MENA Startup Funding Plunges 96% to $40M in October 2026

Saudi Arabia still leads

Saudi Arabia remained the most-funded ecosystem, with nine startups raising $18.8 million, or 47% of the month's capital. Autobia's $12 million Series A made up nearly 64% of the kingdom's total. The UAE came second, with 10 startups raising $12.9 million. Qatar rose to third on a single $5 million deal, while Egypt fell to fourth with six deals worth $1.7 million, a steep drop from September's $49.2 million, which was largely driven by Paymob's $35 million round. Saudi Arabia and the UAE together took nearly 80% of the total.

By sector, autotech led thanks entirely to Autobia. Fintech ranked second by value, with nearly $10 million across five startups, and was the most active by deal count. Adtech came third, with UAE-based JustAd raising $5 million.

Early-stage and B2B dominate

Early-stage startups raised $33.7 million across 24 deals, more than 84% of the capital and 75% of the deal count. Debt financing was a single transaction of about $550,000, or 1.4% of the total. Business-to-business startups took $34.3 million across 21 deals, nearly 86% of funding, while B2C companies raised $2.4 million and hybrid models $3.3 million.

The gender gap widened: male-founded startups captured 99.5% of funding, about $39.8 million across 30 deals. Only two startups with female or mixed-gender founding teams were funded, raising $200,000 combined.

Context behind the drop

The headline decline exaggerates the change in activity. While funding fell about 96%, the number of deals dropped 56%, from 73 in September to 32 in October. Investors did not withdraw entirely; they kept backing younger companies, but with far smaller cheques.