Wamda ومضة

✦ Egypt-based fintech Lucky App has raised $23 million in a Series B round, combining equity and debt, with participation from DisrupTech Ventures, Development Partners International (DPI) via Nclude, Suez Canal Bank, and Onestop. ✦ The round also brings strategic involvement from Mohamed Farouk, who joins as Chairman of the Board. ✦ Founded in 2019 by @Essawyy , Lucky provides a consumer credit platform offering cashback, instalments, and flexible financing solutions. Read the full story: wamda.com/2026/04/egypt-… #Investment #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #wamdainsights #capital

✦ Saudi Arabia's @aramcoventures participated in a $36 million funding round for the US-based deeptech startup @ViaSeparations , alongside Climate Investment and Marathon Petroleum. ✦Founded in 2016, Via Separations develops modular filtration systems that replace heat-based industrial separation processes with energy-efficient alternatives. Read more on wamda wamda.com/2026/04/aramco… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

Morocco-based retail B2B2C marketplace z.systems has raised $1.65 million in a seed round led by Azur Innovation Management, with follow-on participation from @MNF_Ventures and Witamax and new backing from @harambeans Prosperity Fund. ✦ Founded in 2022 by @SamChoumar , Meriem BENABAD, @Youssefhaddouc2 , Reda NEBRI, and Youssef Drafate, the startup builds a digital platform connecting brands, wholesalers, and retailers. ✦The latest round brings total funding to $2.7 million, following a $1.5 million pre-seed round backed by MNF Ventures, Witamax, CASHPLUS Ventures, and Kalys Ventures. wamda.com/2026/04/zsyste…

✦ What shaped this week. Read the full breakdown on Wamda. wamda.com/2026/04/mena-s… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech #Innovation #BusinessNews #Funding #VC #MiddleEast #venture

✦ US-based healthtech company @WHOOP has raised $575 million in a Series G round at a $10.1 billion valuation, led by @collabfund . ✦ The round saw strong participation from GCC investors, including @2pointzerogroup , Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), and @Mubadala . ✦ Founded in 2012 by Egyptian entrepreneur @willahmed , #WHOOP delivers a wearable-based personalised health platform, using AI and continuous biometric data to provide real-time insights on sleep, recovery, and performance. ✦ Global figures including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karen Wazen joined as individual investors, alongside prominent athletes and public figures. Read the full story on wamda: wamda.com/2026/04/whoop-… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech #WHOOP #Funding #Startups #VentureCapital #MENA #GCC #SovereignFunds #Tech #Innovation #SportsTech

حصلت منصة الضيافة الإماراتية Mezza على جولة تمويلية أولية (Seed) بقيمة غير معلنة من مجموعة من المستثمرين الملائكيين البارزين. تأسست الشركة في عام 2025 على يد Kevin Boubli ، وتقدم نموذجاً يتيح للمطاعم الحصول على تمويل مسبق يتراوح بين 5,300 دولار و2.7 مليون دولار مقابل أرصدة مستقبلية للطعام والشراب يتم استهلاكها على مدار 12 شهراً. Read the full story on wamda: wamda.com/ar/2026/03/mez… #Startups #MENAStartups #UAEStartups #StartupFunding #VentureCapital #Fintech #FoodTech #HospitalityTech #DubaiTech #TechNews #Investing #VC #Entrepreneurship #EmergingMarkets #Founders #investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech #Middle_East

✦ Egypt’s Information Technology Industry Development Agency, @ITIDA , in partnership with @PlugandPlayTC , has supported 61 startups in Upper Egypt through the Aswan Bootcamp Series. ✦ Participating startups have collectively secured $3.7 million (EGP 200 million) in investments, reflecting growing investor interest beyond Cairo. ✦ Launched in November 2024 with support from the United States Agency for International Development (@USAID ), the programme aimed to support around 60 tech startups through intensive bootcamps. The full release: wamda.com/2026/03/itida-… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ Arabic.AI has partnered with @qistascom to deliver secure, Arabic-first legal AI solutions tailored to the region’s legal systems. ✦ Founded by @nouralhassan , #Arabic.AI is combining its language models and on-premise infrastructure with #Qistas, led by Nissreen Haram, to serve law firms, corporates, and government entities across the Arab world. The collaboration aims to close critical gaps in language accuracy, jurisdictional awareness, and data sovereignty in legal AI. Read the full story on wamda: wamda.com/2026/03/arabic… #investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech #Middle_East

