Top Startup and VC News in MENA in April

Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus published its monthly report highlighting most important changes in MENA startup ecosystem. We chose five most important points for you.

• Dubai-based quick-commerce startup YallaMarket started accepting cryptocurrencies as payment on its app. After partnering with CoinMENA, the digital assets exchange licensed by Central Bank of Bahrain, the company added new payment method. Stable coins USDT (Tether) and USDC are accepted for orders made via their app.
• Careem added car rental service to its super app. It is now available via Swapp, which allows customers to browse cars on its app, and rent them on a monthly basis, initially for a minimum of 30 days. In April, Careem also got regulatory approval of its partnership with First Abu Dhabi Bank, allowing it to offer a wider range of services with its Careem Pay digital wallet, including bill payments and peer-to-peer money transfer using a phone number, QR code, or payment link, all with the ability to cash out.
• Bahrain’s cryptocurrency exchange Rain introduced zero per cent trading fees, with the aim to attract and on-board new customers in the region. This move follows the startup’s Series B funding in early 2022, which brought it $110 mln.
• Dubai announced plans to launch $100M Venture Capital Fund for Startups. The fund will start operating in June 2022. The main objectives are to contribute to the emirate's economic growth and strengthen its position as a global centre for financial technology and investment capital innovation. The fund will be governed by DIFC, which also contributes 15% to the fund.
• Endeavor Insight has partnered with Endeavor Saudi Arabia to study the entrepreneurship ecosystem for tech companies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The authors interviewed 70 tech entrepreneurs and collected data on more than 340 companies and their founders. Saudi Arabia has the potential to become a regional hub for tech entrepreneurship in the Middle East if more companies reach scale, the report says.