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Zest Wire | 21-January-2026

Zest Wire | 21-January-2026

What Zest's security certification means for you. Plus: news from around the region and much more.

January 21, 2026

This week’s agenda

🔒 Zest’s ISO certification

🎙️ Our Communications feature

📈 MENA records its strongest funding recovery in history

💰 Capital activity across MENA private markets

📖 What we’re reading

📆 Upcoming webinar: Building the liquidity layer for startups

Let’s dive in!

Zest is now ISO 27001 Certified: Setting the gold standard for private market security

We are proud to announce that Zest has officially achieved ISO 27001:2022 certification, validation of the Information Security Management System (ISMS) that protects every transaction on our platform.

Our certification covers the entire ecosystem of transaction processes you rely on. As we continue to scale and power the region's private markets, this certification ensures that your most sensitive data remains protected by the highest international standards.

Streamline your investor updates: A reminder on the Communications feature

Since the recent launch of Communications, we have seen a significant surge in usage across the platform as more of our users leverage this tool to engage their stakeholders. This feature was specifically built to help you share progress, reports, and commentary in one seamless flow, directly from where your deals live.

Here is a reminder of why this tool is becoming a staple in the Zest workflow:

Everything in one flow: Consolidate your progress updates, financial reports, and strategic commentary within the Zest platform, no more searching through multiple inboxes.
Built-in security: Protect your sensitive information with automated watermarks and controlled document access, ensuring your data remains confidential as you scale.
An auditable history: Every update is automatically logged on the deal, creating a clear, professional, and auditable record for future rounds or exits.

MENA records its strongest funding recovery in history

In 2025, MENA venture capital defied the global retrenchment, rebounding 74% YoY to a record-breaking $3.8B.

While other emerging economies saw double-digit declines, the region’s breakout was fueled by sovereign capital and scale-stage momentum. Saudi Arabia and the UAE remained the undisputed centers of investment, with FinTech, Enterprise Software, and AI consolidating capital as the region's most investable sectors.

Read MAGNiTT’s full report here.

Market moves: Capital activity across MENA

🇦🇪 Mal raises $230 million strategic investment round led by BlueFive Capital to support product development, licensing efforts, and market entry ahead of the platform’s planned 2026 launch.
🇧🇭 Flooss secures $22 million credit facility structured by Shorooq to scale its core Sharia-compliant cash financing products and support portfolio growth and regional expansion.
🇴🇲 eMushrif raises $7.5 million funding round led by Jasoor Ventures to support regional expansion into Saudi Arabia and the UAE and invest in product development and operational capabilities.
🇸🇦 Governata raises $4 million seed round from Joa Capital and others to support product development, enhanced AI-driven decision-making, and regional expansion.
🇸🇦 Resquad AI raises $1.5 million Seed round led by SRG to support technology development, team expansion, and regional and international growth.
🇪🇬 KNOT Technologies raises $1 million pre-seed round led by A15 to support product development, international expansion, and deeper integrations across the live events ecosystem.

Exits, liquidity, and perspectives

Saudi Arabia’s venture scene goes global | Arab News

Saudi Arabia’s business landscape is set to see a “record year of liquidity events” in 2026, Philip Bahoshy, CEO of venture data platform MAGNiTT, has told Arab News.

Dusting off the IPO playbook | Enterprise AM

The Public Investment Fund (PIF) is reportedly back in the IPO market, looking at taking some of its newer portfolio companies public - or selling down stakes - to raise capital.

A new hope: What GPs expect from private equity in 2026 | PEI

Private equity managers are once again hoping to break the dealmaking dam in the year ahead.

LPs’ predictions: Will private equity return to normality in 2026? | PEI

Institutional investors share their insights on private equity trends for the year ahead with PEI.

Continuation funds drive a record year for the secondaries market | Pitchbook

There were $106 billion of deals intended to help managers hold onto companies for longer, according to one of the most active intermediaries in the market.

GCC momentum and fundraising

Mideast Venture Capital Hits Record Amid International Flows | Bloomberg

Middle East venture capital funding hit record highs in 2025 as international capital poured into the region, helping it defy the fundraising slump seen across other emerging markets.

Saudi public investment fund assets grow 36% to $58.11bn in Q3 2025 | Arab News

Assets held by public investment funds in Saudi Arabia rose 36% from a year earlier to about SR217.9 billion ($58.1 billion) by the end of the third quarter of 2025, driven by strong growth in domestic investments, official data showed.

UAE’s Davos delegation signals rising influence in global economic and tech policy | Fast Company

The UAE joins Davos 2026 with 100 leaders to drive innovation, AI, and sustainability under the “Spirit of Dialogue,” led by H.H Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum.

How Sharjah is strengthening its SME base through targeted funding | Fast Company

Sharjah’s RUWAD approves AED800,000 in funding for two new projects to empower UAE entrepreneurs, enhance SME growth, and drive economic diversification.

What MENA’s wild 2025 funding cycle really revealed | Arab News

The Middle East and North Africa startup funding story in 2025 was less a smooth arc than a sequence of sharp gears: debt-led surges, equity-led recoveries, and periodic quiet spells that revealed what investors were really underwriting.

AI talent demand is soaring in the Middle East. But is acquihiring the right strategy? | Fast Company

Experts say reverse acquihires are a problem because they focus on quick gains but slowly change how innovation works in the long run.

FY 2025 State of Venture Capital in MENA Report | MAGNiTT

The report covers the performance of the Venture Capital space in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) markets in 2025, highlighting key trends and insights on funding, transactions, geographical trends, investor dynamics and more.

Dry powder and fund performance

Over 50% of MENA private equity portfolios to integrate AI by end of 2026 | Arabian Business

More than 50% of MENA private equity portfolios are set to adopt AI-driven value creation by end of 2026 as firms eye efficiency.

No strong correlation betwen fund size growth and future returns | PEI

Larger successor funds typically move GPs into bigger deals with potentially less return upside, not universally worse returns, according to Stepstone.

Global Private Market Funds' Dry Powder Dashboard | PitchBook

After posting its first annual decline in more than a decade in 2024, dry powder for private market funds returned to expansion last year.

Upcoming webinar: Building the liquidity layer for startups

Join us alongside industry experts for this upcoming conversation focused on how structured liquidity windows are reshaping startup secondaries. Our discussion will explore how entrepreneurs, boards, and investors can move from ad-hoc, high-friction transactions to repeatable, well-governed liquidity programs that balance fairness, control, and compliance.

If you are thinking about secondaries, employee liquidity, or long-term cap table health, this is a conversation worth joining.

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