THE BIG PICTURE: H1 2026 REPORT JUST DROPPED The headline number everyone is talking about: MENA startups raised <head>.7 billion across 242 funding rounds in the first half of 2026, as investors continued to deploy capital despite heightened geopolitical uncertainty, according to Wamda’s H1 2026 report. The figure represents an 18 percent decline from the $2.1 billion raised in the same period of 2025, while deal volume fell 28 percent year on year. The decline is real, but context matters. Debt accounted for 29% of total capital raised during H1 2026, compared with 44% a year earlier, indicating that equity investment represented a larger share of overall funding. Rather than signalling a broad contraction, the first half of the year reflected a market recalibrating amid heightened regional uncertainty, with capital increasingly concentrated around larger ecosystems, established sectors and companies with clearer paths to scale. MAGNiTT’s read is even sharper. MENA venture funding showed signs of deeper stress in the first half of 2026, with startup investment falling 22 percent year on year to <head>.35 billion while deal count dropped 41 percent to 214 transactions, the lowest half-year total since at least 2022. The sharper warning signal was not the decline in capital, but its increasing concentration among fewer startups. Who’s holding it together: The UAE further consolidated its position as MENA’s dominant startup market during the first half of 2026. Startups based in the country raised <head>.2 billion across 83 deals, accounting for roughly 70% of all capital invested across the region. Saudi Arabia followed with $259 million across 80 deals, an 81% decline in capital compared with the same period last year, with fintech dominating the Kingdom’s funding landscape, accounting for <head>76 million, or 68% of total investment, across 13 startups. One troubling stat that deserves its own article: Male-founded startups captured approximately 95% of all capital deployed during H1, raising <head>.6 billion across 213 deals. Female-founded companies secured just $2.5 million through 14 transactions, representing only 0.14% of total funding. DEALS THIS WEEK 🇸🇦 Think | $8M Pre-Seed | AI Infrastructure The standout deal of the week. Saudi-based Think announced it has raised over $8 million in pre-seed funding, marking the largest AI infrastructure and deeptech pre-seed round in MENA to date. The round is being co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, with participation from Dhahran Techno Valley’s Venture Capital arm and strategic angel investors. What Think actually does sets it apart from most AI plays in the region. Think combines liquid-cooled GPU hardware with proprietary orchestration software that reportedly achieves over 90% GPU utilization, compared with industry averages of 30-50%. The company will use the funding to expand its team, scale manufacturing, accelerate product development, and support deployments across Saudi Arabia, the GCC and selected international markets over the next 18 months. Founded in 2025, Think is going after the infrastructure layer, not the application layer. Given how expensive and scarce compute is across the region, this is a bet that could pay off significantly as demand for AI deployment grows. 🇦🇪 Keyper | <head>1M Series A | Proptech / Rent Finance Keyper, a UAE startup that lets tenants pay rent monthly while landlords receive annual payments upfront, has raised <head>1 million in Series A funding as it scales a platform targeting one of the Gulf’s largest yet least-digitized financial markets. The round was led by Speedinvest and included NeoVentures, the corporate venture capital arm of Mashreq Bank, alongside MEVP, Dubai Future District Fund, Property Finder, Arab National Bank, Ellington Properties, Dar Ventures and Abbey Road Investment Group. The traction numbers back the raise. The company says it has financed more than $44 million in rent since launch, including <head>9 million in 2026 year-to-date, and supports over 10,500 properties valued above $6 billion, serving 4,000 landlords with more than 100,000 app downloads. The company also closed a $30M sukuk financing facility from Franklin Templeton alongside this equity round, giving it a substantial capital stack to fund rent advances at scale. 🇲🇦 ORA Technologies | <head>0M Series A | Super App / Morocco Morocco-based super app ORA Technologies has extended its Series A funding round to <head>0 million after raising an additional $2 million from Moroccan investors. Founded in 2023 by Omar Alami, ORA Technologies develops a consumer super app combining food delivery, digital payments and e-commerce services. The new funding will support the expansion of its KOUL food delivery platform and ORA Cash digital wallet across Morocco. What makes this one interesting from an ecosystem angle: ORA Technologies’ funding round stands out because it was b
