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.
5th October 2023 Funding and Investment Update
1. SVC Invests $30 Million in Third IMPACT46 Fund to Back Various Stages of Startups’s Growth in the KSA and the Region.
Saudi Venture Capital Company (SVC) announced its $30 million investment in Impact 46-IMPACT46 III Fund, which recently began its journey to invest in various stages of startups within the Kingdom and the region. SVC stated that the investment in the third IMPACT46 fund is part of the fund’s investment program implemented by the company to promote the growth of the venture investment system in startups in the Kingdom for all stages and sectors and to enhance the growth witnessed by the venture investment sector in the Kingdom during the previous years, which made it at the forefront of the investment scene in the Middle East and North Africa during the first half of 2023 in terms of the volume of invested amounts, as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia topped the countries of the Middle East and North Africa region as The highest in terms of the value of venture capital during the first half of 2023, with the total value of funding rounds exceeding $ 446 million. It is worth noting that Saudi Venture Capital is a government investment company established in 2018. It follows the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank, one of the development banks affiliated with the National Development Fund. The company aims to stimulate and sustain the financing of startups and small and medium enterprises from the pre-establishment stage to the pre-initial public offering by investing in funds and investing participation in startups through an investment of two billion US dollars. The number of funds in which the company invested reached 43 funds, while the number of Startups and SMEs invested in more than 700 companies.
2. Egypt’s Intella Closes a $3.4 Million Pre-Series A Funding Round Led by Hala Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures to Move Into the Saudi Market.
Intella Egypt’s deep-tech company has announced the closing of a USD 3.4 mn pre-Series A funding round led by Hala Ventures Fund and Aramco-owned Wa’ed Ventures Fund with the participation of Sanabel 500, the European Institute of Business Administration alum network and other investors. Intella, founded in 2021, specialises in deep technology and data intelligence that focuses on market research, intelligent conversations and speech-to-text and has developed an Arabic-language speech-to-text engine through the Intella Voice application. The company stated that it had tested the new application with more than 30,000 hours of audio recordings in Arabic, that it has an accuracy of 95.73%, and that the audio technology it developed and designed specifically for Arabic dialects set new standards in the sector. Intella is currently working to move beyond voice writing, focusing on voice analytics, including summarising, analysing emotions, extracting topics, and recording calls, as the company seeks to push the boundaries of what artificial intelligence can do in the field of voice messages to serve the Arabic-speaking community. The investment round will help the startup expand its business in the Saudi market after moving its headquarters to the Kingdom to take advantage of its technology ecosystem.
3. Payment Solutions Startup BILRS Receives Funding From VC Firm Haatch to Develop the Platform and Expand Its Market.
Cross-border payment solutions startup BILRS has announced funding from venture capital firm Haatch, known for its strong history of supporting revolutionary technology companies. BILRS offers an integrated and unified platform to serve retail workers and digital players in the cross-border industry by facilitating a seamless and transparent direct payment service. Haatch’s investment is a significant turning point for BILRS as it marks a critical step in its journey towards reshaping the cross-border billing and telecredit sector, giving BILRS the resources and expertise to develop its platform further, expand its market and accelerate its mission to bring transparency to the money transfer markets.
4. Integrated Payment Platform MoneyHash Secures Funding for GitHub Co-Founder.
The integrated payment product suite and the first payment coordination platform in the Middle East and Africa, MoneyHash, has received funding from GitHub co-founder Tom Preston Werner. Given the growth of the region’s digital payments market, which is expected to reach more than $150 billion by the end of this year, MoneyHash meets the region’s urgent need for digital payment services where more than 30% of digital payment transactions fail. The company stated that it is working to improve the fragmented, complex, and costly payment system for merchants across the region by enabling MoneyHash’s integrated suite of products to allow businesses to integrate multiple payment processors and methods, optimise payment flows and recurring revenue, reduce fraud and payment failures, streamline settlement processes, and efficiently handle different payment needs. MoneyHash stated that its mission is to empower medium and large companies in emerging markets by simplifying the complexity of payment infrastructure, flows, and operations, giving them a fair advantage to grow and expand their customer base. The funding marks Tom’s first investment in the Middle East and his second in the African market, and his participation is part of an undisclosed initial funding scheduled to close in the coming weeks.
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 5, 2023 by Safiya K
