Fundbot secures $1.1 million seed round with Hub71 for regional growth

Fundbot has raised a $1.1 million seed round to expand small-business lending across MENA. The round was led by returning investors Middle East Venture Partners and Salica Investment, with Hub71 joining as a new investor. The raise brings Fundbot’s total funding since 2023 to $2.6 million. Founded in Nice in 2020 by Karl Abouzeid, Fundbot runs a digital platform for supply chain finance and trade credit insurance. It gives banks and insurers tools to lend to small and medium-sized enterprises. The company operates in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, where it says it has financed more than 3,000 SMEs and granted over $500 million. The money will fund commercial expansion and new tools for underwriting and credit-risk analysis. Two new markets are planned for the fourth quarter of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027, taking Fundbot to five markets. The company is also adding trade credit insurance and a co-financing fund that will lend alongside partner banks. Karl Abouzeid, founder and chief executive officer, said the company gives banks and insurers the tools to finance SMEs faster, more safely and at greater scale. The company has not published its valuation or the individual amounts contributed by each investor. Those figures would show the price of the round. Without them the $1.1 million remains a total. For small businesses the practical change is still ahead. The round does not list new countries by name or the number of additional SMEs that will receive financing. Until those markets open, the company continues to operate in its current three markets. The value depends on whether the new markets launch and how much financing they add. Other fintech companies in the region also provide tools for banks to finance SMEs. Fundbot focuses on supply chain finance and is adding trade credit insurance. The comparison is between a platform that partners with banks and insurers and lenders that fund SMEs directly from their own balance sheet. The announcement does not list Fundbot’s current revenue or the share of the $500 million that has been repaid. It lists the financing granted and the number of SMEs. A reader can see the intended scale. A reader cannot yet see the default rate or the profit the company earns on the financing. The company has not published the names of the two new markets or the size of the co-financing fund. Those details would show the next step of expansion. Without them the plan remains a timeline rather than a list of countries. The company has not published the number of banks or insurers currently using the platform or the average size of the financing granted to each SME. Those figures would show the concentration of the activity. Without them the $500 million remains an aggregate total. If Fundbot opens the two new markets and reports the additional financing granted, the expansion has a measurable follow-through. If the next update is only a restatement of the $500 million figure, the change for SMEs remains the same as the initial announcement. The figures missing are the names of the new markets and the financing volume added after the round.