Venture capital funding in the MENA has soared year-on-year as the region recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

MAGNiTT’s H1 2021 Middle East and North African (MENA) Venture Report showed a huge increase in the first half of the year compared with 2020, when funding activity was suppressed by the pandemic.

In Turkey, funding reached $1.46 billion, increasing 858 percent, compared with the first half of 2020, across 124 transactions, an increase of 110 percent.

In the MENA region, funding was up by 60 percent to $1.228 billion. However, the number of transactions were fewer at 254, a 20 percent decline compared to the first half of 2020.

In Pakistan, funding was $87 million, up 296 percent, and across 27 transactions, an increase of 50 percent compared to H1 2020.

Start-up platform MAGNiTT said funding in the MENA region increased by 12 percent from full year 2020, marking a quarterly and half-yearly record high level of capital deployed.

The UAE led investment growth by number of deals and funding, acquiring 61 percent of all MENA investments. The top three MENA hubs, the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia accumulated 71  percent of capital deployed.

The food and beverage sector took the biggest share of MENA funding in the first half of 2021, while the highest number of deals were closed by fintech startups.

(Writing by Imogen Lillywhite; editing by Daniel Luiz)

(imogen.lillywhite@refinitiv.com)

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© ZAWYA 2021