Happy Friday, friends 👋

It’s been one of those weeks where it’s genuinely difficult to know where to begin. So we’re going to kick off with what should be a huge story that risks slipping under the radar.

It’s been reported that GlobalFoundries, owned by Mubadala, has acquired Egyptian semiconductor startup InfiniLink only a handful of months after its $10 million Seed round. The financial terms remain undisclosed, but the deal represents yet another strong vote of confidence in a sector that continues to operate quietly and without fuss, consistently excelling on the global stage and defying expectations time and again. More on the rise of Egypt’s semiconductor industry in next week’s deep-dive.

The news of Founders Fund leading Mnzil’s Series A took us by surprise – though on reflection, it’s not entirely unexpected given what we’ve heard about the Saudi startup’s exceptionally talented 20-year-old co-founder and CEO, Abdulmajeed Al-Babtain. For context on COTU Ventures’ involvement, we’d recommend checking Amir Farah’s LinkedIn post, which also explains how Founders Fund was first introduced to the company.

Elsewhere, erad continues its recent tear, securing a $125 million facility. Jordan-rooted Propeller, led by Zaid Farekh, has launched a $50 million Fund III to back AI-native infrastructure and software, with ambitions to bridge MENA and the US. A rare regional AI infrastructure play without HUMAIN in the mix – Strataphy, a Saudi-based geothermal cooling systems startup focused on data centres and industrial infrastructure has secured a $6M Seed – very much one to watch.

And last but very much not least, a major structural development from The Kingdom this week with the announcement that from 22 January, foreign residents will be permitted to purchase property across all cities.

This and much more below 👇

This week’s round-up is a 5 min read:

erad (🇸🇦 KSA), an alternative financing platform enabling embedded capital for SMEs, has secured a $125M credit facility led by Jefferies and Channel Capital to expand its embedded finance solutions into new B2B verticals like manufacturing and logistics, and scale point-of-sale working capital via its API.

Revibe (🇦🇪 UAE), a B2C marketplace for refurbished electronics driving the circular economy, has raised $17M in new funding led by Partech, with participation from e& Capital, Burda Principal Investments and EQNX, to enhance platform quality and accelerate expansion across the Gulf and emerging markets.

Mnzil (🇸🇦 KSA), a workforce housing platform combining software-driven operations with purpose-built residential campuses, has raised $11.7M Series A led by Founders Fund and COTU Ventures to scale operations regionally and advance housing infrastructure in alignment with the Kingdom's economic transformation.

Mastiska (🇦🇪 UAE), a fabless semiconductor startup focused on sovereign AI hardware, has raised $10M Seed from GCC sovereign wealth funds to build data-centre class inference accelerators and reduce reliance on global supply chains for the Global South.

Strataphy (🇸🇦 KSA), a deeptech startup developing proprietary geothermal cooling solutions for data centres and industrial facilities, has raised $6M Seed led by Outliers VC, with participation from Shorooq Partners and PlusVC, to expand engineering teams and scale deployments across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Buildroid (🇦🇪 UAE), a robotics startup deploying AI-powered multi-robot systems into construction workflows, has raised $2M pre-Seed led by Tim Draper to expand pilot programmes, refine simulation technology and accelerate commercial deployment in the UAE.

STAMP (🇸🇦 KSA), an AI-powered regtech platform unifying regulatory licensing and corporate operations, has raised $2M pre-Seed to advance its AI capabilities and build a comprehensive solution for governance and compliance readiness.

bluworks (🇪🇬 Egypt), an HRtech platform providing workforce management tools for blue-collar employees, has raised $1M Seed led by A15, Enza Capital, Beltone Venture Capital and Acasia Ventures to deepen SME market penetration and expand regionally across MENA.

🇯🇴🇺🇸 Propeller has launched its $50 million Fund III to back founders building horizontal AI infrastructure and AI-native software, with a focus on companies scaling globally. Founded in 2017 by Zaid Farekh and Tambi Jalouqa, the Jordan-rooted firm now operates across Amman, Riyadh, Boston and Silicon Valley, and has already deployed capital into five Fund III bets in 2025 – Codemod, Netpreme, Stealthium, Pebble and Ciphero AI – all selling into the US. The firm, which has invested in 30+ startups across earlier funds (including Clarity, ActivePieces and Maqsam), is deepening its US presence and supporting MENA founders with global GTM strategies, as Hani Azzam steps into the role of Partner.

🇫🇷 Aramco Ventures is opening a Paris office to lead European investments in AI, with commitments expected to reach hundreds of millions of euros, according to CEO Mahdi Aladel. Speaking to Reuters, he said the subsidiary of the Saudi energy major will initially target French startups and funds in AI, cybersecurity and quantum computing, before expanding across Europe. France was chosen due to its AI talent pool, supportive government stance and breakout companies such as Mistral.

