Twenty fintech startups raised $930.6 million in September, equivalent to around 85 percent of all funding deployed across MENA
MENA startup funding staged a sharp rebound in September, crossing the $1 billion mark for the first time in months as a string of large Saudi fintech deals pulled the region out of August’s slowdown.
According to the latest report by Wamda, startups across the Middle East and North Africa raised $1.1 billion through 73 deals during the month, up 193 percent from August.
Saudi fintechs drive growth
The rebound in MENA startup funding was also highly concentrated. Barq’s $329.5 million Series A, Tabby’s $233 million Series F and Lendo’s $200 million debt financing together brought in $762.5 million, accounting for nearly 70 percent of all capital raised during the month.
That concentration offers a more nuanced picture of September. Capital returned in force, but it flowed disproportionately to a handful of large, predominantly Saudi fintech companies rather than evenly across the ecosystem.
Debt also remained a significant feature of the funding landscape, accounting for 31.7 percent of September’s total. That is substantially lower than the 76 percent recorded in September 2025, suggesting equity played a much larger role in this year’s headline figure.
Saudi Arabia leads with $947.2 million
Saudi Arabia returned to the top of the regional funding table in September, with 40 startups raising a combined $947.2 million. The Kingdom alone accounted for roughly 86 percent of all capital raised in MENA during the month, underlining just how heavily September’s performance rested on the Saudi market. Fintech was the clear driver. The sector accounted for 86 percent of Saudi Arabia’s funding, buoyed by the large rounds raised by Barq, Tabby and Lendo.
The UAE, which led the region in August, slipped to second place with $98.4 million raised across 12 deals. Five of those companies were fintech startups, and together they accounted for 71 percent of the UAE’s total funding, showing that the sector’s dominance was not confined to Saudi Arabia.
Egypt, meanwhile, returned to the regional top three after recording no funding in August. Seven Egyptian startups raised $49.2 million, although here too the total was shaped by one standout transaction. Paymob’s $35 million pre-Series C round accounted for about 71 percent of the country’s funding for the month.
Further down the table, Qatar moved into fourth place with four deals worth a combined $2.4 million, followed by Kuwait, where COFE recorded an estimated $1 million transaction.
Startups in Syria and Palestine raised a combined $580,000 across two deals, while Bahrain recorded five transactions worth $275,000.
Fintech returns to the top
After losing some of its momentum in previous months, fintech returned decisively to the top of the sector rankings. Twenty fintech startups raised $930.6 million in September, equivalent to around 85 percent of all funding deployed across MENA.
But, as with the regional total, much of that figure came from a small number of companies. Barq, Tabby and Lendo accounted for around 82 percent of all fintech funding during the month. That makes September as much a story about deal size as sector strength. Fintech clearly remained the region’s most capital-intensive vertical, but its performance was amplified by three unusually large transactions.
Proptech came a distant second with $50.2 million raised across three deals. Rize’s $50 million round accounted for virtually all of that total. Traveltech ranked third, attracting $25.2 million across two deals.
Later-stage deals return
September also brought some relief at the later end of the funding spectrum. Five later-stage startups raised a combined $288 million during the month, a notable return of larger equity rounds after a period in which investors had largely favored smaller and earlier-stage bets.
Early-stage companies nevertheless remained the dominant funding category in September, leading both by deal count and capital raised, with $418.2 million secured across 39 transactions.
Another 23 startups did not disclose the stage of their rounds, while six transactions were classified as debt deals.
The split suggests investors have not abandoned early-stage companies, but larger companies are once again finding ways to secure sizeable pools of capital, an encouraging signal after a year marked by tighter funding conditions.
The report also revealed that business-to-business startups remained the most active segment of the market, raising $457.7 million across 47 transactions. Consumer-focused companies attracted $406.4 million across 16 deals, while the remaining capital went to startups operating across both B2B and B2C models.
The figures reinforce a trend that has been visible throughout much of the year: investors continue to favor companies selling to businesses, particularly those with clearer paths to recurring revenue and enterprise-scale growth.
Third-quarter investment rises above $1.7 billion
September gave the MENA startup ecosystem one of its strongest monthly funding totals of the year and pushed third-quarter investment above $1.7 billion. But the composition of that funding matters as much as the total.
Three transactions accounted for almost 70 percent of September’s capital, one country absorbed about 86 percent of the region’s funding, and one sector captured roughly 85 percent. Strip away those mega-deals, and the picture becomes considerably more modest.
That does not make September’s rebound insignificant. The ability of regional startups to close transactions worth hundreds of millions of dollars — across equity and debt — shows that investors are still willing to make large commitments when they see the right companies and opportunities.
What September does not yet show is a broad-based return of capital across the ecosystem. That will be the more important test in the fourth quarter: whether the momentum created by a few outsized transactions begins to spread across more countries, sectors and funding stages, or whether MENA’s funding recovery remains dependent on a narrow group of heavyweight deals.
