Magnitt’s H1 2024 Saudi Arabia Venture Investment Report, sponsored by SVC, underscores Saudi Arabia’s leading role in the MENA VC landscape and its continued appeal to both local and international investors.
Magnitt, a leading source for verified venture capital data in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey, recently released it’s H1 2024 Saudi Arabia Venture Capital Report and H1 2024 Emerging Venture Markets Venture Investment Summary.
According to the H1 2024 Saudi report, in the MENA space:
“Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its position as the leader in Venture Capital funding across the Middle East and North Africa. Despite a slight 7% year-on-year decline, Saudi Arabia’s VC ecosystem aggregated an impressive $412M in funding. Notably, 32% of this funding came from a significant $130M deal in Salla, marking the only MEGA round in the MENA region for 2024 so far.
Deal flow activity in Saudi Arabia remained relatively stable, with only a 3% YoY reduction in H1 2024, solidifying its status as the second most active MENA country in terms of transactions. The country’s contribution to the MENA region’s total funding surged from 38% in H1 2023 to 54% in H1 2024, with Saudi Arabia accounting for 30% of total deals, up from 25% in the same period last year. This growth highlights Saudi Arabia’s resilience, as the overall MENA region experienced a more pronounced 34% YoY decline in aggregated funding.
The gap between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the second-ranked country by funding, widened from $166M in H1 2023 to $187M in H1 2024. At the level of deals, the UAE had 20 more transactions than Saudi Arabia in H1 2024, this gap in deal flow activity increased from just 10 transactions in H1 2023.”
Of note was that FinTech was the leading sector for investment transactions while E-Commerce/Retail led in funding.
Globally, Emerging Venture Markets saw a significant decline from H1 2023:
“In H1 2024, the Emerging Venture Markets (EVM) saw a significant transformation with total funding reaching $3.469Bn, a 34% decrease from H1 2023. The number of deals also declined across EVMs, with a total of 618 deals, representing a 34% decrease YoY. South East Asia (SEA) led the pack with $2,209M in funding, despite a 31% decline from H1 2023, capturing 64% of total H1 2024 EVM funding. This region also saw the highest deal activity with 235 deals. Africa faced the steepest decline, with funding dropping by 57% to $393M and deal count halving to 119. The Middle East, Pakistan, and Turkiye (MEPT) regions collectively secured $665M in funding, an 18% YoY decrease, while their deal count fell by 14%, marking lowest declines across all regions.”
