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  • Joy Awards: MENA’s biggest awards show set to return to Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh

    Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) announced on Tuesday the return of Joy Awards for its highly anticipated fifth edition with nominations for all categories now open. The region’s largest celebrity awards show – part of Riyadh Season and co-organized by MBC Group – will take place on January 18, 2025. The award show recognizes and honors the GCC and wider Arab world’s best artists and their achievements. Spanning cinema, television, music, sports, and digital influence, the ceremony serves as a premier platform for entertainment excellence, honoring the exceptional talent that drives cultural vibrancy and standout creativity throughout the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

  • MENA cinema market poised for major growth, led by Saudi Arabia’s surge in screen count and revenue

    New Omdia analysis has revealed the MENA cinema market is poised for substantial revenue growth, projected to increase from $900 million in 2024 to $1.5 billion by 2029. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is expected to play a pivotal role, contributing nearly two-thirds of the region's cinema revenue by 2029. Saudi Arabia is set to lead the MENA region in screen count by year-end, reaching 803 screens, followed by the UAE with 734. This growth is largely due to Saudi Arabia's substantial investment in its entertainment infrastructure.

  • Saudi Arabia pumps funding into startups as it vies for Mena No 1

    The VC market across the Middle East and North Africa raised $1.3 billion from January to September 2024 – and Saudi Arabia “led the region”, said startup analyst Magnitt. The kingdom secured “39 percent of Mena’s total funding” and activity was driven by $100 million-plus “deals like SallaApp’s $130 million round” in March, according to Magnitt’s Q3 report. The UAE was the region’s “most active market”, Magnitt added, “with a 12 percent increase in deal volume, accounting for 38 percent of all deals”

  • MENA’s Magnetic Pull: Are Foreign Investors Coming Back?

    UAE and Saudi Arabia are the go-to destinations for international investors in MENA, no doubt due to their well-established and relatively mature VC ecosystems. In H1 2024 alone, a whopping 80% of international investors in MENA flocked to these two giants, with the UAE capturing the lion’s share. Both countries boast key attractions such as political stability, economic growth, government support, clear regulations, and enticing tax incentives. The UAE in particular has positioned itself as the tech hub of MENA, making it a magnet for global investors.

  • MENA’s Magnetic Pull: Are Foreign Investors Coming Back?

    UAE and Saudi Arabia are the go-to destinations for international investors in MENA, no doubt due to their well-established and relatively mature VC ecosystems. In H1 2024 alone, a whopping 80% of international investors in MENA flocked to these two giants, with the UAE capturing the lion’s share. Both countries boast key attractions such as political stability, economic growth, government support, clear regulations, and enticing tax incentives. The UAE in particular has positioned itself as the tech hub of MENA, making it a magnet for global investors.

  • As international dollars flow towards AI-powered startups, how has MENA been riding the wave?

    Saudi Arabia-based Intelmatix, a deep tech B2B startup focused on empowering MENA businesses with AI for decision-making, has recently secured a $20M Series A funding round—one of the largest for a regional company of this type. This past week also saw Saudi-based SaaS provider Velents AI join the AI funding frenzy, raising an undisclosed sum from Women Collective to fuel its growth. And just last week, Aramco’s venture arm, Wa’ed Ventures, splashed $15M on South Korean chipmaker Rebellions Inc., marking its debut investment in South Korea following a $6.5M investment in California-based aiXplain. That was Wa’ed Ventures’ second AI deal in one week!

  • H1 2024 MENA Venture Investment

    In H1 2024, the MENA region secured $768M in total funding, experiencing a 34% decline from H1 2023. However, if we exclude MEGA (+$100M) deals, we see that the non-MEGA funding in H1 2024 saw a 3% increase compared to H1 2023. Interestingly, this increase was primarily driven by a 48% QoQ increase in non-MEGA deal funding we saw in Q2 2024. In contrast, SEA and Africa saw substantial declines in non-MEGA deal funding in H1 2024, compared to H1 2023, with SEA and Africa experiencing 37% and 55% declines, respectively.

  • Breakthrough pension reform in Saudi Arabia – A model for the MENA region

    Saudi Arabia took a big leap forward in transforming its pension system with the recent announcement of comprehensive reforms, designed with support from the World Bank, aimed at enhancing income protection during old-age, but also promoting gender equality

  • Saudi Arabia tops MENA for venture capital investment in H1 2024

    Saudi Arabia has taken the top rank across MENA in terms of the amount of venture capital (VC) funding in H1 2024, with about $412 million, according to venture data platform MAGNiTT.  The Saudi venture investment market began the year in line with its performance in H1 2023, with non-mega deals accounting for 68% of the value of venture investment in H1 2024, up from 35% in H1 2023, according to MAGNiTT.

  • What will it take to make the MENA region a renewable energy powerhouse?

    At a time of rapid growth in renewable energies such as solar and wind, it would be easy to write off the region (as some are doing) as a waning power, both in terms of energy and geopolitics. After all, how good can the outlook be for petrostates in a world focused on moving to net-zero emissions? In our view, the opposite is true: the region is well placed to become not just a major source of renewable energy, but also a central and indispensable player in the global energy transition, uniquely able to balance supply and demand for all types of energy, both hydrocarbons, and renewables.