VC
News
+2
Apr 17, 2026
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2 min read
UAE's Homegrown Ventures closes $22.8m debut fund as MENA's first VC firm dedicated to consumer brands
The fund is founded by Nader Amiri and Ahmad Shamieh, who between them have spent more than 30 years inside the CPG industry at Unilever, Coca-Cola, Kraft/Mondelez, Danone, Nokia and Microsoft.
Startups
+5
Apr 13, 2026
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4 min read
Golden Gate Ventures backs $2B AI infrastructure firm Invisible Technologies as it targets GCC enterprise deployments
Invisible, founded in 2015, claims to have trained data and models for more than 80% of the world's leading foundation model labs and counts Microsoft, AWS and Cohere among its enterprise clients.
News
+2
Apr 6, 2026
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4 min read
Abu Dhabi's Lunate owns a stake in $90B venture firm Insight Partners, court filings reveal
Lunate, which manages over $115B, is controlled by companies associated with Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's national security advisor and brother to the president. Lunate is also a limited partner in multiple Insight funds.
SWFs
+4
Mar 26, 2026
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5 min read
Jeff Bezos pitches Gulf sovereign wealth funds on $100B manufacturing automation fund
If it closes at that scale, the fund would rival SoftBank's $100 billion Vision Fund as the largest private investment vehicle ever assembled, and like the Vision Fund before it, its viability would depend heavily on Gulf sovereign capital.
Jordan
+3
Mar 20, 2026
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4 min read
Endeavor Jordan selects Replit founders Amjad Masad and Haya Odeh, marking the network's 100th unicorn globally
The selection comes weeks after Replit closed a $400 million Series D at a $9 billion valuation led by Georgian, with participation from QIA, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue, Craft Ventures and Y Combinator, among others.
Morocco
+3
Mar 20, 2026
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5 min read
Speedinvest launches dedicated Africa fund with €40m EIB anchor for fintech and mobile-first startups
The EIB's commitment is structured against a maximum fund size of €200 million under the bank's project terms, though Speedinvest has not disclosed a final fundraising target for the vehicle.
News
+3
Mar 12, 2026
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3 min read
Shorooq joins $1B seed round in Yann LeCun's AMI Labs, one of the largest AI seed financings ever, at a $3.5B pre-money valuation
The Abu Dhabi-based firm invested alongside Bezos Expeditions, Temasek, and NVIDIA, in the Paris-headquartered startup, which is building "world model" AI systems designed to reason about physical environments rather than just predict text.
News
+2
Feb 27, 2026
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8 min read
Peak XV raises $1.3B amid partner exodus while quietly deepening its MENA portfolio
The firm formerly known as Sequoia India closed its first independent fundraise after three senior partners departed over a profit-sharing dispute on a 52x return. Meanwhile, GV Ravishankar has been quietly building from Dubai, sitting on the boards of Tabby, Huspy, and Lean Technologies, and leading four MENA deals in the past year.
News
+3
Feb 24, 2026
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5 min read
Presight-Shorooq Fund reveals first five investments from $100M AI fund, backing startups from Abu Dhabi to San Francisco
The fund, a partnership between G42's Presight and Abu Dhabi VC Shorooq, has invested in NodeShift, Candid, Hebbia, Blue, and Crunched after screening over 1,000 companies in its first 120 days.
Jordan
+2
Feb 16, 2026
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2 min read
Jordan's Oasis500 launches $20M+ fourth fund to back early-stage tech startups
Founded in 2010 through the King Abdullah II Fund for Development, Oasis500 has invested in 193 startups to date, which have collectively raised over $135 million and generated nearly 5,000 jobs across 22 countries.
News
+2
Feb 8, 2026
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2 min read
MASNA Ventures launches Saudi Arabia’s first defence-focused VC fund, targets $100M
MASNA plans to complete around 10 investments, initially focusing on drone and counter-drone systems, precision-guided munitions, and AI-enabled defence technologies.
Funding
+4
Feb 2, 2026
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3 min read
Shorooq launches $200m late-stage growth fund backed by QIA
The fund is backed by Qatar Investment Authority alongside other sovereign and institutional investors from the GCC and Asia, with the launch announced at Web Summit Qatar.
News
+2
Feb 2, 2026
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4 min read
Qatar's fund-of-funds backs five new global VC firms
The funds are Greycroft, Ion Pacific, Liberty City Ventures, Shorooq, and Speedinvest, all of which are establishing offices in Doha, QIA said in a statement.
News
+2
Feb 2, 2026
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3 min read
Qatar to double venture fund-of-funds to $2B, unveils 10-year residency for founders
The expansion builds on Qatar’s existing $1 billion Fund of Funds, launched in February 2024 to attract international venture firms to Doha and channel capital into local and regional startups.
Startups
+3
Jan 14, 2026
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19 min read
MENA tech predictions for 2026
Why the IPO dam is finally about to break, the rise of "agentic" AI in the boring back-office, and why the Gulf’s next sovereign race could be all about longevity.
Startups
+3
Jan 9, 2026
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2 min read
MEVP’s annual letter discloses a number of unannounced funding rounds, including for Stake, Ziina, and MealPlanet
In 2025, MEVP deployed $18.1 million across eight new investments and two follow-on rounds.
Jordan
+3
Nov 26, 2025
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2 min read
Propeller launches $50M Fund III to back AI infrastructure and AI-native software across US and MENA
Founded in 2017 by Zaid Farekh and Tambi Jalouqa, Propeller operates across Amman, Riyadh, Boston, and Silicon Valley, positioning itself as a bridge between MENA AI builders and US growth markets.
Startups
+3
Nov 11, 2025
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2 min read
Irish firm Quintas Capital invests $18 million in UAE e-commerce business Petal Group
The deal marks Quintas Capital’s first managed equity investment as it eyes cross-border growth across the Irish–Middle Eastern corridor.
Startups
+3
Nov 7, 2025
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2 min read
Saudi VC firm SVC eyes $3 billion target by 2030 as over a dozen portfolio companies prepare IPOs
SVC Chief Executive Nabeel Koshak revealed that more than 13 of the companies in its portfolio have begun preparations for an initial public offering on the sidelines of the Private Capital Forum in Riyadh.
