Weekly Market Highlights
22nd of January 2026
From AI transforming how we hire, communicate, and consume news, to biotech unlocking “undruggable” diseases and agritech redefining how food reaches our tables, this week’s updates show that MENA startups are no longer just building products, they’re reshaping entire industries. Capital is flowing, ambition is scaling, and the region’s innovation story is becoming undeniably global.
Saudi-based Resquad AI raised $1.5M in a Seed round led by SRG to scale its AI-powered technical recruitment SaaS and global talent marketplace, focusing on expansion across the GCC and international markets.
Egypt- and UK-based KNOT Technologies raised $1M in a pre-seed round led by A15 to scale its AI-native ticketing and access control platform, tackling fraud, improving demand visibility, and reducing revenue leakage in live events.
Saudi-based agritech startup Grove raised $5M in a Seed round led by Outliers VC to scale its technology-enabled, vertically integrated fresh-produce supply chain, improving quality, reducing food waste, and supporting a more sustainable food system in Saudi Arabia.
Egypt-founded eYouth expanded into Iraq by launching eYouth Iraq, the country’s first Arabic-language digital learning platform for workforce skills, through a partnership with Al-Majal Group, targeting market-aligned training and talent development across key economic sectors.
UAE-based CE-Ventures participated in Think Bioscience’s oversubscribed $55M Series A round to support its synthetic biology platform and first-in-class small-molecule drugs targeting historically “undruggable” diseases.
UAE-based OpenCX raised $7M in a round led by Y Combinator and X by Unifonic, with participation from Shorooq and Sadu Capital, to scale its AI-native enterprise communication platform and expand into the GCC, including opening a Saudi office.
Saudi-based GBT raised $1.3M in a pre-seed round to scale its geospatial and GeoAI solutions, expand its team and infrastructure, and launch a new generation of spatial intelligence products for Saudi Arabia’s telecom and IT sectors.
UAE-based Eat App raised $10M in a Series B extension led by PSG Equity (via Zenchef) to accelerate its expansion in India, following its acquisition of ReserveGo and partnership with Swiggy to unify restaurant reservations and drive data-driven growth.
US-Jordanian Breez AI raised $1.3M in a pre-seed round led by Wamda Capital to scale its no-code voice orchestration platform, enabling enterprises to deploy reliable, real-time Voice AI across phone operations without complex infrastructure.
Dubai-based A47 raised $2M in pre-seed funding to build an AI-native news platform focused on delivering verified, structured, and trustworthy information, using AI agents for sourcing, fact-checking, and content creation, with plans to expand across the Middle East and globally.
US-based Alpaca raised $150M in a Series D led by Drive Capital at a $1.15B valuation to scale its global brokerage infrastructure APIs, expand regulatory presence, and strengthen institutional-grade trading, including Shariah-compliant investing solutions.
Unifyr raised $20M in a strategic growth round led by Investcorp to expand globally and enhance its AI-powered PRM platform for managing and scaling B2B partner ecosystems.
Abu Dhabi’s G42 launched Digital Embassies and Greenshield at Davos 2026, a new model that allows governments to deploy AI immediately while retaining full sovereignty, legal authority, and control over data and systems, regardless of where infrastructure is hosted.
In 2025, Saudi Arabia became the most active and influential venture capital market in MENA, recording its highest-ever investment value and deal volume. The ecosystem expanded beyond large rounds into strong early and growth-stage activity, led by fintech and enterprise software, and attracted a broader, more international investor base, confirming the Kingdom’s position as the region’s central VC hub.
These stories reflect an ecosystem that has moved from promise to execution. MENA is now building the infrastructure of the future, in AI, finance, health, food, and digital sovereignty, with companies that can compete on a global stage. What we’re seeing isn’t just growth in funding, but growth in confidence, capability, and impact.
