Highlights from the full 2018 MENA Venture Investment Report include:

 

Funding Summary:

2018 surpassed 2017 in terms of total disclosed funding in MENA

• ●   A total of $893M was invested in 2018, an increase of 31% compared to the $679M invested in 2017
• ●   2018 saw 366 deals take place, an increase of 10 (3%) compared to 2017.

 

Country Breakdown:

 

UAE remained dominant in 2018, accounting for 30% of the total number of deals in MENA.

• ●   Egypt saw the largest increase, going up 7% from 2017 to 2018
• ●   Lebanon, on the other hand, saw a decrease of 4% from 2017 to 2018

 

Industry Breakdown:

 

FinTech saw the highest number of deals in MENA in 2018, with a total of 43 deals

• ●   E-commerce came second with 41 deals, followed by Delivery & Transport with 30 deals
• ●   Education saw an increase of 11 deals from 2017 to 2018, making it the industry with the largest increase

 

 

Top Funding Institutions:

 

500 Startups was the most active venture capital investor in 2018, and Flat6Labs the most active accelerator

• ●   Those 2 institutions invested in more than 40 MENA-based startups in 2018
• ●   Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) was the second most active venture capital firm by number of investments in 2018

 

Exits in 2018:

 

2018 saw 17 startup exits in the MENA region, marking a decrease of 3 (15%) compared to 2017

• ●   41% of the exits in 2018 were cross-border, showing an international playing field
• ●   24% of the exits in 2018 saw an international (based outside of MENA) acquirer, indicating international appetite for MENA-based startups

 

 

Top Funding Rounds:

 

The top 10 deals increased by $129M from 2017 ($386M) to 2018 ($515M), which marks a 33% increase

• ●   With Careem and Property Finder, there were two $100M+ funding rounds in 2018
• ●   70% of the top deals were in startups that are based out of the UAE, with Egypt (Swvl), Kuwait (Boutiqaat) and Saudi Arabia (Unifonic) accounting for 10% each