Upswing in fundraising across MENA region

CAIRO: Saudi Arabia-based venture capital DAAL has participated in a $5 million seed funding round for Mexico-based proptech platform Pulppo alongside one of the leading accelerators in the world, Y Combinator.

Founded in 2021, Pulppo offers a platform for property brokers to boost their sales by providing them with tools to manage everything from property appraisals to visits.

“In 2022, the company allied with 30 real estate brokerages in Mexico, who have seen year-on-year growth of between 50 and 60 percent in the first three months of activity after the alliance,” Matias Gath, co-founder of Pulppo, said in a statement.

The company plans to reduce the period of selling a home in Latin America from 12 months to just 90 days using its unique tools.

“DAAL is always looking for outstanding companies that disrupt the market and add value to their space. Not only we found that in Pulppo but we also found an enabler that focuses on the human element and eases things for them,” said Abdulrahman AlQahtani, DAAL’s CEO.

KarmSolar secures $3m for its second solar grid

Egypt-based cleantech company KarmSolar secured $3 million in debt financing from HSBC bank to develop its Farfara Solar Grid.

Established in 2011, KarmSolar provides several sectors with renewable energy as part of its target to enlarge the private clean energy market. 

“The kickoff of the Farafra Solar Grid enables us to achieve our vision of extending affordable, reliable solar energy to relatively inaccessible parts of the country,” Ahmed Zahran, KarmSolar’s co-founder and CEO, said.

The project aims to provide 60 percent solar penetration with a goal to reach 100 percent in three years.

“It is very refreshing to see institutions like HSBC willing to focus their efforts and trust towards investing in nonconventional projects like the Farafra Solar Grid,” Zahran added.

REM People partners with US asset management firm

The UAE-headquartered artificial intelligence-tech company REM People secured a partnership with US-based Ethos Asset Management through a $12 million investment.

Founded in 2015, REM People provides an AI-powered retail analytics and management solution in more than 50 countries.

“We intend to accelerate the scaling of our AI-based technology by investing these funds in AI-focused research and development activities, in our international expansion, in launching new products, as well as helping to establish a marketplace that provides one-stop retail analytics services for global consumer packaged goods companies and retailers,” Bulent Peker, CEO of REM People, said.

The company aims to expand its international network to 24 offices as well as reward its employees with bonuses by providing 10 percent of the company in employee stock option programs.

Healthtech platform At Home Doc raises $1.9m

Qatari healthtech platform At Home Doc raised $1.9 million in a pre-series A funding round led by Elaj Group investment arm Tawasol Holding.

Established in 2015, At Home Doc provides medical services on demand and at home through its online platform.

“Parties have a common interest to formulate a joint venture between Elaj and At Home and assign a workforce to execute the framework for the potential collaboration. The potential collaboration is to pilot operations in the Saudi market,” said Hesham Elfeshawy, At Home Doc CEO.

The company will accelerate its all-inclusive healthcare expansion of homecare services as well as at-home lab services for all Saudi and non-Saudi employees and their families in the private sector.

KSA’s Foodics inks partnership with France’s Partoo

Saudi Arabia-based leading cloud restaurant management company Foodics announced a partnership with France-based SaaS company Partoo to link the Kingdom and France’s food and beverage sector.

Through the partnership, the two companies will serve over 350,000 brands and offer the Middle East and North Africa’s F&B sector a unique digital management tool that cements restaurant relationships with clients.

“At Partoo, we make sure a brand’s customer journey starts with their business discoverability. Together with Foodics, we look forward to helping MENA restaurants increase their visibility online,” Rahul Chauhan, head of partnership at Partoo, said.

Recognized as a fintech company by the Saudi Central Bank, Foodics provides restaurants and cafes with a complete management solution infused with digital payments as it processed over 6 billion orders through its platform.

Founded in 2014, Partoo provides a SaaS platform to help businesses get closer to their clients.