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- Zest Wire | 4-February-2026
Zest Wire | 4-February-2026
Who are the most active investors in MENA? Plus: Highlights from Zest's first community event, and more.
This week’s agenda
📽️ Capital in Motion: Momentum, conversations, and what’s next for MENA’s private markets
💰 Capital activity across MENA private markets
🤝 M&A highlights
📖 What we’re reading
📆 Global leadership insights
Let’s dive in!
Capital in Motion: Momentum, conversations, and what’s next for MENA’s private markets
Last week, we hosted our first Zest community gathering and Capital in Motion set the tone just right. It was a room full of energy, thoughtful conversations, and meaningful connections across the private markets ecosystem.
Bringing together clients, partners, and peers in one space reinforced what drives us at Zest: strengthening the ecosystem by connecting the right stakeholders, encouraging open exchange, and building relationships that last beyond a single evening.
We called it Capital in Motion because that is our focus every day: Building the rails that allow private capital to move securely, compliantly, and efficiently. Seeing that idea come to life through real conversations and shared perspectives made the evening especially rewarding.
If you couldn’t join us this time, we would love to see you at the next one.
Market moves: Capital activity across MENA
🇦🇪 Property Finder raises $170 million in new funding led by Mubadala Investment Company to build the region’s leading real estate operating system focused on transparency and data-driven decision-making.
🇦🇪 AppliedAI closes a pre-series B round led by Mubadala’s MENA Venture Capital Fund and Arbor Ventures to accelerate global expansion and deepen enterprise deployments for its AI-native workflow solutions.
🇦🇪 Kitopi raises $50 million growth capital round led by EvolutionX to scale homegrown brands across high-growth GCC markets and accelerate its international franchising strategy.
🇲🇦 Yakeey raises $15 million Series A round with participation from Beltone Venture Capital, IFC, Enza Capital, and 212 Founders to support platform scaling and regional growth.
🇦🇪 Eat App raises $10 million in a Series B extension led by PSG Equity to expand its restaurant reservation and table management platform.
🇸🇦 Vennre raises $9.6 million pre-Series A round led by Vision Ventures and anb seed Fund to launch new platform features and provide Shariah-compliant access to private market investments.
🇦🇪 OpenCX raises $7 million in a funding round led by Y Combinator and X by Unifonic to support global enterprise growth and expansion into the GCC.
🇱🇧 HAQQ Legal AI raises $3 million strategic round led by Sowlutions Ventures to deepen its Legal AI architecture and expand enterprise deployments across MENA.
🇲🇦 Enakl raises $2.3 million Seed round led by Azur Innovation Fund, Witamax, and MFounders to support commercial expansion and the launch of its SaaS platform for operators.
🇦🇪 Mantas raises $1.77 million Seed round with participation from Nuwa Capital and Suhail Ventures to launch parametric insurance covering cloud outages and digital downtime.
🇦🇪 Yozo.ai raises $1.7 million pre-seed round co-led by Access Bridge Ventures and Disruptech Ventures to support product development and international expansion.
🇯🇴 Breez AI raises $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Wamda Capital to scale its no-code voice orchestration system for enterprise phone operations.
🇸🇦 GulfBoost Technology (GBT) raises $1.3 million pre-seed round led by Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Zamil & Sons Investment Company to launch GeoAI products tailored to the Saudi market.
M&A highlights
🇸🇦 Glamera acquires Bookr to support its GCC expansion strategy with a focus on scaling its presence in the beauty and wellness sector.
🇯🇴 Abwaab acquires Apex Education to strengthen its end-to-end student journey by integrating personalized college admissions advisory into its core tutoring platform.
MENA records its strongest funding recovery in history
While deal activity across the most active investors in SEA and Africa declined, MENA was the outlier, recording a 5% increase in deal activity among its top investors.
Regional investors led dealmaking activity across MENA, with familiar names like Antler, 500 Global, and +VC notching some of the highest deal activity levels among emerging markets.
To find the most active investors in MENA in 2025, download MAGNiTT’s latest report.
Sovereign wealth playbooks
MENA private markets and liquidity
The digital and AI infrastructure shift
Governance and responsible investing
Global leadership insights
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