The MENAPT (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey) tech ecosystem showed immense resilience in March 2026, recording 43 funding rounds totaling US $933 million.

The market concentration was high, with the ten largest deals accounting for US $799 million (approx. 86% of the total). Dominant sectors included Payments Infrastructure, AI-native platforms, and Web3/Crypto. While Israel claimed 60% of the top ten rounds, the UAE secured the month's largest single investment.

Top 10 Funding Rounds: March 2026

Rank	Company	Sector	Country	Amount	Lead Investors
1	ADGT	FinTech / Payments	UAE	$250M	Blackstone
2	OKX	Crypto / Web3	Seychelles	$200M	Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
3	KAST	FinTech / Stablecoins	Comoros	$80M	QED Investors, Left Lane Capital
4	Qodo	AI / DevTools	Israel	$70M	Qumra Capital
5	ZyG	AI / E-commerce	Israel	$58M	Bessemer, Viola, Lightspeed
6	Above Security	AI / Cybersecurity	Israel	$50M	Ballistic, Merlin, Norwest
7	Notch	AI / SaaS	Israel	$30M	Headline
8	Sett	AI / Gaming	Israel	$30M	Greenfield Partners
9	Scala Biodesign	BioTech / AI	Israel	$16M	Grove Ventures
10	Starsight Energy	CleanTech	Nigeria	$15M	British International Investment

1. ADGT  |  FinTech / Payments | UAE | US $250M — Venture

Advanced Digital Gaming Technology launched from Abu Dhabi with a US $250 million investment led by Blackstone, alongside Raya Holding, NRT Technology, and Sightline Payments. Led by CEO Michael Dominelli, ADGT is building a payments and data intelligence platform that integrates digital wallets, real-time payment rails, identity management, and compliance systems into a single layer for regulated digital markets. In the UAE, it is currently the only licensed platform able to contract directly with both land-based venues and online digital platforms in the commercial gaming sector, which the company says is on track to become one of the fastest-growing regulated verticals globally. The capital will fund initial deployments across the UAE, the wider Middle East, Africa, and select international corridors.

2. OKX  |  Crypto / Web3 | Seychelles | US $200M — Corporate Round

Founded in 2013 by Star Xu, OKX has grown into one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, serving millions of users across its trading, DeFi, and digital asset services. In March, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, took a US $200 million corporate minority stake, valuing OKX at US $25 billion. The partnership gives ICE direct access to OKX’s trading infrastructure; OKX, in turn, gains institutional credibility from the operator behind the NYSE.

3. KAST  |  FinTech / Stablecoins | Comoros | US $80M — Series A

Founded in July 2024 by former Circle executive Raagulan Pathy, KAST is a stablecoin-powered neobank offering USD-denominated accounts and global pay-in and payout capabilities across more than 190 countries. Growth has been rapid: over one million users, roughly US $5 billion in annualised transaction volume, and revenue that has doubled since September 2025 — with a US $100 million annual revenue run rate expected before year-end. The US $80 million Series A was co-led by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital, with participation from Peak XV Partners, HSG, and DST Global Partners. Proceeds will fund expansion into Latin America, North America, and the Middle East, alongside licensing and product development.

4. Qodo  |  AI / DevTools | Israel | US $70M — Series B

As AI-generated code floods enterprise repositories, Qodo is positioning itself as the quality and verification layer. The company builds AI agents for code review, testing, and governance, and recently ranked first on Martian’s Code Review Bench with an F1 score of 50.3 percent — well clear of the field. Customers already include Nvidia, Walmart, Red Hat, Intuit, and Texas Instruments. The US $70 million Series B, led by Qumra Capital, brings total funding to US $120 million. Backers include Maor Ventures, Square Peg, Susa Ventures, TLV Partners, and individual investors Peter Welinder of OpenAI and Clara Shih of Meta.

