Looking for the number one country in the whole of the Middle East and North Africa where more startups sealed financing deals for their ventures in 2019? Look no further than Egypt! The North African country is simply witnessing a deluge of investors looking for whichever startups available to invest in. New report just released by community and data platform for startups, MAGNiTT, on startup financing in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) showed Egypt topping the whole of MENA in the number of startup financing deals concluded as well as some growth in the number of financing deals across the region in the first nine months of this year, compared to the same period last year.

‘‘It’s a great time to be a startup,’’ notes Annabelle Mander, Head of GITEX Future Stars,  the biggest startup event of MENA ‘‘Especially in the UAE; the ecosystem is buzzing! The most promising aspect being the ability to secure exits as seen in the region’s biggest ever tech acquisition, Careem, at US$3.1B, as well as Souq.com for US$580M, Namshi, and even smaller companies like Glambox and Almosafer

Here Is All You Need To Know

• According to the report, a total of 354 investment deals worth $517m were concluded in the third quarter (3Q July-Septemebr, 2019) of this year, an increase of 30% in the value of funds from last year, and 3% in the number of deals concluded.

• The  report also noted that the average deals completed by startups were about $2.5m. This is the highest average ever achieved by startups in the region.
• Egypt topped the list of countries concluding finance deals in the Middle East and North Africa with 27% of concluded deals, and ranked second in terms of attracting funds with a share of 13% of the total funds attracted by the region.
• The UAE topped the list of countries attracting startups to finance and acquired 62% of the total funds established by startups in the Middle East and North Africa.

• The MAGniTT report also ranked Egypt ‘s startup “Maksab” as the largest company to attract funding in the Middle East and North Africa in 3Q, with $6.2m.

• The report said that the financial technology (fintech) sector dominated the largest number of financing deals with a share of 14% of total transactions, up 3% from the comparative period last year due to the demand of investors and business accelerators on startups operating in the sector.
• The report showed that the number of investors increased during the current year until the 3Q to 163 investors compared to 159 investors during the whole year.

‘‘A new record has been hit! 2019 Year To Date has seen as many exits as the entire year of 2017, the previous high,’’ Philip Bahoshy, Founder and CEO at MAGNiTT notes. ‘‘This includes exits such as the blockbuster $3.1B deal of Careem and Uber, as well as the initial public offerings of Egypt ’s Fawry and UAE’s Network International. These exits have multiple benefits — a positive externality is that we have seen examples of employees of these successfully funded and exited companies such as ex-Careemers receiving funding, including Swvl, MaxAB and Trella. These success stories and their alumni show lucrative opportunities for venture capital as an asset class and aids investors in raising their second, third, and subsequent funds.’’

Read also: This Is How The Egyptian Government Is Supporting Egypt ’s Startup Ecosystem

To download a summary of the  report click here. 

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world