Dubai, UAE — MENA venture capital funding in the third quarter saw $250 million raised across 78 deals, a 32 percent increase compared to Q2 of 2023, according to the Q3 2023 MENA Venture Investment Premium Report by startup data platform MAGNiTT.
This contributed to $1.4 billion raised through 286 transactions in the first nine months of 2023. Saudi Arabia and the UAE led the region in capital raised, with the Kingdom reporting a 172 percent QoQ increase.
Conversely, the Emirates registered a 55 percent upswing in new funding. By the number of transactions, UAE has seen the most activity, capturing a third of all deals closed in MENA for the first nine months of 2023.
Speaking at Expand North Star AI Monday, MAGNiTT Founder and CEO Philip Bahoshy , attributed to Q3 performance to a series of mega deals ($100 million plus investment deals) across the region.
In a media note ahead of the report’s launch, Baloshy noted the rise in new VC funds. In MENA, UAE’s Chimera Capital and Aliph Capital have launched new funds, and in Saudi Arabia IMPACT46 and KAUST have raised funds to deploy in local startups.
“We’ll be keenly tracking the pace at which this dry powder translates into investments. In fact, investment activity in Q4’23 will be a good indicator of the strength of 2024’s VC landscape.”