INFOGRAPHIC: Startup Funding in Africa and the Middle East—Week 32, 2025
Here are the venture funding activities we tracked in the Middle East and African region this week – including Alaan, Salasa, Flood, Suplyd, Wuilt, TurnStay, Boxy, Deep.SA and RIFD.
As we start a new month, startups across the Middle East and Africa are continuing to rack up wins and not just small ones. Despite broader talks of a funding slowdown, these regions are quietly (and confidently) charting their own path, with investors still showing up for the right ideas.
In July alone, startups across MENA raised $2.1 billion during the first half of 2025, with 334 deals recorded across the region, according to reports. From fintech to logistics to AI, there’s a clear thread: local solutions with global potential.
Take Alaan, a UAE-based B2B spend management platform. It just secured a hefty $48 million Series A round led by Peak XV Partners, yes, the rebranded Sequoia India. That kind of cheque signals big confidence in the region’s appetite for more efficient business tools. Pioneer Fund, Y Combinator, and 468 Capital also joined the round, rounding off a strong signal that MENA fintech is heating up.
In Saudi Arabia, fulfilment startup Salasa pulled in $30 million in Series B funding. Artal Capital led the round, backed by 500 Global, SVC, and Wa’ed Ventures. With e-commerce still gaining serious ground in the Kingdom, logistics enablers like Salasa are increasingly seen as foundational pieces of the wider digital economy puzzle.
Further south, South African startup Flood raised $2.5 million to build out its SuperApp-as-a-Service offering, a model that’s quietly proving sticky across emerging markets. The idea? Let companies roll out all-in-one customer platforms without having to build from scratch. It’s early days, but the backing shows a growing appetite for modular, scalable tools.
Egypt saw two startups cross the $2 million line this month. Suplyd, which helps restaurants and cloud kitchens manage procurement digitally, raised a pre-Series A led by 4DX Ventures, Camel Ventures, and Plus VC. At the same time, Wuilt, a no-code website builder, got backing from Flat6Labs, MTF VC, and Hub71, proving that SaaS built for small businesses is still in high demand.
South African travel fintech TurnStay also made moves, raising $2 million to help tour operators streamline payments and bookings. The company plans to expand its offering into other African markets, betting that travel is ripe for a software upgrade.
In Iraq, logistics aggregator Boxy closed a $1.5 million pre-seed round led by EQIQ. Iraq’s tech scene is still early, but Boxy’s raise suggests there's room for bold bets where the infrastructure is just beginning to take shape.
Saudi’s AI space is also getting a boost. Deep.SA raised $1.2 million from Tam Development and Raed Ventures to scale its homegrown AI products. Meanwhile, RIFD, a Shariah-compliant SME securitisation platform, got strategic investment from Antler, pointing to growing momentum in alternative fintech models.
The energy across these regions is hard to ignore. While the headlines elsewhere talk about retreat and rebalancing, Middle Eastern and African startups are doubling down, raising smart money, building for real needs, and pulling in global attention without losing their local edge.
