Venture capital funding in emerging venture markets (MENAPT) jumped by 228% year on year in 2021, with an average of 3.5x more in capital deployed between 2020 and 2021, explains MAGNiTT’s latest State of Startup Funding: 2022 emerging venture markets report.

MENA saw total funding of $2.6B, a record year of VC funding in MENA; the largest 5 deals accounting for 31% of total capital, with UAE as the most active market in terms of deals and funding.

In MENA, number of deals climbed 10% YoY in 2021, “this growth was driven by a 5pp YoY increase in $10M+ deals, accounting for 10% of all rounds in 2021.”

In terms of VC funding, MENA crossed the $2 billion mark last year, a remarkable 138% YoY increase, attributed to increased appetite from regional and international investors, with a record-high of 35 exits.

FinTech startups accounted for 21% of all VC deals in emerging venture markets (EMV) in 2021 with 282 deals (up by 57%), followed by Ecommerce at 136 (12%), and Transport and logistics at 135 (up 41%).

Accordingly, FinTech also led EVM industry funding at $2,139 million (up 549%), followed by Transport and Logistics at 1,658 million (up 460%), and Food and Beverage at 616 million (up 204%).

Turkey saw the largest increase in VC transactions between 2020 and 2021 climbing 77% to hit 269 deals compared to 2020, while the UAE recorded a modest 12% hike at 155 deals.

Egypt was 3rd on the list with 145 transactions, a 27% increase, but lost 2 spots to land in 6th place in terms of funding despite it being up by 176% to hit $502 million.

Egypt’s Flat6Labs was the top most active investor by deals in startups based in EVMs in 2021 with 51 deals, accounting for 22% of Middle Eastern deals and 78% of deals in North Africa.

They were followed by US VC Y Combinator with 34 deals (9% of ME and 29% of NA), and Germany’s Global Founders Capital with 29 deals (31% of ME and 14% of NA).

Exits across EVMs saw 2x more activity in 2021, highlighting increased liquidity events in these geographies, explained MAGNiTT, reaching 87 exits compared to 2020’s recorded 41.