The biggest and most ambitious source on industry insights in MENA venture capital history.
This is the first source to cover MENA startup valuation benchmarks. It is also the first to provide benchmarking data on founder dilution, failure and success rates, and holding period from seed to series A to series B.
In the 2024 edition, we also add two special briefs: why funding in MENA dropped in 2023 and how it is misinformation to say it was a collapse; and how Europe is poaching away MENA's high quality tech talent pool.
What Happened to MENA Venture in 2023?
Special analysis of the changes in venture investment activity in MENA 2021-2023, with deep dive into the historical activity of investors who stopped in 2023
Where and What Stage Are the Active Startups in MENA 2024
Breaks down the pipeline of active startups by stage and country
What is the Quality of the Pipeline of Startups and Ventures in MENA 2024
What proportion of pipeline is startup and what proportion is SMEs
What Are the Success and Failure Rates of Startups in MENA 2024
Success and failure rates of pre-seed, seed, and series A startups, as well as by country
Premoney Valuation Benchmarks in MENA 2024
Premoney valuation at seed stage and series A, as well as by country
Dilution, Co-Investing, Ticket Size, and Holding Period Benchmarks in MENA 2024
No other source available as of 2024 who provides this level of visibility on MENA early stage data and venture lifecycle in MENA, UAE, Saudi and Egypt
Special Brief: Tech Talent in Tunisia Needs Us
Special brief on how Europe is poaching top quality tech engineers in Tunisia, how Tunisian tech talent is valuable to global unicorns, and the opportunity for MENA to win back a large pool of tech talent
The real hurdle in front of startups in MENA is how open customers are to working with startups.
You can enter a sector with huge TAM only to discover that there isn't enough business given to startups to grow and scale. Moreover, you find yourself competing with other startups over a small leftover of the market pie.
In this seminal report, we provide insight on investor demand, customer demand and competition among startups in 30 sectors in MENA.
For a tech founder, this will save you 18 months of runway and cash on market discovery. We also provide how-to guidelines on how to act if you find out that you are in a difficult sector.
For a policymaker, this will tell you which sectors need your attention.
Investor Demand and Market Demand For Tech Startups In MENA 2024
How many investors allocate in each sector How to use this knowledge to estimate customer demand for tech startups in each sector in a reliable way How the current way of using capital raised to estimate market difficulty for startups is misleading Includes worked out figures as of Jan 2024
How Difficult It Is To Compete As A Tech Startups In MENA 2024
How many startups are there in each sector How many fail How to use this knowledge to estimate competition difficulty with in a reliable way Includes worked out figures as of Jan 2024
MENA Startup Market Difficulty Map 2024
List of 30 sectors in MENA ranked by difficulty for startups, based on demand, supply and competition level Visual map: Market Difficulty Map Includes worked out figures as of Jan 2024
What To Do If You’re In A Difficult Sector
5 different strategies on how to use the insights from the Market Difficulty Map to guide your pivot, role or job switch Includes worked out figures as of Jan 2024
Market Difficulty for Each Sector in MENA 2024
One-card summary for each sector, containing information on its customer and investor demand, its level of competition between startups, and its population of startups Includes worked out figures as of Jan 2024
Capital flow shapes up market forces. Focusing on target industries data to pitch to LPs, and neglecting what other investors do in the actual market, may cause many surprises.
This guidebook demonstrates how to use data insights in the MENA tech investment market to tweak your thesis and eliminate later surprises.
How the Tech Investment Market Works in MENA 2024
What is the actual MENA market Who invests besides VCs Market sizing: investment firms, tech companies and market cap
The Context That Is Shaping Market Forces Behavior Today
What makes MENA tech ventures attractive today How Saudi SWFs capital injection impacted the market cycle How investors behavior adapted to it: co-investing, basic strategy Investor preference for sectors in MENA Market sentiment: growth stock or quick exit? Total size of illiquid asset in MENA tech Common exit paths in MENA PE
Common Investment Thesis in MENA 2024
What is the common investment thesis and strategy in MENA early stage in 2024 What is the common approaches funds use to action the common strategy in MENA
Common Intelligence (CI) is MENA's first private sector economic development initiative to empower guided economic activity in tech innovation, tech investment and policy through public availability of highest quality market insights.
Our approach
Set a new collective bar of data-informedness in all operations in MENA tech innovation, investment and policy across all economic participants.
Clearworld is the only firm in MENA that maximizes data-informedness to provide decision insight. Common Intelligence is the first and only private-sector economic development not-for-profit initiative built to push tech innovation in MENA to evolve into systemic industrialization by empowering guided economic activity through publicly accessible highest quality market insights. Common Intelligence is developed using the Clearworld Model.
