Rabat – Morocco missed out on a sharp rebound in startup funding across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) in September, as Saudi Arabia consolidated its lead with a series of multimillion-dollar deals.
Moroccan startups raised just $100,000 from a single transaction, placing the North African country at the bottom of the regional rankings alongside Palestine and, for the first time this year, behind Algeria.
Across the region, startups raised $1.1 billion through 73 deals in September, a 193% increase from August and the highest monthly total since the start of 2026, according to data compiled by Wamda.
Yet the headline figure offers only a partial picture of the market. Total funding remained 68% below the level recorded in September 2025, while a small number of major transactions accounted for most of the month’s capital.
Three Saudi startups, Barq, Tabby, and Lendo, secured a combined $762.5 million. Their deals alone represented nearly 70% of all funds raised across MENA, which underscores how heavily the regional recovery depended on a handful of large investments rather than a broad increase in startup financing.
Saudi Arabia consequently led the market by a wide margin. Startups in the kingdom raised $947.2 million across 40 deals, or about 86% of regional funding. The United Arab Emirates ranked second with $98.4 million from 12 transactions, while Egypt took third place after seven deals brought in $49.2 million, largely on the strength of fintech company Paymob.
Morocco loses ground as Gulf markets pull ahead
Morocco’s performance stood in stark contrast to the surge elsewhere in the region. Its single $100,000 deal left it tied with Palestine at the bottom of the rankings, while Algeria moved ahead for the first time since the start of the year.
Qatar ranked fourth with $2.4 million across four deals, followed by Kuwait. The figures expose the gap between Morocco’s startup funding activity and the scale of investment that Gulf markets can attract, particularly when major transactions push national totals into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, September’s results also call for some perspective. Saudi Arabia’s dominance rested largely on three exceptional deals, so the headline figures do not necessarily reflect the funding conditions faced by startups across the wider region. For Morocco, the more pressing question is whether local companies can attract a steadier flow of capital, rather than rely on occasional large transactions to improve their position.
Fintech takes the lion’s share of regional investment
Financial technology accounted for the bulk of September’s funding, with startups in the sector raising $930.6 million across 20 deals. That represented approximately 85% of all capital raised across MENA, largely due to the major transactions involving Barq, Tabby, and Lendo.
Property technology followed with $50.2 million, while travel technology attracted $25.2 million.
The figures reveal a market in which investor appetite remains strong for certain business models, but capital flows heavily toward a limited number of companies and sectors. The scale of fintech investment also helps explain why September’s overall total rose so sharply despite the year-on-year decline.
More mature startups also secured a substantial share of funding. Five later-stage companies raised a combined $288 million, while early-stage ventures completed 39 deals worth $418.2 million. The latter remained the most active group by transaction volume, although the figures suggest that investors continued to back established businesses alongside younger ventures.
B2B startups lead deal activity, women founders remain underfunded
Business-to-business (B2B) startups attracted $457.7 million across 47 transactions, compared with $406.4 million for companies that sell directly to consumers. The figures point to continued investor interest in businesses that serve corporate clients, although the overall distribution of capital remained uneven.
The funding gap for women-led businesses was even more striking. Of the more than $1.1 billion raised across the region in September, only $2.4 million went to startups founded by women. The disparity highlights a persistent problem within the MENA investment landscape: a surge in total funding does not necessarily translate into broader access to capital.
For Morocco, September’s figures offer little cause for celebration. While the regional market recorded its strongest month of the year, the kingdom secured only a fraction of the available investment and slipped behind Algeria in the rankings. The contrast raises questions about the ability of Morocco’s startup ecosystem to compete for venture capital as Gulf markets attract increasingly large deals.
The broader recovery is real, but its benefits remain concentrated. Until more capital reaches a wider range of companies and markets, MENA’s rising funding totals will tell only part of the story.
