Start-ups at Hub71, Abu Dhabi's global technology system, have raised nearly Dh4.5 billion ($1.22 billion) in funding globally until the end of 2022, as its company and investor bases continued to grow, its deputy chief executive has said.
The figure, which is up more than 40 per cent from the Dh3.2 billion that was raised until the third quarter of 2022, also helped start-ups generate Dh3 billion in revenue at the end of last year, up 20 per cent from the end of the third quarter, Ahmad Alwan told The National in an interview.
Hub71 more than doubled its start-up numbers to over 200 last year, securing 41 deals with corporate partners worth Dh160 million, Mr Alwan said.
More than 900 jobs have been created since Hub71's inception, he added.
“We believe that we are on the map when it comes to the technology landscape. There are a lot of initiatives that exist within Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE that we can further build on to continue positioning and amplifying Abu Dhabi as a global technology hub and ecosystem," Mr Alwan said ahead of Hub71's Impact event, which was held in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
“The ultimate objective is to build and develop tech companies out of Abu Dhabi. Our target is to continue to grow our funding figures and to see start-ups that are able to raise a significant amount of funding,” he said.
“The way we do that is we continue to liaise with our investor partners that are seriously and actively exploring the opportunity within the Hub71 and Abu Dhabi start-up ecosystem and channelling that.”
Hub71's role is part of a broader strategy by the UAE government to promote entrepreneurship across all sectors. The Emirates aims to become “the entrepreneurial nation by 2031", according to the Ministry of Economy.
The country also aims to be home to 20 unicorns — or start-ups with a valuation of $1 billion and above — by then, Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq said during the launch of the Entrepreneurial Nation 2.0 programme last October.
Worldwide start-ups are booming as they take on the challenges of developing solutions for a world that is becoming increasingly digital in key sectors such as retail, services and commerce.
The value created by start-ups globally is about $3 trillion, which is almost on par with the gross domestic product of a G7 economy, according to advisory company Startup Genome.
Funding for these companies set a record in 2021 when it hit $621 billion, according to CB Insights.
In December, Hub71 announced that its start-ups had collectively raised $1 billion.
“We brought in investor, corporate, talent, government and regulatory partners, all to contribute to building an ecosystem that helps start-ups grow,” Mr Alwan said.
Hub71's start-ups currently cater to more than 20 industries, according to its website.
Among the sectors it plans to focus on further are financial technology and its digital asset subsets, health, education, transport, logistics, travel climate and food, he said.
There are a lot of initiatives that exist within Abu Dhabi and the wider UAE that we can further build on to continue positioning and amplifying Abu Dhabi as a global technology hub and ecosystem
Ahmad Alwan,
deputy chief executive of Hub71
The development of the digital asset space is to be reinforced with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, Mr Alwan said.
“We have planned to create specialised ecosystems. We started off with digital assets, but on our trajectory is to build specialised ecosystems around each of these subsectors,” he added.
“We have identified this in line with the government's objectives … we continue to see the importance of these to help accelerate the adoption of technology and support the growth of this space.”
Abu Dhabi is the “driving force” behind the growth of several start-ups that are “pushing the boundaries”, said Badr Al Olama, acting chief executive of Hub71.
“Abu Dhabi has arrived at the intersection of transformation and innovation … we are now solidifying the impact we generate on a global scale by doubling down on breakthrough technologies that are poised to make game-changing impact,” he said.
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In 2013, The National's History Project went beyond the walls to see what life was like living in Abu Dhabi's fabled fort:
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Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
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- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
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Pay varies significantly depending on the school, its rating and the curriculum. Here's a rough guide as of January 2021:
- top end schools tend to pay Dh16,000-17,000 a month - plus a monthly housing allowance of up to Dh6,000. These tend to be British curriculum schools rated 'outstanding' or 'very good', followed by American schools
- average salary across curriculums and skill levels is about Dh10,000, recruiters say
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Skilled worker visas will require a university degree, and there will be tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
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Language requirements will be increased for all immigration routes to ensure a higher level of English.
Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.
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