🇪🇬 MNT-Halan reaches a $1.4 billion valuation following the first close of a new investment round led by Al Ahly Capital, the investment arm of the National Bank of Egypt, to expand its operations in Egypt and support regional growth across its markets in Türkiye, Pakistan, and the UAE.

🇦🇪 CargoX raises $250 million from an investor group led by BlueFive Capital, to expand its autonomous, driverless logistics network across the UAE and international markets and continue developing its vehicle technology and operational infrastructure.

🇪🇬 Blnk raises $37.1 million, a combination from Series A equity from Algebra Ventures, SANAD Fund for MSME, Endeavor Catalyst, and Emirates International Investment Company, and $24.6 million in local debt facilities from the National Bank of Egypt, Suez Canal Bank, and Bank Albaraka, to expand its point-of-sale consumer financing across Egypt and launch a credit card programme.

🇸🇦 Stitch raises $25 million Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz in its first GCC investment, with participation from Arbor Ventures, COTU Ventures, Raed Ventures, and SVC, to expand its cloud-native operating system for financial institutions across MENA and global markets.

🇸🇦 Arib raises $23.5 million led by Merak Capital, in a round that included Sharia-compliant Murabaha financing facilities, to strengthen its technology infrastructure and launch new financing products for consumers and businesses across its digital lending marketplace.

🇦🇪 RemotePass raises $17.4 million Series B led by EBRD Venture Capital, with participation from 500 Global and existing investors Oraseya Capital, 212 VC, Access Bridge Ventures, and Khwarizmi Ventures, to expand its global employment, payroll, and spend platform across Europe and the US and deepen its compliance and AI capabilities.

🇸🇦 Aumet closes $12 million Series A led by Emkan Capital, with participation from Qatar Development Bank, SABAH VC, and AAIC, alongside existing investors Shorooq Partners and Right Side Capital Management, to scale its AI-first healthcare procurement platform and grow enterprise deployments across the GCC and international markets.

🇪🇬 ARRW raises $4 million from Tasheed Egypt, to expand its driver network, strengthen its technical infrastructure, and improve the user experience on its licensed ride-hailing platform serving more than 200,000 users across Egypt.

🇦🇪 eVoost AI raises $2.2 million led by First Drop VC, with participation from Qora71, a Hub71-linked vehicle backed by Mubadala Investment Company, to develop its AI-powered residential property sales platform and expand across Spain, Portugal, the UAE, and the United States.

🇦🇪 Zuvees raises $1.6 million from IvyCap Ventures as part of its ongoing Series A, to strengthen its AI capabilities and expand its cross-border gifting platform across the Middle East and global markets.

🇦🇪 Peekabox raises an oversubscribed $1.5 million seed round backed by a group of regional operators and investors, with a board chaired by Sameer Al Ansari, to scale its surplus food marketplace across the UAE and expand into the GCC, starting with Saudi Arabia.

CNTXT AI, a UAE-based data and AI company, has acquired Actualize, a UAE-based enterprise AI startup building dialect-aware Arabic voice agents for the GCC, to strengthen its Arabic voice AI offerings for enterprise and government clients. Actualize's technology will be folded into CNTXT AI's portfolio, including its Arabic voice platform Munsit, with co-founders Muhammed Shabreen and Khalid Ghiboub joining as CTO and VP of AI Models. Source

Uber has agreed to acquire a 12.5% stake in Careem Technologies from e& for $100 million in cash, reducing e&'s ownership to 37.53% from 50.03% and strengthening Uber's position in the UAE-based super app. Careem's ride-hailing business remains fully owned by Uber, while the super app business spans food delivery, grocery, and payments; the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals. Source

GrowthLabs, an Egypt-based startup ecosystem builder, has acquired Startup Gate, an Egypt-based founder and investor network platform, for $657,000 (EGP 35 million) in a transaction facilitated by M-Empire. The deal combines Startup Gate's network with GrowthLabs' Catalyst OS operating system for incubators and accelerators, as the company plans to expand into five new markets across the Gulf and Africa by the end of 2026. Source