Mideast venture capital funding jumps to record $3.8 billion
Venture capital funding in the Middle East jumped 74% last year, hitting a record as startups raised about $3.8 billion across nearly 700 deals.
Much of the growth came from foreign investors, with Saudi Arabia and the UAE drawing the largest share of the money, Bloomberg reports, citing data from Magnitt.
The surge came even as venture funding stayed weak or slowed in many other regions.
Investors have been drawn by government-backed tech pushes, large domestic markets and a growing pipeline of local startups.
UAE sweats through record-breaking heat before Eid holiday
Two months of record-breaking temperatures in the UAE have seen residents and visitors sweltering through what is normally the cooler events season, with little relief on the way as the Eid al-Adha holiday approaches next week.
Summer does not officially begin until June 21, but some inland areas are already registering record temperatures above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), prompting the National Center of Meteorology to warn the public to take precautions in the extreme heat.
April was already the warmest on record in the UAE, with an average high of 42.6 degrees Celsius. “The new thing about these conditions is that they are happening really too early, before even the official start of the summer season,” Khalifa University’s head of the Environmental and Geophysical Sciences Dr. Diana Francis told The National.
“The second element is how extreme they are compared to the record,” she said.
