Doha steals the show 🇶🇦 (TWIF - MENA 04/02)

Marhaba, fintech friends!

Web Summit landed in Doha this week, and it’s a good time to zoom out on a country that rarely leads the regional headlines but has been steadily changing its footing in tech. When MENA’s startup story is told, the spotlight usually swings between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Yet just a little north of the Gulf, Qatar has been methodically laying the groundwork for a digital economy designed to stand on its own.

That ambition is anchored in the Digital Agenda 2030, which targets an $11 billion contribution to non-hydrocarbon GDP, with technology doing much of the heavy lifting. The numbers are starting to reflect that intent. In 2025, Qatar-based startups raised $58.8 million across 33 deals, an 81% year-on-year increase. Fintech led activity with 11 deals, and while the market remains modest in absolute size, that pace of growth lifted Qatar to 4th place in MENA by capital deployed and deal count, representing around 5% of regional deal flow.

Web Summit Qatar has become the ecosystem’s annual convergence point. This year’s edition brought together 30,000 attendees, more than 1,600 start-ups, and 1,000 investors from 127 countries, with attendance doubling over the past 2 years. AI framed much of the conversation in Doha this week, as did:

Taken together, the picture that’s forming is one of an ecosystem worth watching.

With that context in mind, let’s get into the rest of this week’s fintech activity across MENA.

💸 Fundraises and Exits

🇦🇪🇧🇭 Open Banking platform, Tarabut, acquires AI engineering platform, Servable

🇶🇦 SkipCash, a Qatar-based digital payments platform, raises $4 million in series A funding

🇦🇪 Receiptable raises an undisclosed growth funding round led by 21 Ventures

🇸🇦 Muhide raises an undisclosed series A round from Asyad Holding

🇸🇦 Accounting platform Qoyod acquires Flavors, a restaurant management and POS system, for an undisclosed amount

🇶🇦 PayLater raises $10 million in seed funding, as well as a $27.5 million credit facility from Qatar Islamic Bank and Al Rayan Bank

🇦🇪 Property Finder receives a $170 million investment from Mubadala, BECO Capital and another UAE sovereign wealth fund

🇸🇦 Vennre, a Saudi-UK based wealth creation platform, raises $9.6 million in pre-series A funding, co-led by Vision Ventures and anb seed fund

🇦🇪 Mantas, a UAE-based insurtech, receives $1.77 million in pre-seed funding from Nuwa Capital, Suhail Ventures, Plus VC and OQAL angels

🇲🇦 Moroccan proptech, Yakeey, raises $15 million in series A funding, led by Enza Capital and joined by the IFC.

💰 Funds

🇶🇦 The Qatar Investment Authority expands its Fund of Funds program to $3 billion, from $1 billion

🇦🇪 Shorooq announces a $200 million late-stage growth fund to provide longer-term capital that helps companies prepare for the public market

🇦🇪 Ruya Partners, a UAE-based private credit firm, launches a $400 million fund targeting middle-market lending in Saudi and the UAE.

🚀 Partnerships & Product Launches

🇪🇬 MoneyHash partners with Tap Payments to expand its payment infrastructure

🇦🇪 UPFRONT joins forces with CredibleX, supplying the latter with real-time B2B financial data around invoice flows, payment behavior and cash movement

🇦🇪 Dubai Insurance introduces a digital wallet for crypto assets, allowing policyholders to pay premiums and receive claims in digital assets

🇦🇪 State Street plans to establish a new operating centre in Al Ain, Abu Dhabi

🇦🇪 OFZA, a UAE-based virtual asset service provider, collaborates with Trakx on research around index methodologies

🇶🇦 Ooredoo partners with Western Union, integrating the latter's services into the Ooredoo platform

🇦🇪 du Pay partners with Deem Finance to offer fast access to short-term credit directly through the du Pay wallet

🇦🇪🇶🇦 Shorooq signs an MoU with PayLater to explore structuring a scalable, institutional-grade credit facility

🇦🇪 Pine Labs partners with Wio Bank to deploy Credit+: a modular, API-first acquiring technology to improve onboarding, settlements and payment acceptance

🇦🇪 Careem Pay expands its remittance services to include mobile wallet transfers to Egypt, cash pickup in Lebanon and better wallet and cash pickup options for the Philippines

🇸🇦 Jeel, Riyad Bank's tech arm, partners with Ripple to explore blockchain applications across financial services in Saudi

🇦🇪 PayPal collaborates with NEO PAY to allow UAE merchants to accept PayPal payments, allowing them to better serve digital-first consumers

🇦🇪 The DIFC gets a major expansion with the launch of the DIFC Zabeel District

🇯🇴 Jordan launches MENA's first Fintech Academy: an institution designed to be a national platform for financial innovation.

🏛 Licensing & Regulations

🇦🇪 The Central Bank of the UAE introduces biometric payments using facial and palm recognition

🇦🇪 ADGM's Registration Authority publishes a proposed guidance for crypto mining conducted within or from ADGM

🇦🇪 The Central Bank of the UAE licenses Universal Digital as a Foreign Payment Token Issuer with the launch of USDU: a USD-backed stablecoin

🇪🇬 Egypt's Central Bank introduces contactless payments using soft POS applications

🇩🇿 Algeria waives stock exchange listing fees for start-ups for 3 years to ease capital market access

🇸🇦 Saudi's Central Bank grants Rifd initial approval to introduce consumer finance services

🇸🇦 Saudi's Central Bank licenses Go Telecom's Go Money to provider consumer micro-finance services.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Until next week,

Salam ✌🏼