ADGM launches new commercial license for tech start-ups

Citi has received license to set up a branch at ADGM. Mona Al Marzooqi / The National

Abu Dhabi Global Market, the international financial centre in Abu Dhabi, has started a new commercial license for technology start-ups, paving the way for businesses to set up shop in one of the fastest growing financial free zones in the Arabian Gulf region.

The new license offers flexibility where start-up companies can get a full operational license, with the option to apply for four residential visas and meet the requirement for a registered address through a range of options, ADGM said in a statement on Saturday.

The financial free zone in the capital will nurture the new businesses through their lifecycle, beginning from seed capital to the eventual listing of a firm on a stock exchange, it said. The start-ups will be able to utlise the cost-effective platform at a nominal cost of $700 (Dh2,570), the ADGM added.

The tech start-up license and the professional services support programme provides “tangible solutions to address set-up costs, access to funding and business support,” Dhaher bin Dhaher Al Mheiri, chief executive of the ADGM registration authority said. “Together with the many excellent support initiatives from Abu Dhabi government and the greater entrepreneurship ecosystem, they will serve to make Abu Dhabi an even more attractive base for new businesses and ultimately promote economic diversification, foster growth and stimulate the region’s innovation environment."

The start-up license is available to entities from all industries and will adhere to internationally recognised operating standards that current ADGM funds, multinationals, small and medium-sized enterprises, advisers and other registered entities benefit from, Mr Mheiri added.

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ADGM’s professional services support programme for start-ups, the first of its kind in the UAE, is set up in partnership with local and international advisers, with the objective to help entrepreneurs in legal, compliance, finance, accounting and VAT matters.

Abu Dhabi’s ADGM is “the ideal platform to host start-ups from across our international locations that are looking to expand in the GCC, and larger Middle-East region,” Omeed Mehrinfar, managing partner of Plug and Play, one of the world’s largest innovation platforms and incubators noted. “With the new license and professional services support programme, start-ups will be able to leverage ADGM’s top-tier ecosystem of investors, advisors and corporate partners and operate their businesses at scale.”