The A15 Insider - Q3 2025 Edition
Dear friends,
As Q3 draws to a close, the MENA startup landscape has shown renewed strength, raising over $4.5 billion. This number shows a strong rebound and is significantly higher than what was seen in 2024 or in most recent months; where Q2 had only seen US$583.4 million in comparison. In September alone we have seen US $3.5 billion across 74 deals.
This momentum has been driven by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, major fintech and proptech rounds, and the return of late-stage capital, signaling growing investor confidence across the region. A few major deals included, Tamara (US $2.4 billion), Hala (US $157 million), Lendo (US $50 million) and Erad (US $33 million). Saudi Arabia led megadeals driving a 914% month-on-month and 1105% year-on-year jump in regional investment.
We’ve continued expanding our reach, backing two new teams and investing in a distinctive group of founders focused on long-term value creation. The first two episodes of our YouTube series, In Their Element, were also released, offering a closer look into the key challenges and decisions that our founders went through that helped shape their journey. You can find links to these episodes below.
Another highlight for us was our annual Gouna retreat. More on that below!
Here’s what’s new across A15.
Inside A15
Gouna retreat with founders
This quarter, we brought together our founders for three days that reminded us what makes the A15 network special: shared experience, open dialogue, and genuine connection.
Rather than long sessions or back-to-back keynotes, the retreat centered on unstructured time and the serendipitous in-between moments. Meals that turned into strategy discussions. Late-night talks that sparked new ideas. Conversations that moved easily from challenges to lessons learned.
Throughout the retreat, founders exchanged perspectives on expanding into new markets, applying AI to improve efficiency and customer experience, keeping culture intact while scaling, and allocating focus between growing and mature markets. These weren’t panels, they were working conversations among people building through similar realities.
The outcomes were tangible: new collaborations, shared talent, and renewed trust across companies and markets. But the deeper result was a stronger sense of community, founders who left not just connected, but invested in each other’s success.
New Investments:
Here is a look at our last 2 investments
KNOT
Company Overview: KNOT Technologies is redefining event ticketing with AI-powered infrastructure that eliminates fraud, prevents scalping, and streamlines transactions. Designed to support events of all sizes, from local pop-up events and concerts to global sports and music events, the platform delivers a secure, efficient, and scalable solution for organizers and audiences.
Why we invested: With issues ranging from inaccessibility in primary markets as consumers get outcompeted by dealers and bots, to exploitative pricing and scams in secondary markets, ticketing is fraught with challenges. The current landscape is dominated by outdated, fragmented platforms that frustrate both organizers and fans/guests. Many of us have experienced this firsthand. Knot is rethinking ticketing from first principles. It empowers organizers with full control over primary and secondary sales, audience access, and pricing. Leveraging data and a proprietary AI model, Knot will also offer smart queueing technology, to ensure real fans are prioritised and to address core issues like bot attacks, revenue leakage, and lack of transparency, creating a modern foundation for event access in a digitally native world.
The Mobility Family (TMF):
Company Overview: The Mobility Family (TMF) is a Cairo-based mobility group founded over 30 years ago that provides end-to-end mobility and transportation solutions across Egypt. Its business scope spans commuting, logistics, car-rental, spare-parts trading, vehicle maintenance, tourism and electric-bus operations. Within TMF’s portfolio are several subsidiaries: Family Corporation (established 1999) handles large-scale commuting, logistics and rental services; Societe Francaise de Voitures (SFV) is the wholesale spare-parts trading arm and distributor of international brands; Automotive Fleet Services (AFS) offers vehicle maintenance; and Al Tayyar Travel (acquired 2019) covers tourism services, from flights, hotels to excursion services. Together, these subsidiaries enable TMF to act as a “one-stop-shop” mobility provider across vehicle rental, fleet logistics, after-sales support and tourism transport.
Why we invested: We invested in The Mobility Family to back a capable team that has extensive industry knowledge and experience spanning transportation, maintenance, tourism, and spare parts trading, and a keen interest in digitisation across the group. TMF has built a solid, profitable foundation over decades, and now stands ready to bring more technology into how it operates and serves customers. We see clear room to streamline processes, scale efficiently, and improve both margins and customer experience by embedding digital tools across its business.
YouTube Series: In Their Element
A15’s conviction in the founders it backs is rooted in each founders’ unique story. To highlight these narratives, we’ve launched a short-format series. Each episode features founders and operators from the A15 portfolio, focusing on pivotal decisions throughout their journey and the lesson learned from them. We welcome feedback on what you liked and what we could do differently in future episodes.
What’s out:
Episode 1 – Inside A15 with Bassem Raafat (A15): why we’re doing this now and what to watch for in the series.
Episode 2 — with Ahmed Coucha (FlapKap): decisions that shaped their path and the lessons they carry forward.
From the portfolio
Tagaddod: Raised a Series A round
Tagaddod has successfully closed a $26.3 million Series A funding round, led by The Arab Energy Fund, with participation from existing investors A15, FMO, and VKAV,. This significant investment will enable Tagaddod to accelerate its regional expansion into existing and new markets, strengthen its technology platform, and scale operations by developing infrastructure and partnerships to process higher volumes of certified, export-grade renewable feedstocks.
SehaTech: Raised a Seed round
SehaTech has successfully raised approximately $1.1 million in a seed round, bringing their total funding since launch to around $2 million. This round was led by Ingressive Capital, with participation from Plus VC and continued support from existing backers, A15 and Beltone VC. Sehatech’s medical insurance platform automates medical approvals, claims processing and the billing cycle, saving insurers’ time and expenses while preventing fraudulent practices. The new funding will support team expansion, regional growth, and the continued development of advanced AI automation tools to scale operations across Egypt and beyond.
Partment × Omar Marmoush: Brand-ambassador
Egyptian soccer star Omar Marmoush has been named the global ambassador for Partment, the A15-backed property management and fractional-ownership real estate platform. Partment, which offers a three-dimensional model that transforms idle assets, drives tourism accommodation, and unlocks fractional real estate opportunities, This partnership reflects Partment’s mission to make second homes and investment opportunities more accessible, transforming high-entry assets into shared successes.
SEE (Sports Education Enhancer) - signs with Al Zohour Sport Club
SEE has signed its first enterprise agreement with Al Zohour Sports Club, a significant partnership due to the club’s affiliation with the Egyptian Ministry of Youth & Sports. This collaboration highlights the growing link between technology and mass participation sports, demonstrating SEE’s platform in enhancing athlete performance. This initiative aims to expand from a pilot phase into an institutionalized framework, allowing SEE to offer its innovative solutions to more athletes and clubs, establishing its role in sports technology in Egypt and potentially beyond. This agreement is seen as a foundational step toward a technologically advanced future for sports in the region.
Menthum — EGP 250m in net gains for users.
Menthum reached EGP 250 million net gain. This milestone isn’t just about numbers – it’s about trust, consistency, and the belief that your money should work harder for you. Menthum remains committed to building smarter, simpler, and more rewarding ways for Egyptians to grow their wealth.
Valify × Uber — identity checks that fade into the background
Uber today announced a strategic partnership with Valify, an Egyptian technology company specializing in AI verification technology. The collaboration adds an extra layer of driver identity verification through Valify’s automated portal, further addressing the industry-wide challenge of fraudulent account creation.
Closing Remarks
That wraps up the quarter. Founders keep building, markets keep shifting, and lessons keep emerging. We’ll continue sharing what we learn from the front lines, the patterns we notice, and the stories that shape our perspective.
See you in the next edition of the A15 Insider.
Team A15