GCC
Saudi Construction Tech Startup Fitting Raises $1.1M to Digitize Procurement
• Fitting, a Saudi ConTech startup founded in 2025, raised a $1.1M second seed round from an undisclosed strategic real estate investor. • The platform centralizes construction procurement, enabling contractors to order materials and track deliveries directly with suppliers. • The strategic investor provides direct market access and operational insight to help tailor the software to actual site bottlenecks. • Capital will fund geographic expansion within Saudi Arabia, technical infrastructure upgrades, and local engineering hires in alignment with Vision 2030.
Majestic Mind Games Raises $1.45 Million to Export Saudi-Developed PC Games
• Majestic Mind Games secured a $1.45M seed round co-led by Merak Capital and Impact46, with additional backing from NEOM. • The 2023-founded Jeddah studio bypasses localized content to export original PC, console, and mobile titles to global markets. • Funds will directly capitalize the transition from single-game prototyping to a sustained, multi-title production pipeline.
MedIQ Secures $6M Series A to Export Healthtech Infrastructure to the Gulf
- **The Deal:** MedIQ raised $6M in a Series A led by Rasmal Ventures and Joa Capital, pushing total funding to $9.8M. - **The Milestone:** Reached EBITDA-positive status before closing the Series A, driven by a B2B model targeting hospitals, insurers, and government agencies rather than individual consumers. - **The Strategy:** Validated its healthcare operating system in low-margin Pakistan before expanding into Saudi Arabia’s SAR 7.2B healthtech market, serving over 10M patients since 2023. - **The Market Shift:** Captured the largest share of Pakistan’s 2025 startup funding, driving a trend where female-founded startups secured 8 of the 11 disclosed equity rounds for the year.
QIIB Takes Strategic Stake in Qatari Payment Provider SkipCash
• **The Deal:** Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) executed a strategic investment in B2B payments startup SkipCash; financial terms remain undisclosed. • **Traction Metrics:** SkipCash processed over QAR 1 billion in 2025 transaction volume and manages a portfolio of 10,000+ active merchants. • **Market Position:** The company operates in the merchant technology sector, providing gateways, SoftPOS, and acquiring services rather than consumer applications. • **Capital Stack:** This investment builds on a recent $4M Series A backed by Qatar Development Bank alongside local venture and corporate investors. • **Strategic Outlook:** SkipCash will utilize the funds for GCC geographic expansion and merchant product development, signaling a trend of legacy Islamic banks utilizing domestic startups to accelerate digital merchant solutions.
UAE and Saudi Investors Back Syrian Super App Labby with $10 Million
• **Investment:** Syria-based Labby secured $10M from UAE and Saudi investors, logging the first direct foreign venture funding for a local tech startup. • **Product model:** Founded by Mohammad Fawaz in 2024, the platform bundles ride-hailing, food delivery, e-commerce, and payments to lower customer acquisition costs and drive daily user habits. • **Capital deployment:** The startup will allocate the fresh capital to hire engineers, upgrade its software architecture, and expand its footprint across the domestic market. • **Sector impact:** The transaction proves Gulf investors will back local founders in highly restricted business environments, setting a new precedent for the Syrian tech community. • **Strategic goal:** The platform aims to modernize local commerce by transitioning everyday offline consumer transactions onto digital payment rails.
UAE Startup Bundle Secures $5.5M Pre-Seed to Pool Brand Loyalty Rewards
* **Funding & Leadership:** UAE-based Bundle raised $5.5M in pre-seed capital, led by Ethereal Ventures and Further Ventures, to restructure retail customer loyalty mechanics. * **Core Mechanism:** Consolidates marketing spend from multiple SMEs into shared reward pools, replacing low-value, standalone cashback offers with aggregated, higher-value prizes to lower customer acquisition costs. * **Infrastructure:** Operates on stablecoin rails for cross-border settlement and compliance, fully abstracting Web3 complexity behind a traditional Web2 user interface. * **Market Traction:** A five-market pilot yielded up to a 4x conversion increase for participating brands; upcoming rollout targets Southeast Asia with a starting coalition of 50 partners.
Riyadh’s Ash Games Secures $1.5M Seed to Export Arabian Mythology
• **The Deal:** Ash Games Studio secured a $1.5M Seed round co-led by Merak Capital and Impact46 via the Merak Gaming Fund. • **Core Strategy:** The studio focuses exclusively on creating original intellectual property (IP) and building franchises, eschewing outsourced or contract development work. • **Product Pipeline:** The primary title, *Nomad: The Legend of Zarqa* (action-adventure roguelite), targets a 2027 release across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. • **Market Positioning:** The investment signals a broader domestic push to transform Saudi Arabia from a high-growth consumer gaming market into a creator and exporter of globally competitive interactive media.