KSA Q1 2022 Venture Investment Report

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The Q1 2022 KSA Venture Report provides a quarterly update on the venture capital and startup ecosystems in the MENA region. 

Observing a 212% QoQ growth in funding, the $256M raised by KSA-based startups in Q1’22 marks the highest they’ve ever raised in a single quarter to date. In fact, the KSA VC ecosystem has raised 73% more funds in the first three months of the year than full year 2020. Ruling out Unifonic’s $125M Mega Round in the third quarter of last year, Q1’2022 would mark the 6th consecutive quarter of growth for the Kingdom, growing by 3,557% since Q3’20. 

Boosting deal flow this year, the KSA was able to surpass Egypt and catch up to the UAE to reach a mere 2-deal difference with the top geography. With this in mind, Saudi’s local investor participation remains unmatched accounting for 60% of all active investors backing KSA-based startups in Q1 2022. 

 

 

Key Highlights - KSA 2022 Venture Investment Report

  • $256M was recorded in VC funding in KSA over in Q1 2022- the highest the ecosystem has ever recorded in a single quarter to date.

  • KSA was the only geography in MENA’s top 3 to record YoY increases in deal flow and investment each month of the quarter, growing its deal share by 5% QoQ to account for 30% of total transactions in MENA

  • KSA surpassed its peer MENA markets by the share of transactions in the ($1M-$5M) bracket size, accounting for 62% of total transactions in Q1 2022

  • While Fintech startups closed the lion's share of total transactions in KSA (23%), the E-commerce industry remained the top-funded industry in KSA driven by E-grocery platform Nana's $50M fundraise 

  • The 4 exits recorded in KSA over the first quarter of the year were one less than FY 2021, signaling a strong start for the ecosystem

What’s In The Report?

This quarterly report provides a comprehensive overview and a deep dive into the Middle East and North Africa venture capital and funding investment space and includes the following: 

• A 5-year analysis of KSA venture funding evolution, with a focus on 2022 YTD country and industry performance benchmarks

• Top 10 investor ranking, together with the business type and HQ analysis of all investment firms in the region

• Top 10 startup funding rounds that were closed during the analyzed period, as well as the ticket size split of the entire deal flow

• A 5-year KSA exit evolution with a country benchmark breakdown 

• Top 10 last exits by Egypt-based startups

Who will benefit from the report?

The KSA Venture Investment Report is ideal for investors tracking startup activity, consultants looking to identify technology innovation trends, as well as government entities searching for investments.

This report was created with data from MAGNiTT, a comprehensive directory of technology innovation trends. The platform provides the following analytics tools:

 

• Investment directories, a comprehensive list of all startup venture funding across the Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey

• Market Sizing Tools to visualize investment growth and trends across industries, geographies, and stage

• Startup Resources including a deal flow tool for applications to leading Venture Capitalists for investment

• Exit comparisons, looking at Mergers & Acquisitions from across the region

 

Sign-up for a demo to learn more about how our platform can help you make data-driven decisions.

*This report aggregates and analyses tech startup investments in 17 countries in the Middle East and North Africa - listed alphabetically: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia (KSA), Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen.

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