Mubasher: The new year is expected to witness a group of exits from Middle Eastern startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a top investment firm official has said.

In 2019 and 2020, global investors and funds will opt of from these businesses to reap the benefits and returns, which will encourage new entities to pump their money in the region, executive chairman at Wamda Capital Fadi Ghandour told Arabian Business.

“The $120 million investment by the New York-based General Atlantic in Property Finder and Amazon’s acquisition of Souq is a validation that Western funds will only invest in size and scale,” he remarked.

Reports on the potential merger between Uber and Careem will not stop in 2019, while the severe competition between Souq and Noon will not come to an end, resulting in better prices and improved products, Ghandour noted.

“This battle for e-commerce will also lead to some consolidation of smaller vertical players, where traditional retail regional groups acquiring smaller e-commerce players or continuing to invest aggressively. Majid Al Futtaim, Al Tayer, among others are likely to lead the way.”