Egyptian startups were the second highest recipients of funding in MENA in June, with eight businesses raising USD 52 mn, according to Wamda. The majority of that figure comes from Trella’s USD 42 mn funding round co-led by Maersk Growth that was closed late last month. The Trella financing was the fifth largest across the region in 1H2021.

MENA startups raised a total of USD 267 mn in June through 44 agreements, bringing 2Q2021 investments up to over USD 552 mn — a 33% y-o-y increase compared to 1Q2020. UAE startups led the region in startup funding, raising USD 137 mn in total last month across 14 transactions.

Breakdown by industry: Fintech attracted the most investment with USD 306 mn, a number propelled by the USD 110 mn raised by Saudi Arabia startup Tamara in its Series A round. E-commerce came in next with USD 181 mn raised by startups in the sector, followed by logistics which accounted for USD 103 mn in total funding.

MENA almost broke the USD 1 bn mark in 1H2021, coming in short at USD 978 mn investments raised across 249 agreements. Some 44% of funding went to UAE startups, 27% to Saudi Arabian startups, and 12.5% to Egyptian startups.

Something we’re not happy about: In June, no female-led startups received funding. Instead, 37 of the investments went to male-led businesses while seven agreements were signed by mixed founding teams. Across 1H2021, startups founded by men received 96% of funding agreements, while female-founded startups attracted a mere 0.9%.