The MENA Region has felt a sharp frostbite from the VC Winter.
Though the VC Winter took an extra quarter to set into the region, when it hit - it sucked the wind out of the regional VC ecosystem.
Q2 2022 experienced a 30% QoQ funding drop. H1 2023 saw a 62% funding drop, compared to H1 2022, marking a particularly frigid period.
Q3 data coming in also points towards the weakest VC investment quarter in the MENA region in two years.
Dubai's Venture Capital Ecosystem
There are 749 scale-ups that have raised over US $1 million in fundraising in the Middle East and North Africa region; collectively raising over US $19.5 billion, cumulatively, as of December 2022. Over 40% of these scale-ups call Dubai home.