MENA Startup Funding Slips to $941 Million in Q1 2026 Amid Heightened Geopolitical Risk
Startup funding in the Middle East and North Africa slipped to $941 million in Q1 2026, a 21.5% quarter‑on‑quarter decline and a 37% drop year‑on‑year as geopolitical tensions escalated. The UAE dominated the market with $625.8 million across 46 deals, while Saudi Arabia and Egypt lagged behind. Fintech remained the top sector, capturing 46% of capital, but late‑stage financing shrank to just seven rounds. The gender gap widened, with women‑led firms raising only $0.5 million.
Tamwilcom Launches $69 Million Venture-Building Programme to Support 800 Moroccan Startups
Moroccan public financing institution Tamwilcom has unveiled a $69 million (MAD 700 million) venture‑building programme aimed at nurturing 800 early‑stage startups over the next three years. The initiative blends capital, monthly founder stipends, grants and loans of up to $220,000 with hands‑on mentorship...
Aria Networks Snares $125M Funding
Aria Networks announced a $125 million financing round led by Sutter Hill Ventures, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and Eclipse Ventures. The capital will fund the general availability of its AI‑native platform, the Networks that Think, which the company touts as...
Citra Space Announces $15M Series A
Citra Space Corp announced a $15 million Series A financing led by Washington Harbour Partners, with participation from Industrious Ventures, Reliable Properties, Scout VC, Squadra Ventures, Alumni Ventures, and Flex Capital. The round adds to earlier backers and provides fresh capital to...
Modus Scores $85M in Seed & Series A Funding
Modus, an AI‑native audit technology platform and holding company, announced an $85 million financing round that combines seed and Series A capital. The round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Comma Capital and entrepreneur Garry Tan. The capital will...
Vivatides Therapeutics Raises $54M for RNA Expansion
Vivatides Therapeutics announced a $54 million Series A round, led by Qiming Venture Partners and backed by several other investors. The funding will accelerate its proprietary extrahepatic delivery platform, designed to transport RNA molecules such as siRNA and antisense oligonucleotides beyond the...
Endovascular Engineering Inks $80 Million Series C
Endovascular Engineering announced an oversubscribed $80 million Series C financing round co‑led by Gilde Healthcare and Norwest. Existing backers—including Sante Ventures, 415 Capital, S3 Ventures, Panakes Partners, and M&L Healthcare Investments—also participated, alongside two undisclosed strategic investors and a new global strategic...
Critical Loop Scores $26M Series A
Critical Loop, an industrial power solutions firm, closed a $26 million Series A round led by Conifer Infrastructure Partners and Hanover, with participation from Better Ventures, Climate Capital, Adapt Nation Capital, and Cyrus Ventures. The financing lifts the company's total committed equity...
Decision Science Advisors Inks Series A Financing
Decision Science Advisors (DSA), a specialist in applied AI and data advisory, announced a Series A financing round led by Jefferies Financial Group. The capital injection will bolster DSA’s AI-driven offerings for private‑equity clients and fund its geographic expansion across the...
Eka Ventures Raises $107m for Fund II, Focused on UK Impact Start-Ups
London‑based Eka Ventures has closed its second fund at $107 million, aimed at backing UK‑based impact startups. The fund’s limited partner list now includes the Health Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Vivensa Foundation, and several family offices. Building on a...
Singapore’s Own AI Company Agnes AI Expands AI Infrastructure Platform and Confirms Series A Funding
Singapore‑based Agnes AI announced a $10 million Series A round led by Look Forward VCC and said its AI infrastructure platform is nearing $20 million in annual recurring revenue. The company markets a model‑first, agentic AI system that it claims delivers about 90%...
Insurteam Raises $1.3m to Expand MGA Ops in Europe
Swiss InsurTech Insurteam closed a $1.3 million round to accelerate its Managing General Agent (MGA) rollout across Europe. The capital will fund the deployment of its AI‑driven platform that can slash claim‑handling costs by up to 80% and shrink processing times...
Replenit Raises $2.5M to Bring Real-Time AI Decision-Making to Retail
Replenit, an AI decision engine that converts customer signals into real‑time, individualized actions, closed a $2.5 million pre‑seed round co‑led by Movens Capital and Vastpoint. The Warsaw‑based startup adds a reasoning layer to existing retail data stacks, enabling brands to move...
Citra Space Raises $15 Million Series A to Expand Platform for Identifying Objects in Orbit
Citra Space announced a $15 million Series A round led by Washington Harbour Partners to scale its space‑domain‑awareness platform. The Colorado startup, founded by former U.S. Space Force officers, aggregates data from ground and space sensors to create persistent fingerprints of orbital...
How to Fix Canadian VC
The BetaKit Podcast returned to dissect the sharp contraction of Canadian venture capital that began in 2023, erasing a decade’s worth of capital raised and deployed. A panel of senior venture figures attributes the slump to a thin limited‑partner base...
