Welcome to our daily funding update for MENA startups. This brief will cover the latest funding news and investments from the region’s vibrant startup ecosystem.
17th October 2023 Funding and Investment Update
1. KSA’s Platform Jisr for Digitise HR Processes Closes a $30 Million Series A Funding Round Led by Investment Firm Merak Capital to Improve Its Services.
The Saudi platform for digitising human resources processes, Jisr closed a $30 million Series A funding round led by Merak Capital for investment focused on technological opportunities across multiple stages and industries. Jisr, established in 2016, is the first Saudi platform for human resource management, supporting more than 3,000 customers and 350,000 registered employees by providing its services through its offices in Riyadh and Hadramout to 16 different business sectors. The startup’s human is a radical change in the MENA region, bringing together all HR processes into one platform helping organisations grow and innovate by providing the tools to get the most out of HR technology. This funding represents the most significant SaaS A-investment round in the Middle East. It underscores investors’ high confidence in Jisr’s growth and commitment to developing modern HR technology, expanding its product offering, and supporting organisations in improving their human capital.
2. Saudi Logistics Company RedBox Raises $7 Million Series A Funding Round Led by Jahez to Develop Technical Solutions for Shipping.
Saudi shipping and logistics company RedBox has raised $7 million during a Series A funding round led by Jahez. Founded in 2019 by Thamer Al-Tuwayan and Dong Van, RedBox has a presence in more than 50 Saudi cities and has an extensive network of intelligent shipping lockers that allow logistics companies to deposit packages to enable end users to obtain them seamlessly to suit their time. The company stated in its statement that investor confidence in it is a reflection of the positive figures and growth rates it has achieved during the first half of this year and that the new investment will be used to finance the company’s strategic plans to strengthen its infrastructure and expand its network of intelligent safes to cover a more significant number of areas in the Kingdom to be closer to its customers. It stressed its commitment to investing in technical logistics solutions that will change the sector and improve the customer experience by meeting the desire. The startup is currently developing some technical solutions based on the urgent need for the digital transformation of the logistics sector in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.
3. Jordanian Non-Diluted Capital Startup Capifly Secures $1 Million Pre-Seed Funding Round to Expand Into Saudi Arabia, the Region, and Asia.
Jordanian startup Capifly, which empowers digital economy startups with undiluted capital, announced that it had secured $1 million during a pre-seed funding round. Capifly unlocks value in the digital economy by bringing private credit scoring technology to a wide range of digital sectors, particularly SaaS, enterprise software, content, gaming, advertising, light asset markets, and all internet-based virtual goods, underscoring Capifly’s identity as a technology-driven leader in providing undiluted capital. In its statement, the startup stressed that it is unwavering in its determination to be among the best players in providing non-diluted capital to this vibrant sector. It is at an advanced stage of establishing a $10 million undiluted capital facility, with increased commitments reflecting strong market confidence. Capifly’s capital commitments coincide with its recent expansion into Saudi Arabia as a strategic move to support its growth in the region starting from the Middle East, and their strategy also includes expansion plans in emerging markets that are central to Islamic finance, especially Southeast Asia where they have already established a foothold by registering in Malaysia.
4. Egyptian VC Firm Acasia Ventures Leads a Pre-Seed Funding Round for AI-Driven Consumer Intelligence Platform Lengo to Expand Its Technology and Sales Team.
Egyptian early-stage venture capital firm Acasia Ventures led a pre-seed funding round for Dakar-based AI-driven consumer intelligence platform Lengo. Venture Platform, P1 Ventures, Launch Africa, Voltron Capital, and some venture capital firms and angel investors participated in the funding round. Lengo AI was launched in 2022 under the slogan “Stop Guessing Africa to be the first data-driven operating system for informal retail in Africa. The platform aims to provide actionable intelligence and insights for brands and consumer goods to thousands of stores that make up 90 percent of purchases across the continent, as Lengo uses a hybrid approach between SaaS and artificial intelligence to connect retailers and consumer goods companies with real-time performance data to see product sales, where store owners joining Lengo can increase their revenue by leveraging insights into customer behaviour, alerts on new products and a loyalty point system, The system also helps local companies in the consumer goods sector optimise their resources and provides purchasing behaviour data for international companies aiming to invest in Africa. The investment will expand Lengo’s technology and sales team and develop AI tools to enter new African markets.
That’s all for today’s funding update. Stay tuned for more updates on the MENA startup scene, and remember to subscribe to our newsletter or browse our archives for more news and analysis.
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Last Updated on October 17, 2023 by Safiya K
