The MENA region saw a flurry of announcements this week—funding rounds, product launches and operational expansions—underscoring a dynamic market for tech startups. Funding, strategic investments and industrial rollouts touched players across gaming, health, fintech and e‑commerce.
Funding rounds and major investments
Several notable financing rounds and regional investor participations stood out. Saudi game studio Ash Games closed a $1.5 million seed round co‑led by Merak Capital and Impact46 via the Merak Gaming Fund to accelerate international growth and support its flagship title Nomad, slated for PC and consoles in 2027. In the UAE, fintech Epic Markets raised $10 million in a pre‑seed round from a single investor, Karatage, to build a multi‑asset platform for retail investors. Egypt’s e‑commerce operations platform Fincart secured $2.8 million in an oversubscribed seed round co‑led by Launch Africa and Antler MENAP to strengthen its AI capabilities and expand across MENA and Africa.
Other deals included BY Venture Partners’ participation in an oversubscribed $2 million pre‑seed for Canadian startup ChatFeatured, which develops tools to optimize visibility on AI search engines, and an undisclosed capital injection from Qatar International Islamic Bank into fintech SkipCash to support regional growth. Finally, Syria‑based DoctorBook raised $16,000 in pre‑seed funding to accelerate the digitization of local medical appointment booking.
Products and innovations: AI powering health insurance
In Saudi Arabia, insurtech DESAISIV launched its Fair Market Pricing Engine, an AI‑driven solution designed to help employers calibrate group health insurance pricing. The platform offers price benchmarking, policy performance evaluation, identification of potential cost savings and real‑time dashboards to optimize benefits management. Founded in 2022, DESAISIV says it has raised more than $8 million to date and manages health insurance portfolios worth over SAR 2 billion (approximately $540 million).
