Qatar`s venture capital market has proven to be resilient despite the pandemic according to the most recent data and information.

The Qatar Venture Investment Report 2020 was released by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) in cooperation with MAGNiTT, a research platform, and explores the impact of venture capital (VC) in the country. It examines the evolution of Qatar`s financing and funding ecosystem and gives an overview of the venture capital and investment landscape.

The report emphasized a VC funding growth of 9 percent year on year and revealed that Qatar’s start-ups and scale-ups raised QAR 22 million (USD 6 million) in 2020. It also disclosed that accelerator programs were responsible for 33 percent of the transactions. The positive trend in Qatar stands in contrast to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region which saw a slowdown in accelerator programs and in turn a drop in deals due to the pandemic.

The report acknowledged the need for start-ups and scale-ups to embrace digitalisation to serve their client base during the pandemic. It has been reflected in the e-commerce, food and beverage and home services sectors which collectively accounted for 53 percent of the VC funding.

It was noted that VC funding is central to realising the potential of start-ups, scale-ups, small businesses (SMBs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the State of Qatar. There has been a surge in financing or funding of early-stage start-ups in 2020.

Qatar’s start-ups and scale-ups continue the positive trajectory as they raised 41 percent more capital in the first half of 2021 than in all of 2020. The strong start has been driven by new initiatives of the public sector and more participation from the private sector.

Please click on the link to learn more about the investment and venture capital landscape and the most attractive opportunities and possibilities to invest in the State of Qatar as well as the initiatives of Business Start Up Qatar.