2017 MENA Funding Analytics Report

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The 2017 MENA Venture Investment Report summarises and analyses investments in MENA-based startups, including funding trends in countries, industries and funding stages, as well as comparisons and gap analyses. 2017 saw $560M invested in 260 MENA-based startups. This is the highest number of deals when compared to the last 3 years.

 

What is included in this report:

- Executive Summary: Snapshot including the key takeaways from the report.

- All Deals in 2017: All MENA-based startups that received investment in 2017, including country, industry, funding amount, funding stage, and investors.

- 2017 Funding Overview: High-level overview and analysis of all MENA-based startup funding over time (monthly, quarterly, and yearly), including a gap analysis to the previous year.

- Funding Stage Breakdown: Analysis of the different stages of funding, such as early stage, Series A, Series B, and how they compare and change over time.

- Industry Breakdown: Analysis of the most popular industries by number of deals and funding amount in 2017 and YTD, as well as how they change over time.

- Country Breakdown: Analysis of the most popular countries by number of deals and funding amount in 2017 and YTD, as well as any trends over time.

- Top News in 2017: Highlight of the top news of 2017

 

MAGNiTT has prepared an in-depth 50+ page report detailing the state of MENA startup funding across the region.

The report shows that 2017 was a record year in terms of total funding and the number of deals.  MENA funding increased by 65% YoY (excl. Souq & Careem), while the number of deals rose by 32%.

Below are a few highlights from the report:

MENA landscape overview:

  • Last year saw $560m invested into 260 startups across the MENA region.
  • E-commerce and FinTech remained the most popular industries, accounting for approximately 24%.
  • The top 10 deals in 2017 accounted for $349m, equating to roughly 60% of the total investment amount ($560m).

Evolution analysis:

  • In comparison to previous years, 2017 saw the strongest Q4 on record in terms of the number of deals, however the overall value of funding was down $19m.
  • 2017 also saw the highest Q2 and Q3 funding activity in terms of deals and funding amount in MENA history.
  • We continued to see increased transparency with more deals disclosed than ever before, with only 39 (15%) deals remaining undisclosed.

2017 – Transaction review

  • The first half of 2017 saw more concluded deals than the second half of the year

2017 MENA Exit review:

  • 2017 saw a record number (20) of exits, including the notable acquisitions of Souq and Payfort by Amazon.

Stage of Funding – Deep dive analysis:

  • The focus of deals has been in Early stage investment, while the greatest value of funding stemmed from Series B investments.

Industry – Deep dive analysis:

  • Transport and Logistics saw the greatest amount of funding in 2017, while E-commerce remained the most active industry in terms of the number of deals.
  • Fintech saw the largest increase (18%) in the amount of funding.
  • Food & Beverage saw for the largest increase in deal activity.

Geography – Deep dive analysis

  • The UAE continues to see the majority of activity, accounting for 70% of  investments and 40% of deals, while Egypt saw the largest increase in amount of funding, up 4% from 2016 and KSA saw the largest increase (2%) in the number of deals
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