Summary

Summaries of MENA Venture Market Benchmarks in 2025

What's covered

Is MENA Venture in A Bull Market Or A Bear Market in 2025?

Short Answer: Both. Market forces are decoupling.

Special analysis in 5 charts

Data shows that for the first time in MENA's venture history, active investors outnumber new startups being founded. A critical imbalance that could affect the sustainability of tech innovation in the region.

Series A Seems Stuck: With Series A startup count unchanged since last year, the "middle of the funnel" appears stuck across all MENA markets. 30% of current Series A startups risk write-off by 2026.

Do MENA Startups and VCs Reap the AI Opportunity?

Short Answer: No clear winning strategy yet.

Special analysis in 5 charts

80% of MENA's AI ventures are concentrated in UAE (45%) and Saudi (34%).

More older startups rebranded as "AI startups" (43) than new AI ventures were founded (33) in 2024, indicating positioning strategies rather than new foundational AI innovation.

Where and What Stage Are the Active Startups in MENA 2025

Today, MENA has roughly 3600 active startups, from Pre-seed stage to beyond Series B

Analysis in 7 charts

UAE's dominance decreased from 51% to 46% while Saudi and Egypt gained ground. The pool of pre-seed startups shrank from 70% to 65%, while seed stage grew to 28%, indicating an aging market structure.

In this section, the Handbook breaks down the pipeline of active startups by stage and country, and key changes taking place in 2025.

What is the Quality of the Pipeline of Startups and Ventures in MENA 2025

Only 21% of companies self-identifying as 'startups' fit the minimum criteria for VC investment

Analysis in 4 charts

UAE remains home to 44% of VC-investable startups. Crypto ventures now represent 15% of viable ventures in MENA, with Dubai emerging as a global crypto hub.

In this section, the Handbook shows the noise level in MENA's startup ecosystem and where to find investable ventures.

What Are the Survival and Failure Rates of Startups in MENA 2025

Roughly, 56% of MENA Pre-seed startups never make it to the next stage

Analysis in 6 charts

Series A shows concerning signs with 30% write-off projections by 2026. Egypt exhibits a 68% failure rate for startups trying to reach Series A, the highest in the region.

In this group of insights, the Handbook covers survival rate and failure rates of Pre-seed, Seed, and Series A ventures in MENA, as well as by country.

Use this to calculate your company's survival chances and investment expected returns.

Premoney Valuation Benchmarks in MENA 2025

MENA Seed startups are normally priced between $2M and $12M

Analysis in 4 charts

UAE continues to lead with highest valuations, while Series A valuations remain at significant discount compared to global benchmarks.

In this group of insights, the Handbook covers premoney valuation at Seed stage and series A in MENA, as well as by country.

Shareholder Dilution in MENA 2025

10% equity is normally taken by investors at MENA Seed stage funding, 18% at Series A

Analysis in 4 charts

Seed round dilution standardized at 10% across the region, while Series A shows signs of private credit influence with equity dropping from 20% to 18% despite rising valuations.

In this group of insights, the Handbook covers shareholder dilution at Seed stage and series A in MENA, followed with dilution simulation tables.

Co-Investing, Ticket Size, and Holding Period Benchmarks in MENA 2025

No other source available as of 2025 provides a comparable level of visibility on MENA early stage data and venture lifecycle in MENA, UAE, Saudi, and Egypt

Methodology Explained

The science behind MENA's most reliable venture benchmarks

Detailed explanation of the Clearworld Model and statistical treatments used to generate insights from actual performance data, enabling replication and validation of findings for specific use cases

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What's in it to you and your audience

Is this your niche?

Who

You cover one of following topics:
- Tech and Technology Trends
- Startups and Innovation
- Venture Capital, Investment, and PE
- Economy and Business in MENA
- AI and Emerging Technologies

What is this report?

What

The 2025 MENA Early Stage Data Handbook is the world's most reliable source of benchmarks and visibility on MENA's venture markets, startups and scaleups. It analyzes the complete lifecycle of MENA tech startups from Pre-seed to Growth Stage.

It uses actual data from 10,608 MENA startups since 2010, with focus on the last 5 years ending 31 December 2024.

Data is up-to-date as of June 2025.

It is the first source in history to cover MENA startup valuation benchmarks. It is also the first to provide benchmarking data on shareholder dilution, startup survival rate, startup death rates, and investment holding periods.

What's New This Year

- The rise of investment activity despite a drop in new startup formation (analysis of market forces decoupling)
- Private credit's growing influence on venture deals
- Series A bottleneck analysis and write-off projections
- Deep dive into AI startup landscape in MENA
- Tunisia's emergence as the 5th largest startup hub in MENA

Which content can you use this for?

How

Cover the report itself:
Podcast episodes, blog posts, media coverage, news articles, LinkedIn posts, X posts

Use the report's findings in discussion:
Expert interviews, panel discussions, thought leadership pieces, market analysis and commentary

The value for your audience

Why

The report's value for founders and entrepreneurs:
Provide visibility and guiding benchmarks for fundraising management.

The report's value for policymakers:
Show the recent changes and trends in the tech innovation and tech investment space, measure their country’s performance against other countries in MENA, and identify which startup stages need more attention, and design evidence-based support programs.

