MENA startups raise $1.65bn in Q3, led by Saudi fintech.

Startups in the Middle East and North Africa raised $1.65bn across 145 deals in the third quarter of 2026, according to Wamda and Digital Digest. Saudi Arabia took about $1bn of it, more than ten times its second-quarter total of $102m.

Fintech dominated, with $1.03bn across 35 deals, about 62% of the quarter's money. Three Saudi fintech companies took most of that: Barq raised a $329.5m Series A at a $1.85bn valuation, buy now, pay later firm Tabby raised $233m in a Series F at a $6.5bn valuation, and Lendo secured $200m in debt. The UAE raised $507m across 41 deals, down 14% on the second quarter, and two rounds, Moove's $250m Series C and Fasset's $68m Series C, made up most of it. Egypt raised $56.4m, $35m of it for Paymob.

The quarter looks strong next to the second, with funding up 108%, but weak next to a year earlier: it was about 63% below the $4.5bn raised in the third quarter of 2025. Debt made up 26.8% of the total, against almost 59% across 2025, and female-led startups raised $12.7m, less than 1%. MAGNiTT, whose paid report covers the first nine months of the year, puts funding down 7% year on year and the number of deals down 33%, and says the effects of the regional conflict are increasingly showing in the data. It finds the UAE and Saudi Arabia together took 89% of funding, with the UAE narrowly ahead over the nine months. The two trackers use different data, so their figures don't match.

For marketers, the money is concentrating in Saudi fintech, which means well-funded challengers in payments, lending and buy now, pay later competing hard for customers and media space. Fewer deals also means fewer new startup advertisers, and MAGNiTT warns that the slowdown is a growing risk to the pipeline for the fourth quarter and 2027.