Mantas raises $1.77M to launch parametric cloud outage insurance

Dubai-based startup Mantas has launched with $1.77 million in seed funding to introduce a new category of protection for digital businesses: parametric cloud outage insurance. The company’s model is best understood as a fundamental shift in managing digital risk, moving from a technical problem with limited recourse to a measurable financial liability. According to Mantas' official press release, the funding will help the company address what it calls one of the largest unpriced liabilities in the modern economy.

The deal in detail

The $1.77 million (approximately Dhs 6.5 million) seed round saw participation from several key regional investors, including Nuwa Capital, Suhail Ventures, Plus VC, and the OQAL Angel Syndicate. The capital is earmarked for advancing product development, refining risk modeling, and supporting initial customer deployments across the MENA region and North America. This investment highlights growing investor confidence in solutions that support the infrastructure of the digital economy, especially within the context of the UAE's startup ecosystem.

Why this matters: pricing an uninsurable risk

There is a straightforward way to understand the problem Mantas solves. Previously, cloud downtime was treated as a technical issue, managed through service level agreements (SLAs) that offered limited financial certainty. For a modern digital business, however, even minutes of downtime can halt revenue and damage customer trust. Mantas has changed this by creating a financial instrument to cover this specific risk.

“Cloud downtime is now one of the largest unpriced liabilities in the digital economy,” said Basil Mimi, CEO and co-founder of Mantas. “Businesses have engineered their systems for scale and speed, but the financial layer has not kept up. Parametric insurance allows us to turn cloud outages into a measurable and insurable risk, giving companies certainty at the exact moment they need it most.”

How parametric cloud outage insurance works

What is important to note is how this model differs from traditional insurance. Parametric insurance provides automatic payouts based on a predefined trigger event—in this case, verified cloud outage data—rather than a lengthy and complex claims process. When an outage at a major provider like AWS or Azure meets the policy's conditions, the payout is triggered automatically. This provides businesses with immediate liquidity to manage the financial fallout, a critical advantage when every minute counts.

Arnav Danthi, Principal at Nuwa Capital, noted this distinction. “Downtime is often treated as a technical issue, but for digital businesses it’s increasingly a financial one. Mantas’ approach stood out to us because it ties insurance coverage directly to how infrastructure behaves in the real world.”

The MENA digital economy angle

The launch is particularly significant for the MENA region. Governments and enterprises across the UAE and Saudi Arabia are rapidly scaling their digital infrastructure, with initiatives like Snowflake's UAE launch on AWS showing deep reliance on cloud platforms. This rapid adoption concentrates risk, creating structural exposure for fintechs, e-commerce platforms, and other digital-first industries. Mantas provides a financial safety net that has, until now, been missing from the region's technology stack.

Hasan Haider, Founder and Managing Partner at Plus VC, commented, “The company is redefining cyber insurance... to address one of today’s most critical risks—cloud downtime. We are excited to support the Mantas team as they scale this differentiated platform regionally and beyond.”

Looking forward: insuring the future

Looking forward, this suggests a new standard for managing digital risk. As business operations become more interconnected with cloud and AI infrastructure, the potential for cascading failures increases. Mantas plans to expand its platform to cover these emerging risks, ensuring that the financial protection layer keeps pace with technological evolution. The implication for digital businesses is clear: cloud downtime is no longer just a risk to be mitigated with engineering, but one that can be financially insured.

Funding details

Mantas has raised $1.77 million (approximately Dhs 6.5 million) in a seed funding round. Participants included Nuwa Capital, Suhail Ventures, Plus VC, OQAL Angel Syndicate, and other strategic angel investors. The capital will be used for product development, risk modeling, and market expansion in MENA and North America.

Frequently Asked Questions

Written by

Share

Copied