Early-stage funding deals drove dealmaking in the Middle East and North Africa region, even though overall activity slowed down due to Ramadan.
Saudi foodtech startup Barakah secured additional funding while Egyptian healthtech company Pharmacy Marts raised bridge funding. Meanwhile, the UAE-based AI startup ClusterLab and Bahraini fintech platform Receiptable raised pre-seed funding.
Barakah
Barakah, a foodtech startup in Saudi Arabia, raised funding from a German venture capital firm FoodLabs to expand within Saudi Arabia and into other countries across the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council bloc. It is FoodLabs’ first investment in a MENA-based startup.
The funding comes six months after Barakah raised $1.5 million in seed capital from Hambro Perks Oryx Fund, 500 Global, Plus VC, Annex Investments, KAUST Innovation Ventures, and some angel investors.
Founded in 2021 by Rabah Habiss, Munira Al Muammar, and Abdulaziz Al Saud, Barakah helps prevent food wastage. It connects food retailers and consumers, allowing groceries, bakeries, and restaurants to sell their surplus food inventory through its application.
The company aims to utilize the seed capital to enhance its product offering and expand to other major cities in Saudi Arabia, beyond Riyadh and Jeddah.
Pharmacy Marts
Egyptian healthtech platform Pharmacy Marts raised a six-figure bridge funding, led by early-stage venture capital firm Acasia Ventures.
Founded in 2021 by Ahmed Kadous, Ahmed Mazhar, Haitham El Ghotni, and Mahmoud Shousha, Pharmacy Marts is a digital marketplace that connects pharmacies and medical suppliers to conveniently access medicine, medical supplies, and cosmetics. It allows medical suppliers to list their products on the platform, allowing pharmacies to compare the products and prices.
The startup claims to account for 20% of Egypt’s total market, with over 200 suppliers on its platform. It has raised a total of $2 million to date from local, regional, and global VC firms. It secured seed investment last year from Alumni Ventures and Plug and Play.
Receiptable
Bahrain-based fintech startup Receiptable secured pre-seed funding of an undisclosed amount, led by Al Waha Fund of Funds and Hambro Perks-backed venture fund HP Spring Studios.
Receiptable, launched in 2022 by Chris Purdie, integrates retailers and payment networks to deliver digital receipts to consumers on their mobile phones. It provides a common platform that connects to retail systems and matches every transaction to an identifiable customer and their payment method of choice.
The startup aims to use the funding to expand its team and launch with its first partner bank in Bahrain.
ClusterLab
AI startup ClusterLab raised $600,000 in a pre-seed funding round from regional investors, including Karim Beguir, to propel its research and development efforts.
Founded in Tunisia in 2020 by Haithem Kchaou and Chehir Dhaouadi, ClusterLab provides AI and natural language processing (NLP) technologies. The startup is behind the Arabic audiobook summarisation app Reedz.
