC Venture Lab, and local investors.

6. Scalers (🇸🇦 KSA), a HR-tech startup offering end-to-end recruitment solutions designed to alleviate the hiring challenges of hiring managers, has closed a $1.8 million investment round led by Sadu Capital and Access Bridge Ventures.

Here’s iSchool! The Egypt-based edtech company offering live, gamified classes led by coding instructors with a curriculum that spans AI, VR, app development, game development, and web development.

Did we mention they just raised $4.5 million in a funding round? 

• Founded in 2018 by Muhammad Gawish, Ebrahim Youssef, Mustafa Abdelmon'em, and Osama Ghareb, iSchool’s platform hosts over 26,000 students aged 6 to 18 and has delivered over a million training hours.

💰 Investor lowdown: The funding round was led by VentureWave Capital, an Irish VC, followed by OneStop Capital UK, Webit Investment Network, and Oraseya Capital, the VCl arm of the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority.

🌍 Tech education challenge

In the MENA region, the technology education gap is impacting over 100 million school students. 

Student learning outcomes in technology education are behind OECD averages, with a significant gap in tech education. 

The pandemic also highlighted the need for accessible online education, with many students lacking necessary digital resources. 

🚀 Bridging the gap

iSchool is addressing the educational divide by providing technology-driven, accredited curricula in essential tech subjects for young learners across the MENA region. 

With a focus on live, interactive classes, iSchool’s platform ensures that students are creators of technology, having written more than 10 million lines of code to date! 

What’s the impact so far? The platform’s commitment to quality education is reflected in its collaboration with 35 schools, offering technical training and computer science labs.

They even boast a high customer retention rate, exceeding 72% month over month.

🔮 Flashforward

iSchool is establishing a new hub in Ireland and planning expansion across six more countries in the MENA region. 

This growth, fueled by fresh funding, will enhance their 'Online Coding Platform' and bring the interactive learning experience to Sub-Saharan Africa.

💵 Jada Fund of Funds Company has announced an investment in Iliad Partners’ venture capital initiative, Iliad Partners Tech Ventures Fund I — a VC fund that invests in early-stage technology companies in the MENA region, with a focus on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

• Iliad Partners, a VC firm based in Abu Dhabi Global Market, founded by Managing Partner Christos Mastoras in 2016, is launching the fund with a target size of $50 million anchored by the Public Investment Fund/Jada and prominent GCC and European family groups, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals.

Here’s Hakbah! The Saudi-based fintech platform that allows users to save and access funds via social savings.

Did we mention they just raised $5.1 million in their series A funding round?

• Established in 2018 by Naif AbuSaida, Hakbah has a customer base of over 500,000 users (of which 70% are between 21 and 35 years old) and is estimated to have helped as many as 18,000 customers to save over $35 million.

💰 Investor lowdown: The round was led by VentureSouq along with M-Capital and Bunat Ventures, and existing investors Global Ventures and Aditum Investment Management Ltd.

• This brings the company’s funding raised to date to $9 million. 

🌍 Savings crisis

In Saudi Arabia, a significant 70% of citizens do not have emergency savings, and the overall household savings rate is low, averaging only 1.6%. 

Factors such as an underdeveloped social safety net, inadequate pension systems, along with high personal debt, inflation, and interest rates, make it challenging for Saudi households to save.

Additionally, the region has a significant largely financially dependent young population, which contributes to lower savings rates as more household income is spent on immediate consumption rather than saving.

🤝 Social solidarity 

Hakbah is tackling this problem head-on by digitising financial habits, leveraging data, needs and behaviours.

Their platform enhances financial inclusion by seamlessly integrating with any banking system in less than a week. It features the digital transformation of traditional group savings (Jameya), aimed at addressing financial needs.

Popular in over 60 countries worldwide, savings groups are a popular and traditional savings behaviour. 

Hakbah's platform allows users to collectively prioritise their financial needs and share a rotating pool of money. Essentially, this system of social solidarity encourages greater accountability in saving among its users.

The result? An enhancement of traditional savings behaviour, enabling purpose-driven saving and boosting financial literacy.

• Hakbah has struck several blue-chip partnerships with the likes of Flynas, the national low-cost airline in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, and has recorded an 18x increase in total savings under management and a 4x increase in revenue this year.

🔮 Flashforward

Hakbah’s goal is to double the individuals' savings ratio in Saudi Arabia by 2025.

The fresh funding will be used for product development with a focus on machine learning and improving the country’s savings engine, and also fuel the company’s expansion into two new regional markets in the future.

👋 Message from the team

Thanks for reading! We’re taking a break on Tuesday so we’ll see you all again next Friday!

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