Author: Funding, Mergers & Acquisitions

Saudi Arabia’s automotive aftermarket depends on a vast network of spare-parts retailers, wholesalers, distributors and suppliers. Yet, for many businesses, sourcing inventory, managing cash flow and coordinating deliveries remain fragmented processes. Autobia, a Saudi B2B technology startup, is building a digital infrastructure layer to connect these businesses and make the auto parts supply chain more efficient. The company has raised $12 million (SAR 45 million) in Series A funding, led by Artal Capital, with participation from Aljazira Capital and Wa’ed Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Aramco. Founded in 2021 by Emad Daghreri and Ahmed Alawfi, Autobia combines a…

Saudi Arabia’s construction sector is expanding rapidly, but for many suppliers and subcontractors, winning projects is only half the battle. Delayed payments, lengthy collection cycles and limited visibility into cash flow can make it difficult to purchase materials, pay employees and fulfil new orders. Project Suppliers, a Saudi construction and procurement technology startup, wants to address these challenges by combining its digital marketplace with AI-powered financial tools. The company has raised SAR 3.75 million ($1 million) in pre-seed funding from a group of undisclosed angel investors. Founded in 2020 by Hossam Gaber, the company operates a platform connecting buyers and…

For decades, moving money across borders has meant navigating a maze of banks, payment rails, intermediaries and local regulations. The user experience may have improved dramatically, but much of the infrastructure underneath remains fragmented. Fin.com, a financial infrastructure company co-founded by Nabeel Alamgir and Mustafa Dar, believes that fixing that infrastructure requires a fundamentally different approach. The company emerged from stealth with a $20 million seed round led by Expa and Uber co-founder Garrett Camp, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Tenet Fund, Figure founders, Mesh founder Bam Azizi, Second Sight Ventures and sovereign and royal family offices across the Gulf…

Public relations is built around relationships, but much of the work behind those relationships remains manual. PR teams spend hours monitoring media, building journalist lists, drafting routine press materials, tracking coverage and following up with outlets. Qatar-based startup Aligator is betting that agentic AI can take over much of that operational workload, allowing communications professionals to spend more time on strategy and relationships. Founded in 2025 by Ali Abbas, Aligator has raised $1.2 million (QAR 4.3 million) in seed funding, led by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Next Ventures, a fund by Media City Qatar, with participation from private investors.…

For many small and medium-sized businesses, growth is often constrained by something surprisingly basic: access to working capital. A company may have customers, contracts and a growing order book, yet still struggle to finance inventory, expand a fleet, open a new location or take on a larger contract. In the GCC, where SMEs account for a significant share of economic activity, that financing gap has created an opportunity for alternative lenders. Saudi Arabia-based fintech erad is building its business around that opportunity. Founded in 2022 by Salem Abu-Hammour, Faris Yaghmour, Abdulmalik Almeheini and Youssef Said, the Riyadh-headquartered company has raised…

Hotels have no shortage of software. What they lack is coordination. Reservation systems, guest management tools, workforce platforms, marketing software and back-office applications often operate independently, leaving employees to bridge the gaps. The result is higher administrative workloads, rising labor costs and missed revenue opportunities. Dextr AI, founded by Sajid Shariff and Scott Arnold, wants to change that. The company has raised $6.7 million in seed funding, led by Elevation Capital with participation from Foundation Capital, to build what it describes as an AI workforce for hospitality. Dextr says its platform is already handling more than one million interactions every…

For businesses operating across the Middle East and North Africa, accepting payments can still mean navigating a maze of local payment methods, card networks, BNPL providers and bank-based instalment systems. A merchant expanding from one country to another can end up managing multiple integrations, commercial agreements and settlement processes simply to give customers familiar ways to pay. Egypt-founded fintech Paymob is building its business around simplifying that complexity. The payments infrastructure provider has raised $35 million in a pre-Series C round, co-led by Mubadala Investment Company and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), with participation from British International…

As artificial intelligence moves from generating answers to executing increasingly complex tasks, a new infrastructure problem is emerging: AI systems need to do more than produce a successful demonstration. They need to keep working when networks fail, services go offline, processes take hours or days, and individual steps break somewhere along the way. Temporal is building its business around that problem. The San Francisco-based open-source platform has raised $550 million in a Series E round at a $12.55 billion valuation, led by Lightspeed, with Wellington Management, Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Tiger Global serving as co-leads. The round…

Egypt produces tens of thousands of tonnes of municipal waste every day, yet much of the country’s recycling activity happens outside formal systems. Collectors move recyclable material, households sell what they can, and factories depend on a fragmented supply chain, but much of the activity remains difficult to track, verify or document. Cairo-based startup Bekia is attempting to change that. The company has raised $765,000 in a seed round led by Madica, the Africa-focused investment programme affiliated with Flourish Ventures, with participation from returning investor Catalyst Fund and Dakar-based Jambaar Capital. The funding comes as Egypt seeks to increase its…

Saudi Arabia’s small and medium-sized businesses are becoming an increasingly important part of the Kingdom’s financial system, but serving them at scale presents a difficult problem for lenders: how do you assess thousands of businesses quickly, manage risk consistently, and extend more credit without making underwriting increasingly expensive? Riyadh-based fintech Abwab.ai is building its business around that problem. The company has raised SAR 15 million ($4 million) in seed funding, led by Speedinvest with participation from Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), to expand its AI-powered lending infrastructure for financial institutions across Saudi Arabia and the wider GCC. The announcement was…