Middle East Funding Gaps Risk Delaying Startups’ IPO Ambitions

Startups in the Middle East are at risk of losing momentum and facing a longer path to public listings due to a lack of funding for firms trying to scale, according to Noor Sweid, founder of venture capital firm Global Ventures.

“There is a massive funding gap in the Series B stage,” Sweid said in an interview on the sidelines of the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh. “Without that changing, you won’t get to the stage of scale the company and then IPO.”