New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- Saudi Arabia-headquartered foodtech platform Calo, which plans to go public in 2027, led funding activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this week. The company raised an eight-digit Series B extension round, just five months after its initial raise in February, to accelerate growth.
The week also saw a spate of early-stage fundraising activity, with startups like Libya's e-commerce platform Mataa, Saudi sportstech startup Flex League, Jordan-based logistics SaaS firm Olivery, and Saudi voice AI startup Sawt raising capital.
Mataa
Libya-based e-commerce platform Mataa raised seed capital from a group of local business angels.
Founded in 2022 by Ibrahim Shuwehdi, Mataa is a shopping app that offers users varied products with an express delivery option.
The startup aims to use the funding to strengthen its operational capacity, particularly in first-mile and last-mile logistics, expand its central warehouse, and onboard new suppliers and product categories. The company also plans to recruit experienced regional talent in the e-commerce sector to support long-term growth.
Calo
Saudi Arabia-headquartered foodtech startup Calo raised $39 million in a Series B extension round, led by AlJazira Capital, as it aims to go public by 2027. The latest round comes five months after the firm raised $25 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round that was led by existing investor Nuwa Capital and also saw participation from STV, Khwarizmi Ventures, and regional family offices.
With the latest funding, Calo's total Series B raise has now reached $64 million.
Founded in Bahrain in 2019 by Ahmed Alraw and Moayed Almoayed, Calo is a direct-to-consumer (D2C) foodtech platform that provides personalized meal subscriptions to health-conscious customers.
With operations in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait, Calo is aiming for a Saudi IPO by 2027.
Flex League
Flex League, a Saudi Arabia-based sportstech platform, secured six-figure seed funding in a round led by The Professional Tennis Academy and PAD-L Group.
Founded by Ibrahim Akeel, Faisal Sindi, and Mazen Madani, Flex League enables players to join competitions, book courts, and track their progress.
The firm aims to use the funds to launch a new court booking system, expand into new Saudi and MENA markets, and grow its engineering and operations teams.
Olivery
Jordan-based logistics B2B SaaS startup Olivery raised an undisclosed seed round from Ibtikar Fund and Flat6Labs Mashreq Seed Fund.
Founded in 2020 by Ram Merei, Malak Duraidi, and Obada Abdelkareem, Olivery helps logistics providers and merchants automate order management, routing, driver tracking, COD reconciliation, and customer communications.
It plans to use the funding to expand regionally and improve onboarding operations.
Sawt
Sawt, a Saudi Arabia-based voice AI startup, closed a $1 million pre-seed round led by T2 and STV's newly launched AI Fund.
Founded in 2024 by Abdulmalik Al-Saeed, Sawt offers AI-powered voice agents for booking, sales, and support in Arabic.
Sawt plans to use the capital to accelerate the development of Arabic-native voice AI models, scale technical infrastructure, expand its team, and enhance proprietary models.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.