$53 million for
58 tech upstarts

New funds and accelerators

are shoring up the sector

Last year, 58 tech startups were established, with a total funding value reaching $53 million. This is a more than six-fold increase, from $7 million and 11 startups in 2013.

According to Azza Yehia, Research and Data Director at ArabNet, the number of deals increased every year, totaling 162 startups in four years.

Seven new funds and accelerators were initiated between 2017 and today. This is an almost 25 percent share of all new funds in the MENA region. The new funds, in addition to the BDL Circular 331, enhanced the environment for tech startups.

These figures were released by ArabNet, in partnership with Dubai SME, in a recent report, ‘The State of Digital Investments in MENA 2013-2017’. ArabNet said that the local startup ecosystem has maintained its second-place ranking, behind the United Arab Emirates, among MENA countries in number and value of investments.

Local investments in tech startups reached 13 percent of the total regional investments ($651 million), and showed a large increase over the four years, rising from seven percent in 2013.

The number of deals continued to rise, but the percentage of capital ventures and early stage investments declined from 27 percent in 2016 to 20 percent in 2017.

According to the ArabNet report, investors are increasingly getting involved in the early stages of funding.

The report indicates that female entrepreneurs make up only 18 percent of the startups within the ecosystem.