INFOGRAPHIC: Startup Funding in the Middle East and African region — Week 23, 2025
Here are the venture funding activities we tracked in the Middle East and African region this week – including Buildots, Thunder Code, Kumulus Water, Salpha Energy, Sycamore, ShipBee, Bloomspoon, and Regenize.
Startups across Africa and the Middle East have pulled in over $60 million in funding this week alone, and it's not just the usual suspects. From Tunisian AI testers to Nigerian clean energy and South African recycling, there’s a wave of funding flowing into startups tackling local problems with global ambition.
In Israel, Buildots leads the pack with a $45 million Series D round to help fix one of the construction industry’s biggest pain points: mega-project delays. Their predictive AI platform helps track progress in real-time, offering project managers early warnings and insights to prevent costly overruns. It’s another signal that investors are betting on AI not just for chatbots, but for hard-hat sectors too.
Meanwhile in North Africa, Thunder Code, a Tunisian AI-powered software testing startup, secured $9 million in seed funding. The company plans to use the funds to build out its product suite, scale its AI infrastructure, and take its offering to a global market. Tunisia’s tech scene may be under the radar, but deals like this show it’s very much on investors’ maps.
Still in Tunisia, Kumulus Water, a watertech startup turning air into safe drinking water, raised $3.5 million in seed funding. The company’s atmospheric water generators are gaining traction across arid regions, and this round will support its expansion into France, Spain, and Saudi Arabia, markets where clean water scarcity is a growing concern.
Back in West Africa, Salpha Energy, a Nigerian clean energy company, landed $1.3 million from Shell-backed All On. The goal? Expand its local solar assembly facility and deliver off-grid power solutions to communities that remain underserved by Nigeria’s power infrastructure.
Fintech remains active too. Sycamore, a Nigerian digital lender, raised $628,000 to complete a $1.5 million debt round, after just securing $943,000 from Cascador, a local accelerator. Debt funding in Africa’s fintech space has grown more popular as startups look for non-dilutive ways to scale.
In the Gulf, Doha-based logistics startup ShipBee closed a $235,000 pre-seed round, led by Qatar’s GrowthX with participation from angels and $40,000 in founder capital. And on the UAE’s Shark Tank Dubai, greentech startup Bloomspoon scored a $218,000 investment for 49% equity, showing early-stage visibility still packs a punch.
Finally, in South Africa, Regenize, a zero-waste startup focused on accessible recycling, raised an undisclosed amount from E Squared Investments, marking the investor’s first foray into venture philanthropy.
