Hub71 takes on 20 new start-ups as part of latest cohort

Global tech ecosystem grows its community to more than 200 start-ups

Set up in March 2019, Hub71 is based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate's financial free zone. Photo: Hub71

Abu Dhabi-based global tech ecosystem Hub71 said it has selected 20 start-ups from six countries operating in different strategic sectors of the economy to join its latest cohort.

Following the addition, Hub71 has grown its community to more than 200 start-ups.

It marked its third intake of start-ups this year, which saw a 60 per cent increase in applications from founders worldwide, Hub71 said.

Of the 20 start-ups in the cohort, 11 have relocated to Abu Dhabi and the remaining nine to other parts of the UAE.

“Hub71 has now reached a key milestone of building a community of over 200 tech start-ups in Abu Dhabi. This success is testament that Abu Dhabi is becoming a destination for high quality start-ups that showcase great potential and impact,” Badr Al Olama, acting chief executive of Hub71, said.

“The start-ups in our latest cohort have reinforced themselves with half a billion dirhams of funding and we look forward to their evolution towards global prowess on the world stage,” Mr Al Olama said.

Hub71 has selected companies operating in various sectors including CleanTech, AgriTech and FinTech.

The companies include 44.01, a carbon reduction company eliminating carbon dioxide by transferring it into rock; iFarm, a Finnish company that creates agriculture technologies to facilitate automated vertical farming; and Dutch FinTech start-up Thndr that has already raised more than $22 million.

The start-ups will gain access to Hub71’s community within a vast tech ecosystem of active investors and corporate, government and academia partners that act as key drivers for business growth. They will also benefit from flexible incentives to ease the process and cost of setting up, Hub71 said.

Hub71, which is backed by the Abu Dhabi government and Mubadala Investment Company, has regularly unveiled initiatives to support the development of start-ups.

Last month, it also set up a platform that aims to help increase capital investment in technology companies, including start-ups from the region’s family offices.

In August, Hub71 welcomed 16 new start-ups, having set up its annual outliers programme in July. It joined forces with Siemens Energy in September to support Abu Dhabi start-ups addressing climate change issues.

Start-ups at Hub71 have raised more than Dh3.2 billion ($871 million) in funding, generated Dh2.5 billion in revenue and created 800 direct jobs since its inception in 2019 through to the third quarter of 2022, according to a report last month.