Value of funding deals for start-ups in Middle East H1 2018-H1 2023

In the first half of 2021, startup funding in the Middle East jumped by nearly 440 million U.S. dollars over the previous year, reaching approximately 1.065 billion U.S. dollars. The following year saw another substantial increase in start-up funding, this time increasing by roughly 450 million USD, reaching around 1.52 billion USD. However, the first half of 2023 did not perform as well as previous years, and for the first time since 2018. Between 2020 to 2022, the number of startup funding deals in the Middle East exceeded 200 in the first half of each year. Types of startup funding Traditionally, there have been multiple modes of startup funding. This could come in the form of angel investors, venture capital, series funding, crowdfunding, and even equity. Typically, funding from angel investors, small credit loans, and crowdfunding are relatively more accessible. Series funding and venture capital require a lot more preliminary effort since these offer the highest levels of funding to startups. In the Middle East, industries like real estate and e-commerce have historically secured a higher share of startup funding. Startups in the Middle East The Middle East is a growing hub for up-and-coming startups. Recently, countries like the United Arab Emirates have become attractive destinations for blockchain and artificial intelligence startups. In the e-commerce space, Souq.com was acquired and rebranded by Amazon in March of 2017. Ride-sharing app Careem, founded in Dubai, was bought by Uber in March 2019 for 3.1 billion U.S. dollars. It has since evolved beyond simply ridesharing into a super app, and is one of the few unicorns in the Middle East.