Winds of change: 4 major changes to the MENA ecosystem in 2014

2014 was certainly a year of impact for the entrepreneurial scene of the Arab region. From increasingly accessible money in the streets, to startups scaling in the right direction, to more awareness of the ecosystem’s needs being met by startups themselves.

In addition to that, the year witnessed another big turnaround: more corporates working with startups, and a fair amount of successful exists.

Below are four of the major changes that occurred to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Arab region.

1. Big funds announcements

We saw more funds launched to target growth stage startups, versus early stage ones. Which means there will be more money in the market available for funding.Some of the main big funds that were launched were the Impact Fund by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), Mobily Ventures, Badia Impact Fund by Silicon Badia and the Wamda Fund by Wamda Capital. For more details check our end-of-year article on the region’s biggest 2014 funds.

2. New payment startups boosting e-commerce

The e-commerce sector in the Arab region continues to grow into a healthy one, month on month, adding varying and increasing online payment solutions.

While global funding payment companies decreased in 2014, and investors like Bain Capital Ventures‘ Matthew Harris believes this slowdown in funding to be a natural evolution of what had been a relatively young market, the Arab region witnessed a surge in payment services.

Original article by Maya Rahal

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Winds of change: 4 major changes to the MENA ecosystem in 2014