Happy Friday friends 👋

We spent time this week combing through VNV Global's latest accounts, one of the few windows that exists into how a handful of MENA's growth-stage startups are actually being marked.

The Stockholm-listed investor's disclosures imply Breadfast is held at roughly $444 million and Baly has been marked up to an implied $190 million, while elsewhere in the portfolio VNV has cut its carrying values for Wasoko-MaxAB, Vezeeta and El Basharsoft, the parent of Wuzzuf and Forasna.

A caveat worth repeating, these are our own calculations from VNV's disclosed stakes and carrying values rather than company-disclosed valuations. But as read-throughs go in a market this opaque, it's about as good as it gets! Full set of implied marks and write-downs here.

Staying on the theme, Saudi’s Khwarizmi Ventures has partially exited Bosta at around 3x, its sixth portfolio exit and second distribution to Fund I investors. It's also, notably, the second sell-down by an early Bosta backer in three months, all ahead of what would be Egypt's first tech-logistics listing.

Pinnacle Capital, which led Tarabut Gateway's $32M Series A in 2023 and backed holiday-home rental platform Gathern’s $72M Series B last year, meanwhile, has launched a fund targeting Saudi growth-stage companies through both primary rounds and secondaries,

We've also published our deep dive on Talabat's Q2 numbers, asking whether the market is undervaluing a company that underspent its defence budget against Keeta, and raised its guidance. Full analysis is here.

This and much more below 👇

This week’s round-up is a 5 min read:

Independent reporting, deep dives and analysis on the companies, investors and markets shaping technology across the Middle East and North Africa.

AILA (🇸🇦 KSA), an edtech running AI-native exam prep in Saudi schools, has raised $3M in a pre-Series A round, led by Rua Growth Fund, with Jo Academy joining as a strategic investor alongside 500 Global, Bunat Ventures, and Fikr Ventures.

HeyBreez (🇯🇴 Jordan), an enterprise voice AI company handling the operational layer behind AI calling agents, retries, callbacks, telephony and integrations, has raised $2.5M in an oversubscribed Seed round, led by Lunara Partners, with participation from Jabbar Group, DASH Ventures, and strategic angels.

Tax Star (🇦🇪 UAE), an AI-powered corporate tax and compliance platform, has raised $1.75M in a Seed round, backed primarily by angel investors.

XSquare (🇦🇪 UAE), a B2B payment orchestration platform, has raised an undisclosed Pre-Seed round, led by RAED Ventures, with participation from AngelSpark, 500 Global, and Oraseya Capital.

Rozenama (🇮🇶 Iraq), a Baghdad e-commerce platform for Iraqi merchants integrating local delivery firms, payment methods, and cash on delivery, has raised $150K in a pre-Seed round from Aljasmi Perfumes CEO Mohammed Haider.

Sooq Cars, iO Eats, Darrbak, Decoil, and Pack'N (🇴🇲 Oman), five startups spanning automotive marketplaces, food delivery with cloud kitchens, tourism booking, AI and data tooling, and food packaging, have each raised undisclosed amounts from Cyfr Capital's Seed Fund, in collaboration with Future Fund Oman.

🏔️ Pinnacle Capital has launched a fund targeting Saudi growth-stage tech companies through both primary rounds and secondary transactions. The closed-ended fund will focus on fintech, businesses tied to Riyadh's expansion, e-commerce and health and lifestyle. The CMA-licensed firm, founded in 2021 as part of the Watar Partners network, is led by CEO Abdulwahab AlBetairi and counts Calo co-founder Moayed Almoayed among its partners. Pinnacle led Tarabut Gateway's $32M Series A in 2023 and backed holiday-home rental platform Gathern’s $72M Series B last year. Fund size and LPs have not been disclosed.

📊 VNV Global’s latest accounts offer a rare read-through on private-market valuations across its MENA portfolio, with Breadfast held at its latest funding-round level, Baly marked higher and several others written down. The Stockholm-listed investor values its 6.8% Breadfast stake at $30.2M, implying about $444M across the Egyptian grocery platform on a simple pro-rata basis, while its 3.4% Baly holding rose from $5.3M to $6.5M, implying roughly $190M. Wasoko-MaxAB was marked down around 15% to an implied $241M, Vezeeta 13% to $26M and El Basharsoft / Wuzzuf 29% to $11M. The figures are FWDstart calculations based on VNV’s disclosed ownership stakes and carrying values, rather than company-disclosed valuations.

📦 Khwarizmi Ventures has partially exited Bosta at a net multiple of around 3x, marking the Saudi firm's sixth portfolio exit, and its second distribution to Fund I investors over the past five years. Khwarizmi invested three times, first at Series A and later leading a follow-on round. It is the second sell-down by an early Bosta backer in three months, after Beltone Venture Capital and Citadel International exited at a 75% IRR in May. Both come as the Egyptian logistics company prepares for what would be Egypt's first tech-logistics listing, in a deal worth up to $170M. Buyer, transaction value and remaining stake were not disclosed.

🇪🇬 Exits MENA has acquired Avanz Capital Egypt in a multi-seven-figure deal, moving the Cairo advisory platform from matchmaking into owning and running a regulated fund manager. ACE will be rebranded Exits Manara and keep its existing management, continuing to run its SME fund of funds while launching a second vehicle aimed at mid-sized Egyptian exporters. The transaction has initial approval from the Financial Regulatory Authority.

⚡ Aramco-backed Prosperity7 Ventures has joined Velaura AI’s $110M Series A, which values the US energy-efficient computing company at more than $1B. Seligman Ventures led the round, with Capricorn Investment Group, Mayfield and Samsung Catalyst also participating. Velaura is developing chips and software designed to reduce the power demands of AI infrastructure, including its Titan Core platform, which it says can deliver 2–4x better performance per watt than conventional chips. The company was previously known as Auradine, which raised a $153M Series C before restructuring and rebranding as Velaura in March 2026, making the new round’s Series A designation somewhat unusual.

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