Week 20's Biggest Startup Funding Rounds in Africa and the Middle East, Led by Frame Security, as Cybersecurity and Fintech Drew the Biggest Checks

Startups across Africa and the Middle East raised a combined $96.35 million this week, based on disclosed funding rounds tracked by Techloy, with cybersecurity and fintech pulling in the largest individual checks. Israel and Saudi Arabia drove most of the activity, with the UAE also adding a deal of its own.

The Week's Largest Startup Funding Rounds

Here are the biggest disclosed startup funding rounds across Africa and the Middle East this week.

/1. Frame Security, $50 million, Cybersecurity, Israel

Frame Security came out of stealth this week with a platform that fights AI-powered scams and deepfake attacks on company employees, running realistic simulations tailored to how each specific organisation actually operates rather than the generic phishing tests most staff see through in seconds. The company was founded by Tal Shlomo, one of Wiz's earliest employees, and Sharon Shmueli, who became CTO of Team8's venture platform at just 25, and already has paying customers, including Louis Dreyfus Company, AlphaSense, and Rockefeller Capital Management.

Index Ventures, Team8, and Picture Capital led the round, with Wiz CEO Assaf Rappaport and investor Elad Gil also joining. The money goes toward expanding the engineering team, deepening AI and cybersecurity research, and scaling into the US and global enterprise markets.

/2. Stitch, $25 million, Fintech Infrastructure, Saudi Arabia

Stitch builds the core operating system for banks and financial institutions, replacing old, fragmented systems with one modern, connected platform covering lending, cards, payments, deposits, and reconciliation. Starting in Riyadh in 2022, Mohamed Oueida's company has seen a huge surge in the last six months alone. They are scaling up their customer base fast and currently manage transactions for companies like Foodics, LuLu Exchange, and Raya Financing.

Andreessen Horowitz led this Series A, marking the firm's first-ever investment in the GCC, bringing total funding to $35 million. Existing investors Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC also joined. The capital goes toward product development, deepening the GCC presence, and expanding global go-to-market operations.

/3. Aumet, $12 million, Healthtech, Saudi Arabia

Aumet connects pharmacies, hospitals, and suppliers across the Middle East into one procurement network so buying decisions happen faster and stock shortages happen less often. The Riyadh company, founded in 2016 by Yahya Aqel and Adel Haddad, now links over 12,000 pharmacies with more than 1,000 suppliers across Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, with its system deployed across 32 hospitals and over 500 medical centres, processing over $1 billion in gross merchandise value.

This Series A was led by Emkan Capital, with Qatar Development Bank, SABAH VC, and AAIC joining alongside existing investors Shorooq Partners and Right Side Capital Management. The money goes toward building out AI capabilities, scaling enterprise deployments, and expanding into new GCC markets.

/4. Stream, $5.2 million, Fintech, Saudi Arabia

Riyadh-based fintech Stream just landed $5.2 million to clean up how MENA businesses get paid. Ibrahim Aldlaigan started the company in 2024 to roll billing, subscriptions, and payment collection into a single platform. The setup is clearly working, as they are already processing millions every month for clients like Atyab and Riyadh Schools Group.

BECO Capital led this seed extension, which comes less than six months after the initial seed round and pushes total seed funding to $9.2 million. STV, Flourish Ventures, Arab Bank, Outliers, and BYLD also joined. The capital goes toward expanding the platform and reaching more businesses across the region.

/5. Lyrie.ai, $2 million, Cybersecurity, UAE

Lyrie.ai came out of stealth this week with a platform that gives AI agents verifiable identities and enforces what they can and cannot do inside company systems, closing a security gap that has opened up as organisations deploy AI agents with little oversight. Guy Sheetrit founded the Dubai company and is also releasing the Agent Trust Protocol alongside this raise, an open standard that the company is pushing for industry-wide adoption.

The $2 million pre-seed goes toward growing the security research team and advancing the Agent Trust Protocol through the Internet Engineering Task Force. Investors were not disclosed. The company said it is already preparing for a Series A to scale into enterprise and government markets.

/6. Hakeem Health, $1.65 million, Healthtech, Saudi Arabia

Hakeem Health built HakeemDx, a platform that plugs into hospital systems and gives doctors real-time bilingual medical guidance in Arabic and English at the point of care, pulling from each patient's actual records and lab results. Founded in 2022 by Bilal Adi and Mohammed Ayyad in Riyadh, the company targets hospitals, universities, and healthcare payers across the GCC on a subscription model.

Merak Capital led the round, with Sanabil 500 also participating. The money goes toward expanding HakeemDx adoption across hospitals and health systems in the GCC.

/7. Gabster, $500,000, AI SaaS, Saudi Arabia

Gabster pulls customer messages from WhatsApp, Instagram, email, Telegram, live chat, and over ten other channels into one workspace, with AI agents handling replies, appointment booking, workflow automation, and reporting. Ibrahim Ali founded the Riyadh company in 2024, and this pre-seed from RAI (Rajhi Investment) and T2 is its first institutional backing since launch.

The money goes toward product development and expanding AI adoption for businesses in Saudi Arabia.

Other funding announced this week includes TruKKer, a UAE-based digital freight network founded by Gaurav Biswas, which secured a trade receivables securitisation facility of up to $300 million from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, and Qatari accounting software startup HASIF received an investment from Snoonu at an undisclosed amount. The TruKKer arrangement is structured as debt rather than equity, and the HASIF amount was not disclosed.

Conclusion

With $96.35 million in disclosed equity funding this week, Israel brought in the single largest check, while Saudi Arabia contributed four deals across fintech and healthtech. Cybersecurity showed up twice in the rankings from two different countries, and the week closed out with deals spread across Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.