New Delhi, Aug. 22 -- Gathern, a Saudi Arabian vacation rental marketplace platform, led startup funding activity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region this week, raising an eight-digit pre-IPO round.

Several other startups raised early-stage rounds. These included Saudi gaming firms Starvania and Fahy, UAE-based AI-powered recruitment platform Professional.me, and Morocco's Hypeo AI.

Gathern

Ahead of its public listing plans, Gathern, a Saudi Arabian peer-to-peer vacation rental marketplace, raised $72 million in a Series B round led by Public Investment Fund (PIF)-owned Sanabil Investments. The round also saw participation from STV, Pinnacle Capital, Nuwa Capital, and Endeavor Catalyst. The round valued the startup at over $266 million.

Founded in 2017 by Latifa Altamimi, Gathern offers rental services for chalets, apartments, farms, resorts, villas, and yachts, among others, directly from owners.

The company aims to use the fresh capital to prepare for an IPO on Saudi Arabia's Tadawul exchange, and accelerate expansion across Saudi Arabia and the wider region. The firm will also invest in its technology infrastructure, including AI-powered features, to improve the user experience.

In 2021, Gathern raised a $6 million Series A round, led by STV, with participation from Vision Ventures, 500 Startups, among others.

Starvania Studios

Saudi Arabian indie game development studio Starvania Studios secured $1.1 million in an early-stage round led by Merak Capital and Impact46.

Founded in 2022 by Meaad Aflah and Muslih Alzahrani, Starvania has created fantasy games Bahamut and Waqwaq Tree, inspired by Arabian mythology. These were released on Steam in 2024.

The startup aims to use the funding to strengthen its production capabilities, support PC and console game development, and help recruit top Saudi talent.

Professional.me

UAE-based AI-powered recruitment platform Professional.me secured $3.1 million in a seed funding round led by Raha Beach Ventures.

Launched in October 2024 by Ryan Adams, Professional.me offers an alternative to traditional resume-based hiring. The platform uses personalized micro-LLMs, which are custom language models that create detailed professional profiles for both job seekers and employers. The models are trained on data from 167 industries and 1.2 million tasks. The bias-aware models are designed to support more inclusive hiring practices. Raha Beach Ventures was also founded by Adams.

The latest round takes Professional.me's total funding so far to $4.6 million.

The company previously raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round, also led by Raha Beach Ventures.

Fahy

Saudi Arabia-based gaming startup Fahy Studios secured $1.75 million in investment from Impact46 and Merak Capital.

Founded in 2023 by Hani Hashem, Owis Alsaour, and Fahad Alshibl, Fahy is a game development studio specializing in hybrid-casual mobile games, combining in-house game design, art, and development to create innovative, engaging gaming experiences.

Hypeo AI

Morocco-based influencer marketing startup Hypeo AI raised an undisclosed investment from Renew Capital to scale its platform.

Founded in 2024 by Meriam Bessa, Oussama Sekkat, and Salah Eddine Mimouni, Hypeo AI is an AI-powered influencer marketing startup that helps brands and creators connect in under 15 minutes, with tools for matching, pricing, and real-time campaign tracking.

The startup plans to use the funding to expand its platform.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.