Startup funding across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region plummeted in June 2025, with only $52 million raised across 37 deals—an 82% decline month-on-month and a 55% drop compared to June 2024. The slowdown was further underscored by the fact that 40% of this capital came through debt instruments, pointing to increasingly cautious investor sentiment amid global macroeconomic uncertainty.

The UAE reclaimed its position as the region’s top-funded market, with 13 startups raising $37 million, accounting for over 70% of all capital deployed last month. This marks a shift from May, when Egypt led the charts; however, in June it slipped to second place with a modest $6.2 million raised across six deals.

In an unexpected turn, Tunisia entered the top three, driven entirely by a single standout deal: Kumulus, a water generation startup, secured a $3.5 million seed round. This placed the North African country ahead of Saudi Arabia, which saw just $3 million raised by six startups — a notable dip for one of the region’s most active ecosystems.

Fintech remained the leading sector, attracting 74% of total capital across ten deals. Cleantech followed — again, thanks solely to Kumulus — while the Web3 sector secured $2 million across two rounds.

When excluding debt-based financing, the bulk of funding went to early-stage companies. Seed-stage startups attracted $10.6 million across 11 rounds, followed by $5 million in pre-seed capital distributed among eight transactions. Only one Series A deal was recorded—valued at just $100,000, signalling a continued gap in growth-stage funding.

Startups operating under business-to-business (B2B) models received 78% of total funding across 21 deals. Hybrid B2B2C startups followed, securing $9.7 million across five deals, while pure B2C startups captured under $1.5 million across eight rounds — indicating continued investor confidence in enterprise-focused models.

In June, mixed-gender founding teams made a significant impact, garnering 45% of the total capital, albeit concentrated in just four deals. Meanwhile, 27 all-male teams raised $28 million, and six women-led startups secured only $223,200.

While the numbers may seem encouraging at first glance, they actually highlight the scarcity of mixed-gender or female-led teams that are reaching the fundraising table — a long-standing gap in MENA’s startup ecosystem.

June’s numbers mark one of the sharpest funding drops in the first half of 2025. The drop may also indicate a broader recalibration in MENA’s startup landscape, likely influenced by the summer slowdown, valuation resets, and tightening global liquidity.

Stay tuned for Wamda's H1 investment breakdown.

These monthly reports are a collaboration between Wamda and Digital Digest.