Abu Dhabi's Hub71 welcomes new batch of start-ups

A total of 16 businesses will participate in the incentive programme

Hub71 start-ups raised $436 million from global investors in the first half of 2022. Photo: Hub71

Hub71, Abu Dhabi's global technology ecosystem, has welcomed a new batch of start-up companies that will be able to tap into additional resources to scale up their businesses.

A total of 16 start-ups will participate in the programme and will benefit from equity-free incentives worth up to Dh500,000 ($136,150) and the opportunity to connect with investors, corporates, government entities and academic partners, Hub71 said on Tuesday.

The selected companies are from the region and overseas — including countries and territories such as Italy, Luxembourg, the UK, the US and Hong Kong.

They specialise in finance, health, clean technology, education, food and logistics.

Some of them include the Green Future Project, a platform for people and businesses to support climate projects; 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 their wages when needed.

“Our value-driven programmes are continuing to attract high-tech start-ups to Abu Dhabi that are driving transformation within key sectors of the economy,” said Badr Al Olama, acting chief executive of Hub71.

“We always strive to connect founders to our global network of blue-chip corporations, government bodies and investors.”

Abu Dhabi continues to enhance its start-up environment as it banks on technology to drive economic growth and inclusion across all sectors.

The emirate is very active in promoting the growth of the industry through several initiatives.

In July, Hub71 launched its second Outliers programme, which will focus on Web3 to help companies protect their operations and give them an opportunity to receive up to Dh100,000 to fund their proof of concept.

Other major companies are also helping start-ups in Abu Dhabi. On Monday, GrowthX, a Microsoft start-up accelerator programme backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (Adio), announced the launch of its third cohort.

In May, Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi’s biggest listed developer, awarded pilot projects to five technology start-ups as part of the second cycle of its Scale Up accelerator programme that was unveiled last year in partnership with Majid Al Futtaim Communities.

A vehicle at the Tawazun military industry factory. Delores Johnson / The National

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Tawazun was among the local winners awarded contracts at this year’s Idex. Delores Johnson / The National

Women operators work in the final assembly area at Strata. Jumana El Heloueh / Reuters

A military ship under construction at Abu Dhabi Ship Building. Nicole Hill / The National

Temperatures rise to 650 degrees Celsius to mix various elements for aluminium at the Emirates Aluminum plant in Abu Dhabi. EGA, the world’s fifth-largest aluminium producer, was formed last year in the merger of Dubai Aluminium and Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium. Rich-Joseph Facun / The National

Hub71 said it continued to pursue high-quality start-ups to help them to take advantage of the incentives on offer, allowing them to contribute to Abu Dhabi's economic growth.

“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,” Mr Al Olama said.

Hub71, which was set up in 2019, is backed by the government of Abu Dhabi and Mubadala Investment Company, the emirate's sovereign wealth fund.

It is also supported by Adio and the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the capital's financial free zone.

It has $500 million in available capital and offers incentives such as free housing, office space and health insurance.

Hub71 is now home to more than 170 start-ups, and those in the pre-seed, seed and series A stages have collectively raised more than $67m.

Start-ups in the technology community have generated about $700m in revenue and created around 1,000 jobs since it was set up.

In the first half of 2022, the start-ups raised $436m from global investors.

Hub71 plans to develop its cross-border programmes in the long term to help start-ups to expand to other markets and deepen overseas founders' market access in the UAE.