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This week on VC React, we unpack Alaan’s $48 million Series A, ask if MENA’s expense-management race (Alaan, Qashio, Pluto, Pemo) ends in one winner or vertical fiefdoms, stress-test Salasa’s AI-powered fulfilment thesis, dissect Wuilt’s “free in Egypt” pivot, and dig into Afaq Capital’s landmark secondaries deal for Falak Investment Hub’s portfolio.
Alaan’s raise (led by Peak XV Partners, fka Sequoia India & SEA) puts corporate cards + AI finance agents front-and-centre. Do Brex/Mercury/Revolut Business eat everyone’s lunch as they land in the region—or do local players win by going full-stack (payables, payroll, working-capital) and embedding CFO-grade agents that actually move cash, not just parse receipts?
Salasa wants to be the AI logistics backbone for regional e-commerce. Is AI truly a step-change (demand prediction, slotting, routing, robotics) or a thin veneer on capex-heavy warehouses and dark stores? And can Salasa really take share from Aramex by owning bonded zones and cross-border flows?
Wuilt scrapped subscriptions in Egypt and onboarded ~20k merchants, aiming to monetise through payments, shipping and wallets. Genius CAC arbitrage or last-ditch land-grab? Does a “product-is-free, fintech-pays” play threaten Salla/Zid, or does Shopify-tier UX + local rails still win?
Finally, Afaq Capital buying Falak Investment Hub’s entire VC portfolio signals secondaries are (finally) here. Are LP/direct secondaries about to become MENA’s liquidity release valve—and can they out-IRR primaries once discounts and shorter hold periods kick in?
This week’s guests
Ali Almajthoob, Partner, MEVP
Aly El Shalakany, Venture Partner, Atypical Ventures