✦ A different kind of crisis response As war unfolds in #Lebanon, #Sofra is doing more than delivering aid, it’s building a system that connects funding, operations, and economic survival. The initiative is a collaboration between the Lebanese Ministry of Tourism, @SirenAssociates , CME, and Beirut Digital District, bringing together government, private sector capacity, and diaspora funding to deliver thousands of meals daily while keeping restaurants running and jobs intact. Every meal does two things: feeds a family and supports a business. ▫If you want to help, you can contribute directly here: sofraleb.com Read the full story on wamda: wamda.com/2026/03/war-un… #Lebanon #SupportLebanon #HumanitarianAid #FoodRelief #SocialImpact #SupportLocal #DonateNow #StandWithLebanon #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech #Middle_East

The Zayed Sustainability Prize @ZSP_ORG is now open for submissions for the 2027 awards cycle. Read more: wamda.com/2026/03/submis… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ Most firms don’t fail to enter the UAE. They fail to understand it. An article by @hasnaebtaleb . Read the full article on Wamda’s website. wamda.com/2026/03/buy-li… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ Saudi Arabia-based fintech @LeanTechHQ has become the first licensed open banking provider in the Kingdom after receiving a major payment institution licence from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA). ✦ Founded in 2019 by Hisham Al-Falih, Ashu Gupta, and Aditya Sarkar, the company provides financial infrastructure that enables secure access to banking data and supports use cases across BNPL, consumer finance, automotive, and investment services. Read more on wamda. wamda.com/2026/03/saudi-… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ #ADGT, a UAE-based payments and data intelligence platform, has secured a $250 million investment from Blackstone alongside Al Raya Holding Group, @NRTtechnology , and @Sightline777 . ✦ Founded by Michael Dominelli, ADGT aims to build next-generation payments infrastructure supporting regulated digital markets across the UAE, MENA, Africa, and global corridors. wamda.com/2026/03/blacks… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ Morocco-based electric mobility startup #GoSwap Morocco has secured seed funding from #Azur Innovation Management Fund to scale its battery-swapping infrastructure across urban centres. ✦ Founded in 2023 by Hamza Slimani, GoSwap offers a battery-as-a-service model for electric scooters, enabling users to swap batteries in under 10 seconds and reduce operating costs by up to 60%. wamda.com/2026/03/goswap… #Investment #investments #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ UAE-based credit scoring platform #zypl.ai has raised $5.5 million in a bridge round led by Carbide Ventures and investors including Shukhrat Ibragimov, reaching an $80 million valuation. ✦ Funded in 2021 by Azizjon Azimi , zypl.ai develops synthetic data solutions for financial institutions, powered by its proprietary zGAN model, designed to improve AI decisioning under volatile market conditions. wamda.com/2026/03/zyplai… #Investment #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ Saudi-based edtech startup #GAGA has raised $2.5 million in a pre-Series A round led by Phoenix Venture Partners, bringing its total funding to $4.2 million. ✦ Founded in 2021 by Abdullah Al-Khorasani and Eyad Alshabaan, GAGA offers live, interactive online education for students aged 4–18, with over 1,000 programmes across 200 subjects. wamda.com/en/2026/03/sau… #Investment #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights #ai #edtech

✦ UAE-based VC firm #Phoenix Venture Partners (PVP) has completed the third closing of its inaugural fund (PVPIF), attracting investors from the US, France, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE, including institutions, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals. ✦ The fund focuses on early-stage, innovation-driven startups across sectors including fintech, healthtech, edtech, mobility, agrifood, energy, and consumer technology, with a MENA focus and global outlook. Read the full story on Wamda. wamda.com/2026/03/phoeni… #Investment #MENA #Startup #Fintech #WamdaReport #WamdaInsights