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Total funding raised by Middle East and North Africa (MENA) start-ups went up by 6% month-on-month but dropped by nearly three-quarters year-on-year to more than $100 million in August.
The month saw 26 funding deals across the region, raising a total of $101 million, according to a report by Wamda and Digital Digest. Compared to August last year, the value of deals fell by 73%.
Saudi Arabia led the table in terms of funding value, with start-ups in the kingdom raising $54 million across eight deals. The UAE came second with $44 million spread over nine deals.
Funds raised by start-ups in the two Gulf states held the biggest chunk (97%) of last month’s funding rounds.
Egypt came third with $1.5 trillion, while Tunisia, Morocco and Palestine landed the fourth, fifth and sixth spots.
Sectors
Start-ups in the logistics sector raised the most funds with $36 million, followed by traveltech, healthtech and Web3. Most of the funds (76%) went to the four sectors.
Fintech start-ups came in fifth in terms of value, but they had the highest number of deals.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
