Rize, a Saudi Arabian rent-now-pay-later platform propelled the funding activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this week, securing double-digit growth capital in a mix of debt and equity to accelerate growth. Also, the US-based Egyptian fintech platform MoneyHash, which offers comprehensive payment operating system-as-a-service secured growth funding, and many other startups raised seed or pre-seed capital. These include UAE-based retail SaaS provider Retailhub, UAE fintech startup Pluto, HRtech platform Ogram, and Saudi agritech Arable.
DILASHA SETH
Rize, a Saudi Arabian rent-now-pay-later platform propelled the funding activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this week, securing double-digit growth capital in a mix of debt and equity to accelerate growth. Also, the US-based Egyptian fintech platform MoneyHash, which offers comprehensive payment operating system-as-a-service secured growth funding, and many other startups raised seed or pre-seed capital. These include UAE-based retail SaaS provider Retailhub, UAE fintech startup Pluto, HRtech platform Ogram, and Saudi agritech Arable.
Retailhub
UAE-based retail SaaS provider Retailhub secured funding from angel investment firm Angelspark of an undisclosed amount to scale the business within the country and beyond.
Founded in 2022 by Daniel Alimov and Roman Tikhonov, Retailhub offers advanced inventory management solutions, empowering grocery retailers to optimize their operations. Through its AI-driven technology, Retailhub enables businesses to gain real-time insights into shelf performance, ensuring better stock management and a superior shopping experience for customers.
The startup aims to utilise the latest funding to further expand its platform capabilities, strengthen its partnerships, and grow its operations.
Pluto
UAE-based corporate card and expense management platform Pluto raised $4.1 million in a pre-Series A funding round led by existing and new investors, including Canadian venture capital firm Rhino Ventures, to accelerate its expansion to Saudi Arabia. Other investors that participated in the round include Born Capital, Goanna Capital, Evolution VC, Freesearch VC, and Tiferes VC.
Founded in 2021 by Mohammed Ridwan, Mohammed Aziz and Nayeem Zen, Pluto enables businesses to streamline their spending management using virtual and physical cards with specific spending controls. Besides its expansion plans, Pluto aims to use the additional funding to scale its newly launched product, Pluto Connect in the GCC market. The latest round of funding comes three years after Pluto raised its $6 million seed round, which was led by Global Founders Capital. Other participants in that round included Adapt VC, Soma Capital, Graph Ventures, and OldSlip Group.
Ogram
Ogram, a UAE-based HRtech platform that enables businesses to book and manage staff on-demand, raised $3 million in funding from Tenami Capital to accelerate its expansion plans in Saudi Arabia. In July last year, Ogram had raised an undisclosed funding round led by Oraseya Capital, the venture capital arm of Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), along with existing backers Aditum Investment Management, and Everywhere VC.
Ogram, the digital staffing marketplace was founded in 2017 by Karim Kouatly, and Shafiq Khartabil. In 2022 Ogram had closed a $3 million Series A funding round, led by Modus Capital and Aditum Investment Management, Dtec Ventures, and DAAL VC. Besides facilitating expansion to Saudi Arabia, the funding would likely help with Ogram’s working capital, enabling faster payouts for its workforce.
Sampo AI
Oman-based SaaS provider Sampo AI secured $750,000 in a pre-seed funding round, which was co-led by Omantel Innovation Labs and Waad VC, as it plans regional expansion. The funding round also saw participation from Hexnture and a group of Saudi angel investors.
Founded in July 2024 by Saif Al-Essai and Khalifa Manaa, Sampo AI facilitates the optimization of pricing strategies for e-commerce businesses. Its advanced platform analyses user behaviour, and purchase patterns, and conducts A/B testing to make smarter, data-driven pricing decisions. The investment will be used towards Sampo AI’s expansion across Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Arable
Arable, a Saudi Arabia-based agritech startup raised $2.55 million in seed funding from undisclosed investors.
Founded in 2024 by Lawrence Ong and Christina Khalife, Arable creates hydroponic farms for vegetable production that are cost-effective and locally adjusted to the desert climate. The round saw participation from institutional and private investors, with 90% of the funding coming from foreign investors.
Rize
Proptech platform Rize raised $35 million in a Series A investment round led by Raed Ventures and existing investors in a mix of equity and debt to accelerate its growth. The round also saw participation from Seedra Ventures through its second fund as well as Aqar Platform, JOA Capital, Nama Ventures, and HALA Ventures.
Rize had raised $2.9 million in a seed round last year from a slew of regional venture capital firms and angel investors including Seedra Ventures, and Hala Ventures to expand its presence across Saudi Arabia.
Founded in 2021 by Ibrahim Balilah and Mohammed AlFraihi, Rize offers the rent-now-pay-later platform, which allows tenants to pay their rent in flexible monthly installments. In fact, Rize has also raised funds through debt to bolster its investments in the real estate sector.
MoneyHash
Fintech platform MoneyHash, which provides access to payment and fintech services across the Middle East and Africa secured $5.2 million in pre-Series A funding led by Flourish Ventures to propel its penetration into the Middle East and Africa market.
The funding round also saw participation from Vision Ventures, Arab Bank's Xelerate, and Emurgo Kepple Ventures, Jason Gardner, and existing investors, including COTU, RZM Investment, and Github founder Tom Preston-Werner.
Last year, MoneyHash had secured $4.5 million in seed funding from a slew of notable venture capital firms in the region, including the Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF), to scale the business. Founded in the latter part of 2020 by Nader Abdelrazik, Mustafa Eid, and Anisha Sekar, the startup is headquartered in New York City, with operations in the Middle East and Africa region.
MoneyHash is a payment orchestration that offers a comprehensive payment operating system-as-a-service to address various technological and product challenges faced by enterprise merchants. The company raised $3 million in pre-seed funding in 2022. It aims to use the funds mainly to expand the business team and growth capabilities while maintaining technological progress. It currently has 30 team members across nine countries.