The report's value for investors:
Provide benchmarks to calculate expected returns, set allocation strategy, do portfolio construction to maximize expected returns, fund and portfolio management, and interesting exercises such as ideal portfolio size: knowing how many companies are needed to yield 3 series B companies in 10 years.

Value To You

- Position yourself as a thought leader with exclusive 2025 data
- Engage your audience
- Create timely content about AI opportunities in MENA
- Activate the discussion with your interview guests
- Add your own commentary and thoughts to the report's findings

Talking points and basic recommendations

Keywords and titles

SEO

Primary keyword:
mena early stage startup and venture benchmarks 2025

Example titles:
"Too Many Investors, Not Enough Startups - MENA's 2025 Venture Market Faces A Unique Challenge"
"30% of MENA's Series A Startups Face Write-off Risk in 2026"
"330 AI Startups and Growing - How the AI Opportunity is Taking Shape in MENA"
"Tunisia Quietly Becomes MENA's 5th Largest Startup Hub"

Interesting findings and example angles for your content

Talking Points

Point 1:
MENA Has More Active Investors Than New Startups

Insight: For the first time in MENA's venture history, the number of active investors exceeded the number of new startups founded in 2024. This signals a critical imbalance between capital supply and startup demand.
Where: Pages 14-16
Angles for your content:

- Why aren't more people starting companies despite abundant capital?
- The unintended consequences of government-backed venture funds
- How to make entrepreneurship attractive again in a risk-averse economy

Point 2:
30% of MENA's Series A Startups Face Write-off Risk in 2026

Insights:
The total base of Series A population in MENA remained unchanged since last year. The "middle of the funnel" appears stuck across all MENA markets. 30% of current Series A startups risk write-off by 2026.
Where: Pages 11-12, 33, 76-77
Angles for your content:

- Why MENA's venture funnel is slowing in the middle
- Investment strategies for navigating the Series A bottleneck
- Should Series A startups skip traditional VC? What options do they have?

Point 3:
A Wave of Older Startups Rebrand As "AI Startups"

Insight: MENA had more older startups rebrand as "AI Startups" (43 startups) than actual new AI startups founded in 2024 (33 startups).
Where: Pages 17-23
Angles for your content:

- The AI rebranding trend - Is it a smart pivot or a survival maneuver?
- Building authentic AI capabilities vs. riding the hype wave
- Why Egypt's AI startups relocate to UAE and Saudi
- Why UAE and Saudi alone have 80% of MENA's AI startups

Point 4:
Private Credit is the New VC in MENA, Too

Insight: Series A equity dilution is decreasing while valuations and deal sizes increase - a clear signal of private credit and debt financing entering the MENA venture market, joining the global trend of VC fund managers diversifying into evergreen models.
Where: Pages 9-10, 68, 70-72
Angles for your content:

- The rise of "venture debt" in MENA markets and alternative funding strategies for capital-intensive startups
- How non-dilutive financing is changing the VC game
- Is traditional equity-based VC becoming obsolete?

Point 5:
Saudi's Growth Stage is the Most Expensive for MENA Investors, Even Globally

Insight: Saudi Series B rounds now average $35M and heading to $43M next year, surpassing even international benchmarks, and making Saudi the most expensive growth stage market globally for MENA investors.
Where: Pages 81-82
Angles for your content:

- Does SWFs' intervention make unicorns more costly to build?
- The ripple effects of Saudi's growth stage rally
- Investment opportunities in Saudi's neighboring markets

Point 6:
Is UAE's Leading Position in MENA's Startup Ecosystem About to Change?

Insight: UAE's market share dropped from 51% to 46%, but it still has the largest startup pipelines across all stages.
Where: Pages 30, 34
Angles for your content:

- Is UAE losing its grip on MENA's startup scene?
- The maturing of MENA's venture ecosystem beyond UAE
- Why Series A deals in UAE look different from the rest?

Point 7:
Tunisia Quietly Becomes MENA's 5th Largest Startup Hub

Insight: Tunisia has become MENA's 5th largest startup hub, despite 50% of its senior tech engineers being poached by Europe. 1.5% of tech engineers in 44% of France's unicorns are originally from Tunisia.
Where: Page 28
Angles for your content:

- Tunisia's brain drain: Europe's gain, MENA's loss
- How did Tunisia end up with a well-trained tech talent pool?
- Building bridges between Tunisian tech talent and GCC

About the Report

Title:
2025 MENA Early Stage Data Handbook
or "Data Handbook" for short

Cover:

URL:
https://clear.world/2025-mena-early-stage-data-handbook

Short URL:
https://clear.world/handbook

Who made it:
Clearworld, an insights and consulting firm in Dubai

When it was published:
9 June 2025
It will be released every year

Who funds it:
Clearworld

Why it is free:
It is under Clearworld's not-for-profit initiative "Common Intelligence". The initiative is created by Clearworld in 2023 to speed up the evolution of tech innovation in MENA by maximizing the level of visibility everyone has on the tech market. This includes founders and entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers.

"The World’s Most Reliable Source of Benchmarks and Visibility on MENA’s Venture Markets, Startups and Scaleups."

2025 MENA Early StageData Handbook

Complete benchmarks on MENA venture markets, tech startups and scaleups, for academic research, investment, fundraising and policy design ― with scientific reliabilityLatest Version: v2.4 (17 June 2025)

The 2025 Edition

What Is This Report'sReal World Value