MENA's scaleups have a capital stack problem

An article by Sayed A. | Chief Business Officer, Graystone Capital Today, the largest cheques written to MENA scaleups do not buy shares. They are renting balance sheets. Yet most founders still picture their financing journey as a ladder of lettered rounds, each rung purchased with another slice of the cap table. That mental model is now costing them real money. The biggest financing announced at Money20/20 Riyadh in September 2025 was not a venture round. It was Tamara's Shariah-compliant asse