RIYADH: Venture investment in the Middle East and North Africa hit $15.4 billion over the past five years, with 12 percent coming from corporate financiers, according to MAGNiTT and stc group.
A joint MENA Corporate Venture Investment Report from the firms also showed that 3,329 deals were reached over the period, with corporate investors again responsible for 12 percent of those.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE accounted for 86 percent of all corporate-backed funding activity in the region, with the Kingdom contributing 57 percent of total corporate capital deployed, underscoring the nation’s growing influence in shaping MENA’s venture investment landscape.
The findings reflect the growing maturity of the MENA startup ecosystem as governments and major corporations increasingly prioritize innovation, digital transformation and technology-led economic diversification.
The report stated that geographic concentration is “self-reinforcing,” with 46 percent of corporate investors active over the past five years being Saudi-based, and 24 percent are from the UAE, anchoring capital within these markets.
“With both corporates and scaled startups concentrated locally, investment activity reinforces itself, sustaining higher deal flow. For smaller markets like Egypt — 16 percent of deals — and Jordan — 3 percent, attracting corporate capital likely requires targeted policy interventions or cross-border co-investment mechanisms,” the document added.
Philip Bahoshy, CEO of MAGNiTT, said that while corporate investors have played a consistent role in MENA’s venture ecosystem, and in some of its largest transactions, “this part of the market has not had its own data framework until now.”
He added: “The goal of this report is to give policymakers, investors, and corporate strategists the information they need to understand the current state of corporate venture investment in the region and to make the case for growing it further.”
Corporate venture investment has become an increasingly important funding channel across the region, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, where large companies are using strategic investments to gain exposure to emerging technologies and support the development of local startup ecosystems.
The analysis also found that corporate investors were involved in funding rounds representing 37 percent of total regional venture funding value alongside traditional venture capital firms.
The report, which examined corporate venture activity between 2021 and 2025, found that corporate investors consistently participated in between 70 and 100 deals annually, deploying between $0.2 billion and $0.5 billion each year.
According to MAGNiTT, this represents roughly 12 percent of total venture deal activity in MENA, below the global corporate venture capital benchmark of 15 to 17 percent.
Corporate investors accounted for an average of 10 percent of MENA’s investor base annually over the five-year period.
The category includes direct corporate investment arms, corporate-backed venture capital funds, and corporate venture capital arms, as well as venture builders, accelerators and private holding companies.
The release noted that corporate investors maintained a relatively stable pace of activity despite broader market volatility driven by higher interest rates, valuation corrections and shifting investor sentiment, reflecting the strategic nature of many corporate-backed investments.
Fintech attracted more corporate investment than any other sector during the period, with banks and telecommunications companies making up a significant share of the region’s corporate investor base.
The report also included a case study on tali ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of stc group, examining how corporate investors can support startups beyond capital through market access, commercial partnerships and technical expertise.
“Stc group recognized early on that its roe extends beyond being a steward of a robust telecom and technology ecosystem. We saw ourselves as active participants in shaping what comes next,” said Motaz Alangri, chief investment officer at stc group, adding: “That conviction has guided our efforts to help catalyze corporate venture investment since 2011.”
