{"id":57130,"date":"2026-02-02T12:22:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/?p=57130"},"modified":"2026-02-02T12:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T09:22:01","slug":"startup-investments-top-4-014-billion-as-ai-leads-growth-across-the-middle-east-by-the-end-of-january-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/2026\/02\/startup-investments-top-4-014-billion-as-ai-leads-growth-across-the-middle-east-by-the-end-of-january-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Startup Investments Top $4.014 Billion as AI Leads Growth Across the Middle East by the End of January 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region witnessed notable momentum in startup investments and acquisitions during January 2026, with strong focus on financial technology (FinTech), artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare, e-commerce, education, and financial services, alongside strategic acquisition deals in the Saudi market.<\/p>\n

According to the Startup Investments and Acquisitions Report issued by\u00a0 “entArbi”<\/strong>\u00a0startup funding and M&A activity across the region accelerated during January, exceeding USD 4.014 billion across more than 25 companies, spanning multiple sectors.<\/p>\n

Investments and Deals by Country<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Country<\/th>\nNumber of Companies<\/th>\nCompany Names<\/th>\nTotal Investment Value<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Saudi Arabia<\/td>\n11<\/td>\nLAB7\/Halide, BookaHospi, Ballurh, DSShield, Rewaa, Qirat Advisory, Resquad AI, Governata, Yamm, Madeed, NowPay\/NowAccess<\/td>\nUSD 1.724 billion + acquisitions<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
United Arab Emirates<\/td>\n3<\/td>\nV Booking, Upscale AI, Eat App<\/td>\nUSD 216.7 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Morocco<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nWoliz, Yakeey<\/td>\nUSD 17.2 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Egypt<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nBusiness For Teens, AFS Egypt<\/td>\nUSD 6+ million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bahrain<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nFlous<\/td>\nUSD 22 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oman<\/td>\n1<\/td>\neMushrif<\/td>\nUSD 7.5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
China<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nManus (Meta acquisition)<\/td>\nUSD 2.0+ billion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
United States \/ Jordan<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nBreez AI, NowPay<\/td>\nUSD 21.3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

According to the report, total disclosed investments by country reached approximately USD 4.014 billion, excluding additional undisclosed deals across 23 companies.<\/p>\n

Investments and Deals by Sector<\/h2>\n
\n
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sector<\/th>\nNumber of Companies<\/th>\nCompany Names<\/th>\nTotal Investment Value<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Energy & Energy Storage<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nLAB7\/Halide<\/td>\nUndisclosed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Travel & Tourism<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nV Booking<\/td>\nUSD 5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Artificial Intelligence<\/td>\n4<\/td>\nMeta\/Manus, Rewaa, Resquad AI, Governata<\/td>\nUSD 2.2395+ billion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cybersecurity<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nDSShield<\/td>\nUSD 54 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Digital Retail<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nWoliz<\/td>\nUSD 2.2 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Healthcare Recruitment & Services<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nBookaHospi<\/td>\nUndisclosed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cloud Kitchens & Food Delivery<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nBallurh<\/td>\nUndisclosed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Financial & Operational Solutions<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nQirat Advisory<\/td>\nUndisclosed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Education Technology (EdTech)<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nBusiness For Teens<\/td>\nSix-figure round<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Financial Technology (FinTech)<\/td>\n3<\/td>\nAFS Egypt, Mal, NowPay\/NowAccess<\/td>\nUSD 252+ million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Preventive Healthcare<\/td>\n2<\/td>\nMadeed, L-Nutra<\/td>\nUSD 36.9 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Voice AI<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nBreez AI<\/td>\nUSD 1.3 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Restaurant Technology & Reservations<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nEat App<\/td>\nUSD 10 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Geospatial Data \/ GeoAI<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nGBT<\/td>\nUSD 1.33 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AI Ticketing Solutions<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nKnot Technologies<\/td>\nUSD 1 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
AgriTech<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nGrove<\/td>\nUSD 5 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Digital Wealth Management<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nVennre<\/td>\nUSD 9.6 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Insurance Technology (InsurTech)<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nMantas<\/td>\nUSD 1.77 million<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Financial Infrastructure & SME Solutions<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nUPFRONT<\/td>\nUSD 10 million (previous funding)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Business Solutions & Facilities Management<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nQoyod \/ Flavours<\/td>\nAcquisition<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The total number of companies by sector reached 27 startups, with total disclosed investments amounting to USD 4.014 billion, excluding undisclosed transactions<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region witnessed notable momentum in startup investments and acquisitions during January 2026, with strong focus on financial technology (FinTech), artificial intelligence (AI), healthcare, e-commerce, education, and financial services, alongside strategic acquisition deals in the Saudi market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":57141,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"post_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8850],"tags":[9585,10994,10966,11167,11010,6117],"class_list":["post-57130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-venture","tag-ballurh-en","tag-dsshield","tag-lab7","tag-nowpay","tag-qirat-advisory","tag-yamm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57130"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57133,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57130\/revisions\/57133"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/entarabi.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}