A Saudi fund and a Seoul venture firm are building a two-way channel for deep tech
Ula Capital and Korea's FuturePlay announced a $100m vehicle on LEAP's third day. What makes it worth reading is the direction of travel, which is not the usual one.
Comprehensive coverage and updates on MAGNiTT across the MENA tech ecosystem.
Ula Capital and Korea's FuturePlay announced a $100m vehicle on LEAP's third day. What makes it worth reading is the direction of travel, which is not the usual one.
Egypt's February 2026 charter aims to mobilise $1bn over five years for an ecosystem of 706 startups. Company formation is not the constraint it addresses.
LEAP has grown every year. MENA venture funding fell 22% in H1 2026 and deal count fell 41%. The two facts are less contradictory than they look.
Six countries, six strategies, and far less overlap than the competitive framing suggests. What looks like a race between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi is closer to a set of complementary bets.
The two figures differ by roughly seventy times. They are not in conflict — they describe two separate pools of capital that reach Saudi technology through different mechanisms.
Egypt has 706 active startups, 64% of North Africa's tracked total. The UAE took $895m of MENA's H1 funding. The region's founders and its capital are in different countries.
Male-founded startups raised $1.6bn across 213 deals in the first half of 2026. Female-founded startups raised $2.5m across 14.
Concentration at that level means regional totals describe a handful of companies rather than an ecosystem — and deal count, down 41%, is the number that survives it.
Longer private holds are a global trend. In the Gulf they also reflect an exit route that is still being built.
706 startups and 64% of North Africa's tracked companies, against a Gulf that deployed $895m into one country in six months. The mismatch is the region's clearest opening.