Startups and Technology in the Middle East, North Africa and United States

Ishaan Jaffer
Carnegie Mellon University – Arabic Studies

This project analyses and compares startups in the Middle East, North Africa(MENA) and the United States. The existence of wealthy and popular Venture Capital Firms like Accel, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz in the United States has led to a consistent growth of startup funding given to founders ($66.4 Billion in 2019) while the MENA region has recently seen a growth in popular startups like Careem there are a limited number of Venture Capital Firms (leading to a maximum yearly funding of $524 Million given to founders). This has led to a trend of startups in the MENA region bringing ideas from the West and using Western technology to help their citizens. Through my interactions with students from Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Egypt I found that the large economic gap and focus on tourism and agriculture in the MENA region has created barriers to entry for new innovation and startups.