The current Q3 MENA Venture Investment report leverages MAGNiTT's data to provide an in-depth analysis of venture investments in Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) startups in Q3 2020. With the analysed period spreading from 2015 to 2020, the report presents compelling insights on the MENA venture space on a yearly, quarterly and monthly basis. It also paints a dynamic picture of the continued impact of COVID-19 on the region’s technology startups & investors.

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2. Contents Foreword & Executive Summary
Funding Overview
Industry Breakdown
Funding Institutions
Country Breakdown
Top Funding Rounds & Exits
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Methodology & Definitions 47
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3. 3| Source: MAGNiTT
Q3’20 was the lowest quarter for number of funding rounds since 2018
Following a historical trend of Q3 being the calmest quarter of the year, capital invested in Q3’20 was x% down from Q2’20
YoY the total funding increased by x% to $xM in Q3’20, while the deals number dropped by x% to x
Quarterly funding trend of MENA - Based startups by total funding ($) and number of deals (#)
MEGA (+$100M) Funding Amount
Undisclosed Proxy $
Disclosed Funding $
# of Deals
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4. 2020: average ticket size increased across all funding stages since FY’19
The x% increase in Series B average funding was mostly attributable to Kitopi’s $xM Series B deal in early 2020
The average ticket size for Series A went up by x% since FY’19, while Early Stage funding was up by x%
| Source: MAGNiTT
Early Stage
Series B
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Series A
Average Funding Round by Funding Stage - 2015 to 2020
Early Stage
Series A
Series B
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5. 2020 YTD: E-Commerce ranked 1st in deals, Transport dropped 78%
E-Commerce accounted for x% of total deals thanks to $xM Jahez, $xM SellAnyCar.com and $xM Nana rounds
Transport decreased the most in 2020 YTD (-x%), accounting for x% of total deals by the end of the analysed period
5| Source: MAGNiTT
Industry Ranking by Deals 2020 YTD
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6. Top 10 countries by funding 2019 YTD vs 2020 YTD
Lebanon suffered the most with a drop of $xM of total VC funding YTD, followed by an outflow from Saudi (-$xM) and
Morocco (-$xM); Bahrain saw a $xM inflow (+x%), followed by that of $xM to Palestine (+x%)
6| Source: MAGNiTT
Country Ranking by Funding
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7. Number of investors by type 2019 YTD vs 2020 YTD
Despite a general slowdown in investment activity in 2020, VC firms saw an increase of x%, together with Angels (+x%)
Family offices dropped the most (-x%), followed by accelerators (-x%) and CVC (-x%)
| Source: MAGNiTT 7
Number of investors by type 2019 vs 2020 YTD
2020 YTD
2019 YTD
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8. Number of exits (#) by country in MENA, 2019 vs 2020 YTD
2020 YTD: exits were down across all countries in MENA
Only the UAE saw 2 exits in 2020, a 71% decrease compared to 2019 YTD
KSA, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar registered one exit per country in 2020
8| Source: MAGNiTT
2020 YTD
2019 YTD
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9. 9
Methodology & Definitions
What is included in this report’s data
● Equity investments into startups based in Emerging Venture Markets*, including investments from Venture Capital firms, Corporate Venture Capital
firms, Angel Groups, individual angels, Accelerators, Family Offices, and Equity Crowdfunding
● Investments in private companies. Funding raised by public companies of any kind on any stock exchange is not included in our data
● Investment made at a particular time for tranched investments. If a startup raises $5M in Q1 of a year and $2M in Q2 of that year as part of the same
funding round, the $5M is recorded in Q1 and the $2M is recorded in Q2
● Funding that has actually been closed, not what is intended to be closed. If a startup raises $6M out of an intended $10M total funding round, only $6M
is included in the data. The other $4M is only included if and when the funding has actually been raised
● Only verifiable funding is included, either through confirmation by investor(s) or verifiable legal documents/press release
What is not included in this report’s data
● Contingent funding is not included. If a startup receives an investment commitment for $100M contingent on hitting certain performance milestones,
but first gets $50M as actual investment, only the $50M is included in our data.
● No buyouts, consolidations, and/or recapitalizations. All three of these transaction types are commonly employed by private equity firms, but are not
part of the venture funding tracking of MAGNiTT.
● No debt and/or loans of any kind, except convertible notes. Venture debt or any kind of debt / loan issued to startups is not included. If a startup
receives $5M with $4M in equity funding and $1M in debt, other than convertible notes, only the $4M is included.
● Funding raised by public companies of any kind on any stock exchange is not included in our data.
* Emerging Venture Markets include The Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan
| Source: MAGNiTT

10. 10
Methodology & Definitions
● MAGNiTT collects and aggregates data on the startup ecosystem, through multiple channels:
➢ Direct: Quarterly follow up directly with over 100 funding institutions requesting details on all investments, stage, date, funding as well as
other co-investors in the platform. These include all the region’s VCs, angel groups, accelerators, university funds and familyoffices
➢ Public: Daily gathering of public announcements and press releases focused on the MENA Venture funding landscape. All features are
followed up with announcements liaised with the founders
➢ Proprietary: As a platform, startups and institutions on MAGNiTT list their proprietary information on investment raised, date of
investment, funding stage, as well as investors. Once verified, the data is included in MAGNiTT’s reports
● MAGNiTT’s focus is the Emerging Venture Markets that include:
➢ Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen
➢ Other EMV countries: Turkey, Pakistan
● MAGNiTT’s Calculations on Deals with Undisclosed Investment Amounts are:
➢ Based on the funding stage of the investment (e.g. seed or Series A)
➢ Based on the year of the investment
➢ For example: if a deal is a SEED stage deal in 2018, MAGNiTT takes the average deal size of all SEED stage investments in 2018 and
applies this value as a proxy for the undisclosed deal amount in 2018
| Source: MAGNiTT

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Methodology & Definitions
The criteria of inclusion of transactions in MAGNiTT’s reports comprise:
● Country HQ: In each of our country Venture Reports, the location by which the data is analysed based on the HQ as chosen or
highlighted by each startup and registered on the MAGNiTT platform. The report does not include ventures with HQ’s registered in other
geographies with operations in the analysed country. It also does not include funding for founders from a specific country with HQs in
another country.
● Investors: The report focuses on Venture investments. While the report comprises angel investment deals, its main objective is to cover
the activity of institutional VC investors. Where disclosed Angel investments are made at early stage these deals are included once
verified.
● Validation: To ensure accuracy and confidence in our data, MAGNiTT undertakes a validation process for each funding round.
Verification of funding rounds follows the below process:
➢ Validated if there is a 3rd party source for the investment round
➢ Validated if confirmed by the investor of the investment round
➢ Not included if added by startups that has no 3rd party reference
MAGNiTT uses the following terminology related to funding:
● Disclosed Funding: indicates the aggregation of all deals that had a disclosed funding amount (e.g. MAGNiTT raised $1M)
● Estimated Undisclosed Funding: indicates all deals that had undisclosed funding amounts, for which the calculation above is used (e.g.
a startup at Seed stage did not disclose its funding amount, but MAGNiTT estimated the funding based on funding stage and year)
● Total Funding: the combination of Disclosed Funding and Estimated Undisclosed Funding
| Source: MAGNiTT

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