Rabat – Two Moroccan startups raised $1 million in investments in June, placing the country 8th in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region in terms of funding appeal.
The value of investments granted to Moroccan startups in June, however, represented only half of the total investments recorded by local startups in May, which reached $2 million.
On Thursday, data platform Wamda reported that the MENA startups raised $323.7 million across 66 deals in June, marking a month-on-month increase in value of 84% and a 57% increase in deal volume.
The surge in deal volumes, related to the recent conclusion of three accelerator programs, contributed to the rise of the MENA startup funding in the first half of 2022, which reached $1.73 billion across 354 deals.
16 Emirati startups attracted the largest chunk of investments, $278 million, which represents roughly 80% of the overall regional investments.
Lebanese startups ranked second, with $18 million in investments, ahead of Egypt with $8.6 million and Tunisia with $8.5 million.
Saudi Arabia ranked 5th in the MENA with $4.5 million in investments in June; it was followed by Qatar ($2 million), Palestine ($1.6 million), and then Morocco with $1 million worth of investments.
Breaking down the investment volume by sector, the report explains that the UAE-based agritech Pureharvest solely raised $180 million, comprising 55.7% of funding value.
Property technology (proptech) startups came in second with $137 million, and Fintech and Insurtech startups followed with $26 million.
Additionally, Healthtech startups secured $13 million, whereas 3 Edtech startups raised $8 million, and 9 e-commerce and marketplace startups shared $960,000.
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Wamda further noted that the investments went primarily to early-stage startups, including 33 startups at the accelerator stage, five in pre-seed, and four in seed stages.
Two MENA startups raised funds in Series A, while only one startup attracted investments within Series B.
As for the source of investments, the report noted that Saudi Arabia-based investors were the “most active’ in June, as they concluded 21 deals ahead of Emirati investors who took part in nine deals, maintaining the same record as in May.
US investors, meanwhile, remain “the most active foreign investor in startups from MENA,” despite a “drastic fall in global involvement.”
In spite of the drop in foreign investments in MENA, the regional startup ecosystem has bloomed over the past month, increasing the share of women-led startups from 0.4% in May to 1.39% in June – the equivalent of $4.5 million.
Still, male-led startups continued to dominate the market last month, with $299 million raised in funds, representing 92.65% of the total investments. Male-female co-founded startups attracted 5.96% of investments, which is estimated at $19 million.
