Israel's Mave Takes $34M as AI Security Dominates $59.7M Funding Week

Startups across Africa, the Middle East and Israel raised a combined $59.7 million this week, according to Techloy's tracking of disclosed rounds — and 85% of that went to just two companies. Mave's $34 million and Modelyo's $17 million dwarfed eight smaller rounds spread across the Gulf and Egypt, with investor capital flowing mostly into AI security.

Here's what the money bought, round by round, and what each deal changes for the players watching these markets.

Who raised the biggest checks?

Mave, $34M, AI cybersecurity, Israel. The Tel Aviv startup builds AI agents that sift through a company's security alerts, rule out false alarms, and act only once a human signs off. The $34 million combines a fresh $28 million Series A led by Red Dot Capital Partners with an earlier $6 million seed led by Dell Technologies Capital and Emerge Ventures. The funding goes toward AI research, enterprise products, and international expansion.

Modelyo, $17M, cloud security, Israel. Modelyo is building what it calls a sovereign confidential cloud — companies run cloud services and AI while keeping control of their data and encryption keys. US firm OlivTree led the roughly $17 million round, with Seth Merrin and David Phelps also investing. The money funds R&D and international sales growth.

Vrtx, $3.6M, fintech, Saudi Arabia. The Riyadh fintech lets businesses bolt digital wallets, payouts, card issuing, and transfers onto their own apps without building the underlying financial systems. SC Ventures by Standard Chartered backed the $3.6 million pre-seed alongside six other investors, including Sadu Capital and BYLD. The cash funds operations and development ahead of a commercial launch.

Vitalls, $1.5M, healthtech, UAE. Founded in 2023, Vitalls is building an AI-powered digital health passport where individuals and families store medical records and share them with doctors across borders. Singapore-based EST Growmore committed $1.5 million as anchor investor in the seed round, with an option to add another $1 million later.

Where did the smaller rounds land?

• CapQuest, $1M, fintech, UAE. The Dubai company tracks company ownership — cap tables, shareholder lists, employee share plans, and investor updates. Oraseya Capital and AMKM Family Office led the pre-seed. The money funds product work, automation, and customer wins outside the UAE.
• Popcorn AI Studio, $1M, AI filmmaking, UAE. Started this year by Egyptian founders Shady Essam and Mohamed Hedar, the Dubai platform puts scripts, characters, scenes, voice, and Arabic lip-sync for AI-made films in one place. Emirati investor Mohammed Bin Bouta Alharsoosi led the pre-seed, with expansion planned across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
• Ayan, $599K, AI marketing, UAE. Ayan tracks what AI assistants like ChatGPT tell shoppers about a brand, then converts that into briefs for the brand's sales teams. It raised Dh2.2 million (about $599,000) in pre-seed funding from unnamed global angel investors, with plans to push beyond the Middle East and North Africa.
• theQA, $550K, AI market research, Kuwait. The platform turns a research brief into an AI-generated questionnaire, then sends it to a panel of more than 20,000 verified people. A Kuwaiti family office and angels put more than $550,000 into the pre-seed to fund Kuwaiti growth and new AI research and data analysis tools.
• INVE, $300K, event tech, Saudi Arabia. INVE began with wedding invitations and now runs digital invites, RSVPs, and entry passes for business events. Outliers VC — INVE's first paying business design partner — invested $300,000 in the pre-seed to build the team, the brand, and a customer base across Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf.

What does this week change for founders and investors?

The concentration is the headline. Two Israeli security startups absorbed $51 million of the $59.7 million total; the remaining eight rounds averaged well under $1.5 million each. That gap tells you where late-stage appetite sits — AI and cloud security — while Gulf and Egyptian founders are still working the pre-seed and seed end of the market, mostly with regional family offices, corporate venture arms like SC Ventures, and local angels writing the checks.