MENA's top funding rounds of September 2019

As the season begins, we've seen some interesting announcements. The highlight of the month was MaxAB from Egypt raising $6.2 million to revamp the B2B grocery marketplace — the highest seed funding raised in the region till date.

Following are the fundings announced in the MENA region, in order of their announcement:

Founded in 2016 by Purvashi Neema Doshi and Vaibhav Doshi

Funding raised: $750,000 in second seed funding

Total funding to date: $1.4M

Lead investors: Sheraa Sharjah, Latitude Consultants Limited and Shorooq Partners

RentSher is an online platform that enables people and businesses to rent a range of items for events, such as furniture, electronics, lights, decor, medical and travel essentials. It also takes bookings for services and caters to a range of events, including exhibitions, weddings, parties, and more.

Founded in 2018 by Mohan K and Omar Bin Brek

Funding raised: $500,000 in Seed funding

Total funding to date: $500,000

Investors: Rashed Alfalasi and Mohammed Alsuwaidi

Foloosi facilitates “consumer-to-business card payments” through QR codes displayed by businesses; allowing customers to scan and pay with their mobile phones.

Founded in 2016 by Mahmoud Adi and Sky Kurtz

Funding raised: $1.75 million | First phase of $20M expansion round

Total funding till date: $8.8 million

Investors: Rashed Alfalasi and Mohammed Alsuwaidi

Pure Harvest is a tech-enabled agriculture business that supports year-round production of fruits and vegetables. Produce from its smart farms are distributed to hundreds of hotels and supermarkets in the country. The funds being raised will go towards research and development of new technologies as well as expansion of facilities in the UAE and KSA.

Founded in 2016 by Mohamed Akmal

Funding raised: $100,000 in Seed funding

Total funding till date: $100,000

Investors: Edventures

A career advising platform, Career 180 will use the recently raised funding to develop its online platform as well as expand its services in Egypt. Its online platform also supports a career knowledge network that helps youth match the needs of the job market.

Founded in 2016 by Ameni Mansouri, Ghazi Ketata and Oussama Mahjoub

Funding raised: $300,000 in Seed funding

Total funding till date: $363,500

Lead investors: 500 Startups and Flat6Labs

Peer-to-peer fashion marketplace, Dabchy has a community of over 400,000 users in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria. The platform enables people to sell fashion items that are either new (never worn with tags intact), pre-loved, or self-made.

Founded in 2017 by Kamel Haddar

Funding raised: $4 million in Series A

Total funding till date: $5.7 million

Lead investor: Tell Venture Automotive

TemTem is an Algeria-based ride hailing startup. With $5.7 million in total funding, it is one of the best funded startups in Algeria, within just one year of operations. With more than 4000 drivers in its network, the startup plans to expand to more cities in the country.

Founded in 2018 by Belal EL-Megharbel, Mohamed Ben Halim

Funding raised: $6.2 million in Seed funding

Total funding till date: $6.2 million

Lead investors: 4DX Ventures, BECO Capital, Endure Capital

Consolidating and organising the currently fragmented B2B grocery market, MaxAB has raised the region’s largest seed round to date. Smaller grocery shops in Egypt cater to 90 percent of the market, yet deal with inconsistent supply and multiple middlemen. MaxAB is changing this with their simple e-commerce platform.

Founded in 2019 by Mohamed Hassan, Omar Fathy and Zafer Alshehri

Funding raised: $250,000 in Seed funding

Total funding till date: $250,000

Lead investors: Unnamed angel investor from KSA

Glamera is a mobile application that helps customers book appointments for health and beauty services, such as at gyms, salons, spas, dental clinics and more. The latest funding round will go towards expansion of its services in more cities in Egypt as well as to boost its partners.

Founded in 2014 by Morrad Israne and Sharene Lee

Funding raised: Undisclosed

Total funding till date: $1.2 million

Lead investors: Gobi Partners, Sheraa Sharjah and Raed Ventures

Melltoo is a mobile-first liquidation platform where people as well as businesses come to offload goods they no longer need. The startup takes care of the shipment and delivery on a percentage commission basis. With the latest funding, it plans to set up operations in KSA.

Note: All information has been gathered by Crunchbase and media reports. Total funding till date is reflective of funding numbers disclosed.