SMEs secure fresh capital and strategic partnerships

RIYADH: Startups across the Middle East and North Africa are accelerating growth through new funding rounds, regulatory milestones, and technology deployments, with companies in fintech, legal tech, and health tech attracting strong investor interest.

From Morocco to the UAE, founders are scaling operations, expanding regionally, and enhancing product capabilities as demand for digital and artificial intelligence-driven services continues to rise across key sectors.

UAE-based legal tech startup Oqood has secured $1 million in seed funding from a group of angel investors, a significant step in its drive to modernize legal services through AI.

The startup, founded by Khaled Al-Rasheed, develops AI-powered tools designed to automate repetitive legal tasks, streamline documentation, and improve communication between clients and legal professionals.

“This round reflects the growing investor interest in legal technology, a sector valued at more than $31 billion in 2024 and projected to grow at an annual rate of 9.4 percent,” said Al-Rasheed, founder and CEO of Oqood.

With the new capital, the company plans to expand across the Gulf Cooperation Council and further develop its AI legal solutions, aiming to support firms in their transition toward more efficient and digital-first operations.

Chari closes $12m series A

Moroccan e-commerce and fintech startup Chari has raised $12 million in a series A round led by SPE Capital and Orange Ventures.

The round, which is the largest series A raised by a Moroccan startup, also drew support from Verod-Kepple, Global Founders Capital, Plug and Play, and other prominent investors, including angels such as Property Finder’s Michael Lahyani and InstaDeep’s Karim Beguir. Chari’s total funding now stands at $17 million.

The startup has also received a payment institution license from Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco’s central bank, making it the first VC-backed startup in the country to achieve this regulatory milestone.

“This is a unique opportunity to turn traditional grocery stores into local points of sale for financial services,” said Sophia Alj, co-founder of Chari.

Co-founder and CEO Ismael Belkhayat added: “Now that our rails are fully operational and supporting Chari’s needs, we are opening them to third parties. This marks the beginning of Chari’s Banking-as-a-Service offering.”

Tabby deploys NVIDIA HGX systems to build local AI infrastructure

Riyadh-based fintech Tabby has announced its investment in NVIDIA HGX systems to accelerate the development of AI applications across customer service, fraud detection, and personalized shopping experiences.

The deployment will support Tabby’s efforts to host and train its AI models locally, ensuring data is managed in compliance with regional regulations.

Khaled Al-Rasheed’s Oqood develops AI-powered tools for repetitive legal tasks. (Supplied)

“AI is now central to how we create exceptional experiences for our customers and a safer payment ecosystem,” said Daniil Barkalov, chief operations officer and co-founder of Tabby.

The company, which serves over 20 million users and 40,000 retail partners across the GCC, is strengthening its AI capabilities to provide more secure, faster, and personalized financial services.

Marc Domenech of NVIDIA added: “NVIDIA HGX systems and NVIDIA software provide Tabby with the secure, high-performance infrastructure needed to advance AI capabilities in financial services while ensuring data is processed locally.”

Kuunda raises $7.5m to expand fintech footprint

UK-headquartered fintech Kuunda has raised $7.5 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Portugal Gateway Fund, Seedstars Africa Ventures, 4Di Capital, and others.

The company provides embedded credit solutions for mobile money platforms and aims to unlock short-term liquidity for agents, merchants, and small businesses across emerging markets.

“We are unlocking access to finance for Africa’s productive class — the agents, merchants, and small businesses that are the backbone of these economies,” said Andy Milne, co-founder and co-CEO of Kuunda.

PAYDAY secures funding to scale in Tunisia

Tunisian fintech and insurance tech startup PAYDAY has closed its pre-seed funding round at a $3 million valuation.

The round was led by UGFS North Africa with participation from TALYS Group and BioProtection SA.

Founded in 2020 by Ismael Belkhayat and Sophia Alj, Chari enables small retailers to access embedded financial services. (Supplied)

PAYDAY offers salary-backed financing combined with micro-Takaful products to promote financial inclusion.

