Startup funding across the Middle East and North Africa rebounded sharply in May, with companies raising about 454.7 million dollars across 33 deals, according to the monthly tally compiled by Wamda. The figure represents a jump of more than 200 percent on April and a rise of about 76 percent on the same month a year earlier, a recovery that says as much about how regional founders are financing growth as about investor appetite.
Debt does the heavy lifting
The headline number is less a story about venture capital than about debt. Borrowing made up roughly two thirds of the month's total, concentrated in a small number of large facilities. The biggest single contributor was a 300 million dollar debt raise by the logistics company Trukker, which alone accounted for most of the gap between a quiet April and a busy May. That pattern matters for how the figures should be read. A month that looks like a surge in equity confidence is, on closer inspection, a handful of established companies borrowing against their balance sheets, while early stage equity rounds remain harder to close.
The UAE keeps its lead
On a country basis, the ranking held to its familiar shape. The UAE attracted about 379 million dollars across 15 deals, keeping its place as the region's most funded ecosystem, with the Trukker facility doing much of the work, according to Economy Middle East. Saudi Arabia came second, with startups securing about 70 million dollars across 11 deals, a rise of more than 160 percent on April that points to steady deal flow rather than a single outsized round. Egypt placed third, with three startups raising a combined 5 million dollars, a modest month for a market that has historically traded second and third place with the Kingdom.
A persistent gap
One number cut against the recovery. Companies founded by men raised about 442 million dollars across 28 deals, while women founded startups raised a combined 200,000 dollars between just two deals. The disparity is not new, but the scale of it in a strong month is a reminder that headline growth does not reach the ecosystem evenly. Taken together, the year to date total of close to 1.5 billion dollars across five months suggests resilience rather than recovery, with founders leaning on debt to bridge a period in which equity investors remain selective and the regional macro picture stays clouded by the geopolitical risk that weighed on the first quarter.
