INFOGRAPHIC: Startup Funding in Africa and the Middle East—Week 40, 2025
Here are the venture funding activities we tracked in the Middle East and African region this week – including Commcrete, Mawingu, UPFRONT, Aydi, Tokinvest, Climaty AI, Tadawulcom Real Estate, and OKO
It wasn’t exactly a flood of deals this week, but the cheques that did land were solid. The spotlight belonged to Israel, Kenya, and Dubai, with startups across fintech, agri-tech, and connectivity raising fresh capital to scale their solutions. Here’s how the money moved, from the biggest haul to the smaller but no less notable wins.
At the top of the list, Israeli satellite communications startup Commcrete secured $29 million across seed and Series A rounds. The company is building next-generation satellite systems designed to reshape how data flows globally, a strong indication of investor appetite for deep tech infrastructure.
Next up, Kenya’s Mawingu, an internet service provider on a mission to connect underserved communities, raised $20 million in a Series C round. The entire investment came from Pembani Remgro Infrastructure Managers, a private equity fund with a clear interest in Africa’s digital backbone. For Mawingu, this means more towers, more reach, and more people getting online.
Dubai-based fintech startup UPFRONT raised $10 million in a pre-seed round, a hefty sum for such an early stage. The raise, a mix of equity and debt, will help the company tackle one of the most persistent pain points for SMBs in the region: cash flow inefficiencies.
Still in Dubai, agriculture technology company Aydi pulled in $7.5 million in a seed round. Backers included COTU Ventures, Daltex, and Nuwa Capital, alongside sector players like Magrabi Agriculture. The focus: scaling tech-driven farming solutions to boost yields and efficiency.
UAE-based Tokinvest, a regulated marketplace for real-world asset tokenisation, closed a $3.2 million pre-seed round. The round brought in support from Triliv Holdings, Exponential Science, and a pool of VCs, family offices, and high-net-worth investors betting on tokenised finance as the next big wave.
Meanwhile, Climaty AI, founded in India and now based in the UAE, secured $2 million in early-stage funding. The round, led by Turbostart, included participation from AI experts and angel investors who see potential in its marketing tech solutions.
Saudi proptech SaaS platform Tadawulcom Real Estate wrapped up a $400,000 seed round. The investment came from an angel backer, marking a small but important step for real estate digitisation in the kingdom.
And finally, Mali’s insurtech startup OKO closed a six-digit round led by Catalyst Fund, with two existing investors also joining in. The funds will help scale its mission of building climate resilience for farmers across Africa.
This week’s funding story shows a steady, if not spectacular, flow of capital into Africa and the Middle East. Big infrastructure bets in satellite and connectivity set the tone at the top, while fintech, agri-tech, and tokenisation filled out the middle ground. Even the smaller deals point to a broader trend: investors are still willing to back niche plays that solve real-world problems, from farming insurance to real estate software.
