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Eid Mubarak ✨ 

This week's newsletter is short as it looks like many people have clocked out for Eid already. The number of acquisitions in the first half of 2022 crossed the total number of acquisitions in 2021. GCC Central Banks are taking more steps to support financial sector improvements.

💰 Startup Investments: over $58M was invested across 8 startups in the first week of July led by YAP's $41M in funding. 
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 INVESTMENTS

YAP, UAE-based neobank, raised $41M in funding led by Aljazira Capital, and joined by Abu Dawood Group, Astra Group, Audacia Capital and undisclosed family offices. The platform was launched in 2021 in partnership with RAKBank and has more than 130k users on its app. It says it plans to complete its Series A funding by the end of the year.

Supy, UAE-based enterprise solution for B2B, raised $8M in seed funding led by BECO Capital, and joined by Valia Ventures, COTU Ventures, Global Ventures, AMK Investment Office and strategic investors. The startup was founded in 2021, and will use the funding to expand to Saudi.

Houza.com, UAE-based real estate portal, raised $5.5M in pre-Series A funding from undisclosed real-estate agencies in the UAE. The startup was founded in 2020 and the portal's monetization model charges agencies per lead delivered as opposed to the industry standard of ‘cost per listing’.


🚀 Quick Investments:

 ACQUISITIONS

Careem acquires Denarii, UAE-based remittance platform, for an undisclosed value. Denarii was founded in 2017 and will be used by Careem Pay to introduce remittance services to the superapp.  

Anghami acquired Spotlight Events, UAE-based live events and concert company, for an undisclosed value. The concert organizer already has concerts scheduled in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Cairo and Riyadh in 2022 with regional A-list artists.

Lyve Global, UAE-based B2B logistics company, acquired a majority stake in Jeebly, UAE-based last-mile delivery startup, for an undisclosed value. Both companies are founded in 2016. Jeebly says it has over 500 clients globally, while Lyve Global operates across the UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi, US, India and Pakistan.

 

 SECTOR NEWS

💰 Funds and Funding

Intercap Capital, Egypt-based investment banking firm, launched T-Six, a $30M venture capital fund to invest in tech startups. It aims to invest $500k to $1M in series A rounds across AI, medtech, biotech, foodtech, and gaming and entertainment, in Egypt, Saudi, UAE, and Jordan.
Augustus Media, UAE-HQ online media group, expands its flagship platform, Lovin’ Dubai, to 6 new markets Doha, Cairo, Bahrain, Khartoum, Lahore and Karachi.

Zand, UAE-based digital bank, received a banking license from the UAE’s Central Bank to operate as a fully independent bank. Zand acquired the majority of Dubai Bank PJSC shares in December 2021.

Kuwait’s Central Bank approved the implementation of the Gulf Payments System Initiative ‘Aafaq’. The implementation of the system is mandatory for all local banks. The system was launched in 2020; Bahrain and Saudi Arabia adopted the system in 2021.

 

 PUBLIC MARKETS

SURE International Technology, Saudi-based system solutions agency, received approval from the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA) to list its shares on Tadawul’s Nomu Parallel Market.
 
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