The appetite for early stage investments among Mena’s venture capital firms is on the increase according to a report which shows that capital investment in Mena-based startups has increased by 66% so far in 2019, from $283 in the first half of 2018 to $471 for H1 in 2019.
The H1 2019 Mena Venture Investment Report compiled by data provider Magnitt shows that there were an unprecedented 238 startup investment deals from 130 institutions across the region.
There were also a record 15 startup exits, compared to 10 the previous year, led by the $3.1 billion acquisition of ride-hailing app Careem by Uber.
Among the region’s venture capital firms, the most active in early stage investments was 500 Startups followed by Flat6Labs which has the most active accelerator programme.
A geographical breakdown shows that the UAE accounted for 26% of the investments followed by Egypt (21%) and Lebanon (16%). Tunisia, meanwhile, was the fastest growing country in terms of early stage investment, up from 4% in 2018 to 8% in 2019, while Saudi Arabia was not far behind, accounting for 11% of all transactions in the region, an increase of 2%.
The highest single investment for a startup was secured by Dubai-based real estate services firm EMPG at $100 million.
©2019 funds global mena