This archive report was first published on 7 January 2020.
Published on January 7, 2020, a report by MAGNiTT revealed that Middle East and North Africa (MENA)-based startups raised over $700 million in 2019, with Egypt leading the pack.
The report, dubbed the 2019 MENA Venture Investment Report, analyzed startups and venture capital (VC) investment across the MENA region.
Philip Bahoshy, MAGNiTT's founder and CEO, noted that the region's ecosystem is maturing, with exits at an all-time high, including MENA's first unicorn exit.
According to the report, the number of investments in the region rose by 31% from 2018, with 564 investments in 2019.
The total funding amounting to $704M in 2019 was up 13% compared to 2018, excluding previous mega-deals in Souq and Careem.
The report tracked investments in 17 Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, with Egypt having the highest number of deals and the UAE seeing the majority of funding.
UAE maintained its historical dominance as the largest recipient of total funding, pegged on continued government support, corporate venture interest, and growing investor appetite for startups headquartered in the UAE.
Saudi Arabia emerged as the fastest-growing ecosystem across MENA, ranking third in both number of deals and total funding in the region.
2019 saw a record number of exits, including the first MENA unicorn, with Uber's $3.1B acquisition of Careem being a notable exit.
Investor appetite for MENA's tech startups is growing, with the average ticket size up by 7% across all deals in 2019.
Moreover, 2019 saw the emergence of non-traditional tech investors, such as corporates, PEs, family offices, and asset managers, which saw a 39% increase from last year.
Government support was especially evident in the venture capital space, with many governments across the Middle East setting up Funds of Funds.
FinTech remained the most active industry by number of deals, while the Delivery & Transport industry accounted for the highest amount of funding of any industry.
