Doha, February 01 (QNA) - Venture capital investment in Qatar reached a record QAR 214 million, representing an 81 percent year-on-year increase, according to the annual venture capital report for the year 2025, issued by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), in cooperation with the MAGNiTT research platform.
QDB said in a statement on Sunday that the report demonstrated the growing role of Qatar as an attractive investment hub in the MENA region, pointing out that venture capital activity was concentrated in early-stage deals, which accounted for 61 percent of total funding.
On this occasion, Chief Executive Officer of QDB,آ Abdulrahman bin Hesham Al Sowaidi said, "This annual report is a key milestone for showcasing the most important data related to investment and venture capital in Qatar. It also provides investors, partners, and stakeholders across Qatar's entrepreneurship ecosystem with a precise and detailed view of the sector's transformations and trajectories."
Al Sowaidi noted that QDB continues to play its leading enabling role in the Qatari venture capital landscape, adding that the total direct and indirect investments, alongside investment commitments made through the bank's investment arm, have reached approximately QAR 390 million since its inception.
"We take great pride in the private sector's remarkable progress; its participation, together with international investors, accounted for 86 percent of the total venture capital value in the country. These efforts, coupled with the sustained engagement of the private sector and international funds, serve to safeguard the achievements required to reach our national sector targets under the Third National Development Strategy," he added.
Regarding the bank's initiatives in this context and its future vision, Al Sowaidi said, "We aim to continue our efforts to strengthen Qatar's regional and global position as an attractive hub for international investors and investment funds. This will help expand venture capital investment, particularly within priority economic clusters, in line with the Third National Development Strategy 2024-2030. Through our initiatives, most notably the Startup Qatar Investment Program under the umbrella of the Startup Qatar platform, we also seek to increase investment volumes and reinforce private sector participation by forging high-impact partnerships that advance Qatar's investment ecosystem."
In turn, CEO and Founder of MAGNiTT, Philip Bahoshy, said, "We are pleased to publish our 2025 report in collaboration with QDB. The report highlights the progress of Qatar's venture capital ecosystem in 2025 and showcases its year-on-year development to regional and global investors and entrepreneurs, through both data and major ecosystem events hosted in Qatar, anchored by Web Summit. Qatar Development Bank's role in advancing the ecosystem is clear, having played a leading part in supporting venture activity nationwide."
QDB indicated that the report also noted that Qatar ranked fourth in MENA in 2025 for deal count and venture funding value, accounting for 5 percent of total regional deals. Pre-seed and seed rounds represented 93 percent of total deal count, consistent with the stage of Qatar's ecosystem, supporting entrepreneurs in turning innovative ideas into real ventures.
QDB's investment arm stood out as the largest investor in Qatar by number of deals, participating in 11 out of 33 nationwide in 2025. The report also highlighted FinTech as Qatar's most active sector by deal count, accounting for 33 percent of the total number of deals in Qatar for 2025, representing a 22 percent increase over 2024. This growth underscores the success of distinguished initiatives within the sector, most notably those implemented by the Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH), a QDB affiliate. These efforts are part of achieving the objectives of the Third Financial Sector Strategic Plan, led by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB). Meanwhile, Transport and Logistics emerged as the most funded sector, raising QAR 80 million, up 716 percent year-on-year, driven by a small number of high-value transactions.
QDB reaffirms its commitment to developing the venture capital sector with partners in Qatar and the region, attracting innovative startups to localize their operations, and developing products that enable the private sector to increase its participation in venture capital. (QNA)