While the businesses on our 2023 list of the Middle East’s top Fintechs confirmed having no or little exposure to Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and are anticipating it to have little bearing on local players, the global banking and finance system is still reeling from the bank’s collapse, and the potential longer-term effects are still being played out.
SVB served as a lender, banking partner, and supplier of payments technology. 71% of all Fintech IPOs between 2020 and 2022 were clients of SVB. This year, we have 30 local Fintechs on our list. With eight entries, Egypt has the most countries represented on the list, followed by Saudi Arabia with six, the United Arab Emirates with five, and Kuwait with four.
A number of businesses have obtained capital recently, notably MNT-Halan from Egypt, which in February 2023 received over $200 million from Chimera Abu Dhabi to become the next unicorn in the area. While Saudi Arabia’s Tamara announced a financing facility of $150 million from Goldman Sachs in March 2023, increasing its total funding in equity and debt to $366 million, Tabby raised $58 million in a Series C funding round in January 2023, raising its valuation to $660 million.