Dealmaking in the Middle East spiked in the third week of October led by a slew of early-stage, high-value funding rounds by the UAE and Saudi Arabia-based tech startups.
Proptech startups Keyper and Ejari raised seed capital while Nomad Homes secured extended Series A funding. Electric vehicle last-mile startup Neo Mobility raised $10 million in a seed round.
Besides, Saudi Venture Capital (SVC) made a $10 million limited partner-style investment in Abu Dhabi-based Ruya Partners’ private credit fund, Ruya Private Capital I, which offers debt to small and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s NEOM launched its investment arm, the NEOM Investment Fund (NIF), and announced new investments in companies such as Regent, Pony.AI, Boom Technology, BlueNalu, and Animoca Brands. It also invested $100 million in the US-based autonomous driving solutions provider Pony.ai.
Ejari
Saudi Arabia-based proptech startup Ejari raised $1 million in a pre-seed round led by Sanabil 500 MENA and Hambro Perks' Oryx Fund for growth and product expansion. Some angel investors also participated in the round.
Founded in 2022 by Yazeed Al-Shamsi, Fahad Albedah, Mohammed Alkhelewy, and Khalid Almunif, Ejari offers rent-now-pay-later (RNPL) solutions for residential rentals. Saudi rentals are typically paid annually or semi-annually.
It pays property owners a full year’s upfront rent, enabling tenants to pay on a monthly basis. The entity aims to use the recent funding to accelerate growth of its RNPL service and expand into other proptech solutions.
Democrance
Dubai-based insurtech startup Democrance secured funding from Saudi Aramco’s venture capital arm Wa’ed and Global Ventures to support expansion into Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 2015 by Alberto Pérez, Damian Dimmich, and Michele Grosso, Democrance is a business-to-business SaaS insurance technology platform that helps insurers and insurance brokers to increase digital sales and access new markets. It enables its insurance partners to enhance their digital sales mechanisms by automating workflows, and increase their operational efficiency and profitability in the insurance market.
The startup operates in 15 countries across the Middle East and Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. In 2017, it raised $800,000 as seed funding from 1818 Venture Capital and followed with another round of funding in 2021 from Global Ventures.
Neo Mobility
Last-mile EV startup Neo Mobility raised $10 million in seed funding from Delta Corp Holdings, Pyse Sustainability Fund, and angel investors to scale its fleet vehicles.
The UAE-headquartered startup was founded in 2020 by Abhishek Shah and Anish Garg. It offers all-electric last-mile logistics services. The startup aims to grow its fleet of two-wheelers and four-wheelers to 5,000 by 2025.
Neo is set to launch its new fleet of GSO-certified EV motorbikes with a driving range of 175 kilometres to allow food aggregators, ecommerce platforms, and logistics companies achieve net-zero goals. It will also implement its EV smart charging infrastructure with battery swapping stations across the UAE, enabling Neo riders to swap batteries within 60 seconds.
Keyper
Proptech startup Keyper secured $6.5 million in seed funding led by Access Bridge Ventures and Vivium Holdings to accelerate growth. Other investors include venture Capital firm MEVP, Jabbar Internet Group, and a group of angel investors.
Founded in 2022 by Omar Abu Innab and Walid Shihabi, the UAE-based startup offers a property investment management platform where tenants can track their expenses online, and investors get real estate portfolios and access to data-driven insights. Since last year, Keyper has onboarded 2,100 freehold residential units in Dubai and 800 landlords on its platform.
Nomad Homes
Proptech player Nomad Homes raised $20 million in a Series A extension round, led by California-based Acrew Capital to fund growth and expand product offering. Other participants in the round include 01 Advisors, Precursor Ventures HighSage Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Partech, Potluck Ventures, Knollwood and several hedge funds.
Founded in 2019 by Damien Drap, Dan Piehler and Helen Chen, the UAE-based startup is a software-enabled marketplace for residential real estate across Europe and the Middle East (EMEA). It also offers buyers access to off-market listings. It had raised a $4 million seed round in 2020 led by Comcast Ventures.
Belong
The UAE-based social app Belong (formerly ASKWHO) raised $1.5 million in a pre-Series A round, to expand in Dubai, San Francisco, and New York.
Founded in 2019 by Michael Askew and Matthew Gaziano, Belong is a social network that can connect individuals within cities that share the same interests, passions, and hobbies. It has so far raised $3.5 million.
