The fintech ecosystem across the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey (MENAT) is experiencing a period of remarkable growth and maturation.

According to a recent report by Lucidity Insights, sponsored by SAP, nearly 900 fintech companies in the region have secured funding. Among them, nine have reached unicorn startups, while 26 are so-called “soonicorns,” or ventures on the verge of achieving billion-dollar valuations.

The report, released in February, provides an overview of the region’s burgeoning fintech ecosystem, highlighting soaring fintech adoption rates and increased investor interest.

400+ scaleups among which 26 soonicorns

MENAT is now home to 898 funded fintech startups, including 465 scaleups. These companies have demonstrated significant growth and market traction, and are indicative of the rapid growth of MENAT’s maturing fintech sector, and growing demand for digital financial services.

Across the region, the UAE boasts the most fintech scaleups with 155 ventures, representing one third of all fintech scaleups in MENAT. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is followed by Israel with 141 (30%), Saudi Arabia with 47 (10%) and Egypt with 46 (10%).

Among MENAT’s 898 funded fintech companies, 26 have risen to soonicorn status, having raised over US$100 million each and positioning them on the path to unicorn status. These include BioCatch, a regtech company from Israel, Rain Financial, a digital currency startup from Bahrain, Foodics, a cloud point-of-sale (POS) restaurant system from Saudi Arabia, and Yassir, a super-app form Algeria.

MENAT’s 26 soonicorns companies complement the region’s nine fintech unicorns, which include buy now, pay later (BNPL) leaders Tabby, based the UAE, and Tamara, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt’s super-app MNT-Halan, and eToro, a digital brokerage platform from Israel.

Paytech as the top fintech vertical

Like most regions in the world, payments and transfers are the largest and most advanced fintech vertical in MENAT. The sector has accumulated over US$5.4 billion in funding over the past two decades, and has given rise to some of MENAT’s biggest and most successful ventures.

Egypt’s digital payment platform Fawry, for example, had raised US$122 million before its initial public offering (IPO) in 2019. Similarly, UAE BNPL startup Tabby has secured about US$600 billion in equity funding so far. The startup is now preparing for a stock market listing within 18 months, its chief executive told Reuters in February.

But as MENAT’s fintech landscape grows and mature, other verticals, including lending, digital assets, and wealthtech, are gaining traction, drawing significant investor interest.

Bahraini digital currency exchange Rain Financial has secured about US$200 million to date. UAE business-to-business (B2B) wealthtech provider Alpheya has raised US$300 million in funding, while PayEm, a procurement and spend management platform from Israel, has attracted US$247 million in equity and credit financing so far.

Cross-sector fintech players are also emerging. Careem, once known solely as a mobility platform, has expanded into remittances and digital wallets, positioning itself as a regional super-app. Similarly, Foodics, initially launched as a foodtech company, has entered the fintech space through restaurant financing solutions.

500 Global, Flat6Labs among top fintech investors

The rapid growth of fintech in MENAT has been propelled by an expanding and increasingly active investor base. This includes a mix of local and international venture capital (VC) firms, as well as incubators and accelerators supporting early-stage startups.

Among the most active players, 500 Global leads with 55 fintech investments totaling US$89.4 million between 2018 and October 2024. It is followed by Flat6Labs from Egypt with 33 deals amounting to US$6.5 million, Y Combinator with 30 investments worth US$250.3 million, and VentureSouq with 28 fintech deals totaling US$245.1 million.

When looking at total capital deployed, Saudi Technology Ventures (STV) leads the market with over US$924 million across 16 regional fintech companies. This comes as no surprise, as STV is one of the few later stage investors in the region, investing only in startups that are at the Series B stage or higher, and thus larger tickets.

Abu Dhabi’s Shorooq Partners follows close behind STV with US $879 million invested across 24 regional fintech companies largely across Seed to Series A startups. Finally,  Dubai’s MEVP falls in a distant third place, with investments totaling US$374 million across 17 fintech deals, acting mainly as a growth stage investor in the Series A category.

Fintech adoption surges

MENAT’s fintech boom has been fueled by growing demand for digital financial services. This demand stems from the region’s young, digitally native population, high smartphone penetration, and proactive government initiatives aimed at modernizing financial infrastructure and boosting digital payment usage.

In 2023, penetration rates of key fintech solutions in several MENAT countries reached or exceeded levels seen in mature markets like the US, the UK and Australia. In particular, countries such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Israel have emerged as fintech leaders in the region.

In Saudi Arabia, for example, monthly mobile payment service usage was among the world’s highest in 2023 at 35.2%, surpassing the UK at 34.1%, the US at 31.3%, as well as the global average at 23.7%.

Turkey, meanwhile, leads in cryptocurrency ownership, with 21.7% of consumers reporting owning digital assets in 2023, followed by the UAE at 15.3%. These countries are well ahead of the US at 12.8%, Australia at 11.7% and India at 13.3%.

Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Middle East, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Freepik