45 Unicorns to Emerge from MENA by 2030

More than 45 start-ups valued at a minimum of $1 billion are expected to emerge from the Middle East and North Africa by 2030, with Saudi Arabia being the leader.

Currently MENA is home only to 4 unicorns, half of them is based in the UAE. At the same time, the number of Israeli-based unicornds last year almost doubled, reaching 37.

In a study released on Tuesday, the Saudi technology venture capital fund said the acceleration of the start-up ecosystem in the MENA region is being driven by a growing talent pool, technology infrastructure and consumer adoption.

The centre calls Saudi Arabia "undoubtedly the gravitational centre" of the broader MENA area. The kingdom stands out primarily thanks to the following two factors: the size of its GDP and the depth of its stock market, which has recently become a centre for Middle East companies IPOs.

Another study from start-up data platform Magnitt and Saudi Venture Capital showed that capital funding in the kingdom surged more than three-fold to $584m in the H1 2022. This is more than all the funding raised in 2021, as the kingdom continues to accelerate its digital transformation projects.

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