Dubai: AI and deep-tech startups across the GCC are drawing outsized investor attention even as broader MENA funding cools, with two Gulf-based ventures this month closing pre-seed rounds that underscore the region’s push into sovereign and infrastructure-layer artificial intelligence.
UAE-based AVELIN AI has closed $3.7 million in pre-seed funding to expand its sovereign AI platform across the Middle East, positioning itself within a growing cohort of regional players building AI infrastructure tailored to local data-residency and compliance requirements. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia-based Think has raised more than $8 million in pre-seed capital co-led by RAED Ventures and Wa’ed Ventures, a round the company describes as the largest AI infrastructure pre-seed raise in MENA to date.
Funding momentum diverges from regional totals
The two raises come as MENA-wide startup funding shows signs of contraction. Startups across the region raised $1.7 billion across 242 rounds in the first half of 2026, an 18% decline from the $2.1 billion recorded in H1 2025. The dip suggests investors are consolidating around fewer, larger bets rather than retreating altogether—a pattern consistent with the scale of the AVELIN AI and Think rounds, both of which drew participation from established regional venture funds despite broader macro uncertainty tied to geopolitical volatility.
For founders and executives, the divergence signals where GCC capital is concentrating: AI infrastructure and sovereign compute capacity, sectors that align with national digital-economy strategies in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, rather than the broader startup landscape.
Accelerator pipeline signals deeper talent bench
Separately, Propeller has concluded the inaugural edition of its Kernel Camp, an eight-week Silicon Valley residency programme, graduating five AI and deep-tech startups from Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Egypt. The cohort—OORB, Techbible, FirstFlow, Nexguards and Flowbrave—was selected from the top 3% of applicants, reflecting intensifying competition among regional founders for accelerator placements with direct exposure to US investors and technical ecosystems.
The programme adds to a widening set of pathways connecting North African and Levantine AI talent with Gulf capital and Silicon Valley networks, a dynamic likely to feed future pre-seed and seed pipelines in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Taken together, the AVELIN AI and Think rounds, alongside Propeller’s graduating cohort, point to a bifurcated MENA funding environment: overall deal volume softening, while AI infrastructure and sovereign-platform plays continue to command premium interest from Gulf-based investors positioning for the next phase of regional AI build-out.
Sources: Wamda
