Egypt’s seven entries raised a total of $248.6 million, with the top Egyptian company in 8th place
The top 50 most-funded startups in MENA of 2021 raised almost $3 billion in total funding, with the top 10 recording a combined $1.9 billion.
Led by startups in the FinTech and ecommerce sectors with 24 entries, the annual Forbes Middle East list includes 115 cofounders from 31 nationalities, with Egyptians and Saudis dominating the list with 21 and 20 cofounders, respectively.
The sector crowned as the most well-funded was FoodTech, with a combined $873.9 million in total funding.
UAE-based cloud-kitchen operator Kitopi led the Forbes list with $804 million in total funding, followed by Pure Harvest Smart Farms with $272 million and the streaming service STARZPLAY with $150 million.
Egypt’s seven entries raised a total of $248.6 million, with the top Egyptian company in 8th place.
Leading Egyptian startups on the list was B2B e-commerce platform MaxAB with $62.5 million in total funding.
Following MaxAb was Lucky App, a cashback and installments application launched in 2018, with $44 million in total funding and an overall ranking of 14.
Digital freight marketplace Trella was the 3rd top Egyptian startup, ranked 17th overall, with a total funding of $43 million.
B2B e-commerce platform Capiter with funding of $33.4 million was 22nd, followed by on-demand grocery delivery platform Breadfast in 23rd place with $30 million in funding, digital payments platformPaymob as 43rd with $18.5 million, and ecommerce platform for home goods Homzmart in 48th with a total funding of $17.2 million.
Forbes Middle East's list has selected startups from nine MENA countries that were established no earlier than 2014 and have raised at least $15.5 million in total funding, according to a press release on Thursday.
“According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021, the MENA region had four emerging ecosystems in the world’s top 100 emerging ecosystems in 2021—including Dubai, Cairo, Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi. The study indicates that the total number of late-stage funding rounds in MENA almost doubled in the last five years, while the total late-stage funding amount has also doubled,” Forbes ME wrote.