🇲🇦 Morocco has launched a $269M financing vehicle to bolster its startup ecosystem, marking one of the region’s largest state-led VC interventions to date. Rather than acting solely as an LP, the government is using state-guarantee institution Tamwilcom to de-risk private capital via first-loss guarantees and, where needed, direct investment to bridge funding gaps. Structured as a fund-of-funds, the vehicle will channel capital into nine selected fund managers spanning pre-seed (3 funds), seed (2), and Series A+ (4), with a focus on fintech, agritech, edtech, digital health, and climate tech. Five of the nine managers are foreign, required to establish local teams, and all must integrate ESG criteria.

💰 Stride Ventures has announced that it’s raised about US$300 million across its GCC, India and UK funds, targeting US$600 million at final close. Stride has started introducing venture and growth debt structures into Gulf markets through partnerships with players like SAB Invest and through deals with startups such as erad and BRKZ. It has deployed over US$1.6 billion to more than 200 companies to date.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia will allow foreign residents to purchase property across all cities from January 22, removing the current requirement for Interior Ministry approval. According to documents from the Real Estate General Authority, only Muslims will be permitted to buy in Mecca and Medina, while non-resident foreigners will be limited to “special geographical zones” yet to be confirmed. A representative at Cityscape Global said “almost everywhere will be open,” with developers already preparing contracts for non-Saudis in anticipation of the change. Buyers will be subject to a 10% real estate fee, with penalties of up to SAR 10 million for violations. Fractional ownership will also be introduced to attract foreign direct investment.

🤝 SNB Capital and Stake announced a new partnership at the Stake Summit held on Tuesday 25 November at Dubai’s Museum of the Future, where Stake also unveiled its strategic alliance with Property Finder, outlined its tokenisation roadmap, and introduced its new investment product, StakeOne. The collaboration between SNB Capital and Stake will provide regulated access to curated Saudi real estate opportunities for local and international investors by combining SNB Capital’s institutional expertise with Stake’s digital investment infrastructure. The amount committed has not been disclosed.

🏡 Not to be outdone, Bayut and dubizzle have signed an MoU with PRYPCO Mortgage to integrate bespoke home financing solutions directly into their platforms. Through the partnership, PRYPCO will become the exclusive online home finance partner, offering features such as an embedded mortgage calculator that provides instant repayment estimates on every listing.

💾 Mubadala-owned GlobalFoundries has acquired Cairo-based semiconductor startup InfiniLink, with financial terms undisclosed. Earlier this year, InfiniLink raised a $10 million seed round led by Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek, alongside Sukna Ventures, Egypt Ventures and angel investors from the US, Europe and MENA. Founded in 2022 by chip engineers Ahmed F. Aboul Ella and Botros George, the company builds silicon photonics based optical chiplets that move data faster and more efficiently between processors. As AI workloads scale and copper-based approaches reach their limits, InfiniLink’s low power chiplet architecture positions it as a key enabler of next-gen data centre infrastructure.

🍽️ Uber has agreed key terms to acquire Getir’s food delivery business from controlling shareholder Mubadala, with the deal now awaiting sign-off from Turkey’s Competition Board. Mubadala had led Getir’s $768M Series E in 2022 at nearly a $12B valuation to fuel global expansion, but as demand slowed and economics worsened, Getir pulled back from international markets. The Emirati fund later injected ~$330M in loans and assumed control of Turkish operations via court-backed restructuring, so the sale to Uber represents a further step in its exit from the company.

🇦🇪 Abu Dhabi–based investment manager Lunate is in discussions to commit $1 billion to MGX, the UAE state-backed AI investor chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan. MGX, a joint venture between Mubadala and G42, has already backed OpenAI and xAI, and recently partnered with BlackRock to accelerate next-gen AI and cloud infrastructure deployment. Lunate, which manages around USD 110 billion across private markets spanning buyouts, growth equity, venture, private credit and public assets, has not yet confirmed the exact investment structure.

🏦 Munify has secured in-principle approval from the DFSA to operate in the UAE, marking its entry into the GCC. Founded by Khalid Ashmawy, who previously co-founded Huspy, the neobank is targeting high-remittance markets starting with Egypt. To date, Munify has raised $4.5M from YC, White Star Capital, Byld, Rebel Fund, DCG, DFS and Uncovered Fund, and offers instant multi-currency accounts with fiat and stablecoin transfer capabilities to enable seamless global money movement for the modern workforce.

🛋️ Bahrain’s Investcorp has participated in a $6.7 million pre-IPO round for India’s Wakefit Innovations, valuing the furniture and home furnishings company at $770 million. Wakefit plans to raise $193.6 million in its IPO to support expansion, including 117 new fully owned stores, with proceeds also allocated to rent, equipment and marketing. Founders retain 43.47%, while Investcorp holds 9.39 percent alongside Peak XV Partners, Verlinvest and Elevation Capital.

🚀 Egypt-based Dar Ventures has made a six-figure investment in Vienna-based Proptech startup Howie. Dar is backing Howie’s push to build the “AI Brain for the Built World,” turning archived drawings, reports and unstructured AEC data into usable intelligence. The investment extends runway ahead of a planned priced round in Q1 2026, supports growth from 5 to 20 enterprise clients over the next 12 months, and accelerates expansion across Europe and the MENA region.