“This alliance strengthens PAYDAY’s ability to develop its services and ensure the scalability of this innovative solution, serving businesses and their employees,” said Mohamed Gadhoum, co-founder and CEO of PAYDAY.

With more than 10,000 transactions recorded since its 2024 launch, the startup is now expanding into a financial aggregator model, integrating banks, insurers, and microfinance providers to offer inclusive financial services.

Nanovate raises $1m to scale Arabic-first AI solutions across MENA

Egyptian AI startup Nanovate has secured $1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by angel investors.

Founded by Nancy Madbouly and Ahmed Gamal just nine months ago, the company builds Arabic-native AI chat and voice agents, automation tools, and customized AI systems tailored to local dialects.

“This isn’t just another AI startup — it’s a movement to put Arabic at the center of global innovation,” said Ahmed Gamal, co-founder and CEO of Nanovate.

The funding will be used to expand operations in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, scale the AI ecosystem, and deepen integration with business software platforms.

Nanovate, which has built its own LLM models, recently launched a beta dashboard allowing companies to deploy Arabic-language AI agents with emotion and speech recognition capabilities.

TachyHealth raises $5m series A to advance AI in healthcare

UAE-based health tech startup TachyHealth has raised $5 million in a series A round led by Saudi insurance giant Tawuniya, with participation from other investors.

The company develops AI-driven healthcare solutions to support payers and providers with smarter, value-based decision-making tools.

Founded by Osama AbouElkhir, Amr Fawzy, and Jamal Al-Naser, TachyHealth aims to reduce costs, enhance patient experience, and improve operational efficiency through AI.

With the new funding, it will scale its solutions across health care and insurance markets, strengthen partnerships, and further its mission to align clinical outcomes with financial performance.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is positioning itself at the forefront of the global travel evolution by designing destinations that will target the tourists of the future, the Kingdom’s tourism minister has said.

Ahmed Al-Khateeb added that sustainability would serve as the guiding principle behind Saudi Arabia’s role in tomorrow’s global travel landscape.

Travelers’ habits and the tourism industry’s revenue sources have shifted dramatically in recent years, he told Arab News in an interview.

“People used to travel in groups. Today, they are traveling in smaller groups. Hotels used to make most of their revenues from rooms — now, they are making more from lounges and restaurants.”

And younger generations, empowered by technology, are also redefining how travel is planned and experienced, Al-Khateeb added. “They are driving their own itineraries on the go, which puts pressure on traditional travel companies that once organized large group trips. We are witnessing big shifts in the global travel market.”

Among the world’s fastest-growing tourism markets, China and India are reshaping international travel flows. “China has become the most important source market for outbound travelers, while India is expected to double its number of travelers in the coming years,” the minister said. “This opens a major opportunity for the Middle East — and Saudi Arabia in particular — to emerge as a top destination for international tourists.”

Since 2019, Saudi Arabia has recorded the fastest tourism growth among all G20 nations, said Al-Khateeb. “We have a very strong domestic market and a very strong religious market. Now, we have opened our doors for leisure, business and holiday travelers — whether they seek the Red Sea coast, the southern mountains, our major cities or our beautiful islands.”

Yet the Kingdom’s long-term vision for tourism extends far beyond the present, with destinations being built to serve both visitors and residents sustainably, he added.

“In the 1950s and 1960s, cities were built for residents,” Al-Khateeb said. “Today, in places like Greece, visitors outnumber residents three to one. The cities of the future must be designed for visitors as well — and that’s what we are doing in Saudi Arabia.”

Sustainability has become a non-negotiable element of all tourism development in the Kingdom, he added. “In the last two decades, sustainability has become extremely important. As we build new destinations like the Red Sea, we are fully aligned with sustainability regulations. Whatever we build today is environmentally friendly, ensuring not only environmental, but also social and economic sustainability.”

This principle lies at the heart of Vision 2030’s tourism transformation: “Sustainability is at our forefront whenever we build or operate any new destination,” he added.

SMEs secure fresh capital and strategic partnerships