From AI-driven food tech to digital fuel management and the world’s first smart contact lenses, MENA startups raised billions across all funding rounds in 2025.
In 2025, startups across the Middle East and North Africa raised billions of dollars of funding across dozens of deals, accelerating what was already a startup ecosystem on the rise. From AI-driven foodtech to digital fuel management and the world’s first smart contact lenses, here are the ten biggest funding rounds in the MENA region in 2025.
Tamara ($2.4 billion)
Saudi fintech startup Tamara, one of the region’s largest providers of buy-now-pay-later plans, secured the largest funding round of any startup in MENA history in 2025. In September, they secured a shariah-compliant $2.4 billion debt facility from a mix of backers including Goldman Sachs, Citi, Apollo, and other global credit investors. Founded in 2020 by Saudi entrepreneurs Abdulmajeed Al-Saikhan (Alsukhan), Turki Bin Zarah, and Abdul Mohsen al-Babtain, Tamara will use this debt facility to fuel the company’s expansion of its credit and payment products, and help the platform grow beyond its current 20 million customer base.
Property Finder ($525 million)
Since being founded by Michael Lahyani in 2007, Property Finder has become one of the leading classified property portals in the MENA region. In September, the Dubai-based company announced a $525 million strategic investment round, in which global investment firms Permira and Blackstone acquired a minority stake in the company. Although a valuation of the stake was not disclosed, the investment will give one of MENA’s most prominent property platforms access to even more funding and expertise to accelerate their growth across the region.
Ninja ($250 million)
Ninja, a delivery platform that offers speedy food and grocery delivery across Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar, raised $250 million in a pre-IPO funding round in July. Founded in 2022 by Ebrahim Al-Jassim, who is also behind food delivery pioneer HungerStation, Ninja plans to go public in 2027, after it became the Kingdom’s fastest-growing unicorn, with the Riyad Capital-led funding round pushing its valuation to $1.5 billion.
XPANCEO ($250 million)
XPANCEO, the Dubai-based tech startup founded by entrepreneur Roman Axelrod and physicist Dr. Valentyn S. Volkov in 2021, is developing the world’s first smart contact lenses. In July, the company reach unicorn status. after successfully closing a $250 million Series A funding round that pushed its valuation to $1.35 billion. The funding will accelerate the company’s mission to launch the all-in-one smart contact lenses, which it aims to do by 2028.
Tabby ($160 million)
Based in Dubai, Tabby was founded in 2019 by Hosam Arab and Daniil Barkalov, and has grown into a regional buy-now-pay-later leader. In February, the company $160 million in a Series E round, led by Blue Pool Capital and Hassana Investment Company with support from Wellington Management and STV. The funding elevated Tabby into a unicorn, as its valuation hit $3.3 billion, before later rising to $4.5 billion after a secondary share sale was issued in October ahead of a potential public listing.
HALA ($157 million)
Saudi Arabia-based fintech startup HALA raised $157 million in a Series B funding round led by global impact investing platform, The Rise Fund, and Sanabil Investments, a company owned wholly by Saudi’s Public Investment Fund. Founded in 2018 by Esam Alnahdi and Maher Loubieh, HALA provides banking and financial services tailored to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and freelancers, and currently serves more than 142,000 businesses and processes over $8 billion in annual transactions.
Nawy ($75 million)
Founded in Egypt in 2019 and led by CEO Mostafa El-Beltagy, Nawy has rapidly grown into Africa’s largest real estate technology company, transforming how people finance, manage, and invest in properties. Following five years of tremendous growth, Egyptian proptech startup Nawy raised $52 million in Series A equity funding to scale its operations across Egypt. The round was led by Partech, with participation from the likes of e& Capital and MENA’s leading alternative investment firm, Shorooq. Nawy also secured an additional $23 million in debt financing, dedicated exclusively to fuelling the company’s rapidly growing mortgage offer.
PetroApp ($50 million)
Saudi fueltech startup PetroApp, an electronic fleet fuel management system that helps companies control and track vehicles fuel usage through embedded smart chips, raised $50 million in an investment round led by Jadwa Investment. Founded in 2018 by Abdulaziz Alsenan, the company is Saudi Arabia’s first independent provider of digital fuel payment and fleet management solutions, managing over 500,000 vehicles for more than 10,000 corporate clients across Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Thailand, and Nigeria.
Alaan ($48 million)
In one of the largest Series A funding rounds in MENA this year, Alaan, a Dubai-based fintech company founded by former McKinsey consultants Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien in 2022, raised $48 million in funding for its AI-powered spend management services. The round was led by Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India & SEA) with participation from several other venture capital firms and incubators, including 885 Capital, Y Combinator, 212 Founders, and Pioneer Fund. Since launching, Alaan has processed over 2.5 million transactions for more than 1,500 finance teams, and plans to use the funding round to accelerate its expansion in the region, and particularly in Saudi Arabia.
Calo ($39 million)
Calo, a Saudi Arabia-based food tech startup which offers personalised, subscription-based meal plans, secured $39 million in a Series B extension round this year led by AlJazira Capital. This raises Calo’s total Series B funding to $64 million, after an initial Series B funding round in 2024 of $25 million. Founded in 2019 by Ahmed Al Rawi, Calo uses AI to offer healthy, ready-to-eat meals for users trying to achieve specific goals (e.g., weight loss, muscle gain). With over 10 million meals delivered last year, the company is the world’s fastest-growing meal subscription service, and will use this Series B funding round to expand its services in the Gulf and in the UK.
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