5. ZyG  |  AI / E-commerce | Israel | US $58M — Seed

The founding team behind ironSource — Tomer Bar-Zeev (Chairman), Omer Kaplan (CEO), and Assaf Ben Ami (CFO & COO) — along with Unit 81 veterans Dr. Eyal Amitt, Omri Steinmetz, and Guy Tsur, have launched ZyG, an agentic AI platform for direct-to-consumer e-commerce. The platform uses proprietary data models to predict a product’s growth potential before launch; products that achieve a strong “ZyG Score” are onboarded and managed end-to-end, from marketing and logistics to customer support, under a revenue-share model that lets founders keep full ownership of their IP. The US $58 million seed round (US $40 million initial tranche plus an US $18 million SAFE extension) was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Viola Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

6. Above Security  |  AI / Cybersecurity | Israel | US $50M — Series A

Israeli intelligence veterans Aviv Nahum (CEO, Unit 81 alumnus) and Amir Boldo (CPTO, Unit 49 alumnus) emerged from stealth on 23 March with US $50 million to tackle insider threats in the agentic era. Above Security’s platform deploys a fleet of specialised AI investigators that analyse behaviour across identity, endpoint, SaaS, and AI environments — with no policies, rules, or configuration required. The company has been generating revenue for six months and was selected for the 2026 CrowdStrike, AWS, and NVIDIA Cybersecurity Startup Accelerator. The round was led by Ballistic Ventures, Merlin Ventures, and Norwest, with participation from Jump Capital and QPV Ventures.

7. Notch  |  AI / SaaS | Israel | US $30M — Series A

Founded in 2021 by Rafael Broshi (CEO), Elool Jacoby (CPO), and Yuval Peled (CTO), Notch is building the AI operating system for regulated industries, starting with global insurers, large brokers, and financial institutions. Its AI agents automate customer experience workflows and have delivered 12x ARR growth over the past twelve months, a 70–73 percent autonomous resolution rate, and 200 percent ROI for clients within a year. The US $30 million Series A was led by Headline, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, Jibe Ventures, Illuminate Financial, and Phoenix Insurance joining. Total funding now stands at US $45 million, and the capital will fuel US expansion and continued platform development.

8. Sett  |  AI / Gaming | Israel | US $30M — Series B

Amit Carmi (CEO) and Yoni Blumenfeld (CTO), both Unit 8200 alumni, founded Sett in 2023 to automate user acquisition for mobile game publishers. The AI agent-based platform handles the full creative cycle, from production to optimisation of marketing content, and already counts Zynga, Playtika, and Papaya among its clients. The US $30 million Series B, led by Greenfield Partners alongside F2 Venture Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and TIRTA Ventures, brings total funding to US $57 million. The team of roughly 50 plans to expand beyond gaming into fintech, mobile applications, and e-commerce by the end of 2026.

9. Scala Biodesign  |  BioTech / AI | Israel | US $16M — Series A

Dr. Ravit Netzer and Dr. Adi Goldenzweig, together with Chief Scientist Prof. Sarel Fleishman of the Weizmann Institute, founded Scala Biodesign in 2022 to bring computational rigour to protein development. Their platform, ScalaOS, integrates physics-based modelling, evolutionary data, and large language model AI to optimise protein performance — often in a single design cycle. In the past eight months, nine of the world’s top 20 pharmaceutical companies have onboarded. The US $16 million Series A was led by Grove Ventures, with TLV Partners, Deep Insight, and the Israel Innovation Authority participating, bringing total funding to US $21.5 million.

10. Starsight Energy  |  CleanTech | Nigeria | US $15M — Debt Financing

Founded in 2015 by Tony Carr and now led by Group CEO Paul van Zijl, Starsight Energy is West Africa’s leading commercial and industrial solar solutions provider. The company operates across 547 sites in Nigeria and Ghana with 41 MW of installed generating capacity, 33 MWh of battery storage, and 16,320 HP in cooling capacity. In March, Starsight secured US $15 million in mezzanine debt from British International Investment (BII) to scale its solar project pipeline and support service delivery for existing clients. The company is backed by Helios Investment Partners and African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM) and continues to expand into Kenya and South Africa.

Investment Trends Analysis

• Agentic AI Dominance: Five of the top ten deals involve "Agentic AI," where AI models move beyond chat to perform autonomous tasks (Cybersecurity, E-commerce, SaaS, Gaming).

• Institutional Adoption: The ICE investment into OKX and Blackstone's lead in ADGT signal a high level of institutional confidence in MENAPT-based fintech.

• The "Unit" Factor: Israel’s military intelligence alumni (Units 81, 8200, 49) continue to be the primary engine for high-value AI and Cyber startups in the region.