In an effort to broaden its appeal to “entrepreneurial-minded innovators,” Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s innovation ecosystem, has welcomed 16 new firms to the community.
Along with “deepening market access to the UAE for founders based outside,” this is a component of the global digital ecosystem’s plan for creating cross-border programmes for businesses to operate and scale in other countries.
The selected startups will have the opportunity to develop advanced technologies and gain access to the emirate’s innovation ecosystem.
The new start-up cohort for this year will be the first to benefit from Hub71’s broader range of incentives that provide equity-free incentives worth up to AED 500,000 and access to enabling programs and an ecosystem of active investors, corporate, government, and academia partners.
“Our value-driven programs are continuing to attract high-tech startups to Abu Dhabi that are driving transformation within key sectors of the economy. As a partner to over 170 startups in our community, we always strive to connect founders to our global network of blue-chip corporations, government bodies and investors,” said Badr Al-Olama, Hub71’s CEO .
With our ability to unlock real growth opportunities for founders, we expect this new cohort to gain tremendous traction over the next few months within the vibrant tech ecosystem that Abu Dhabi has to offer,” he adds.
Backed by Mubadala Investment Company, Hub71 has attracted 80 percent of its startups through its programs designed to support market access, talent, and potential fundraising opportunities.
Hub71, which opened its program to the public last October, received 348 applications from 47 countries – with the UAE, US, Lebanon, India and Egypt forming the top five countries.
Start-ups that applied to the Hub71 Incentive Program were mostly in the sectors of fintech, health tech, clean tech, edtech, foodtech and logistics. Alongside homegrown startups from the UAE, the cohort also includes Hub71’s first tech company from Luxembourg.
This includes Green Future Project, a platform that supports climate projects globally to track and trace environmental impact. Amwal, a platform that enables people to pay, send or remit money based on their phone number, and Abhi, a FinTech platform that allows salaried employees to draw upon their wage when needed are also in the cohort.
In the first half of 2022, Hub71’s startups have raised $436 million and landed deals worth $700 million in revenues through the tech ecosystem’s corporate partners. Hub71’s has also helped create approximately 1000 jobs.
The long-term plan of the global digital ecosystem is for “deepening market access to the UAE for founders based abroad while developing its cross-border programmes enabling businesses to operate and scale in other markets”.
