Tech venture company Scalo Technologies has established its headquarters in <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2023/03/22/dubai-commits-1bn-to-tech-start-ups-amid-global-sector-volatility/" target="_blank">Dubai</a> as it aims to invest $100 million in start-ups over the next three to five years. Originally founded in Singapore in 2020,<a href="https://scalotech.com/about/" target="_blank"> Scalo</a> said it chose to base its operations in Business Bay, Dubai, due to the emirate’s high level of business activity, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2023/03/27/uae-economy-projected-to-grow-by-43-in-2024-central-bank-says/" target="_blank">growing economy </a>and strong government initiatives to attract entrepreneurs and professionals from around the globe. The move will help the company to “identify and guide start-ups with the potential to enter global markets”, and it sees Dubai as the “perfect international hub to drive its plans in the tech and gaming sectors”, Scalo said in a statement on Monday. “Dubai is at the heart of the Mena region, which is actively growing, and provides us with many outstanding investment opportunities,” said Abdumalik Mirakhmedov, director and co-founder of Scalo Technologies. “We want to capitalise on the chance to connect with global start-ups, and also to meet UAE-based and Mena-based founders.” Start-ups are growing globally as entrepreneurs work to develop solutions for a world that is becoming increasingly digital in key sectors such as retail, services and commerce. A record 540 companies achieved a unicorn status ― worth more than $1 billion in 2021 ― up from 150 in 2020, according to a latest report by advisory company Startup Genome. Dubai, which is seeking to cement its position as a global capital of the digital economy, recently launched the <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/government/2023/01/04/sheikh-mohammed-unveils-10-year-growth-plan-for-dubai/">Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) plan</a>. The strategy aims to catapult the emirate into the world’s top cities by economic strength in the next 10 years and involves a programme to help 30 private companies to achieve unicorn status. Scalo, which has moved its management and operations team to Dubai, said it is particularly interested in cloud-based artificial intelligence solutions and gaming companies. It intends to invest in a wide variety of businesses including game developing, publishing, FinTech apps and AI companies over the coming months. Nearly 50 per cent of the $100 million investment earmarked for start-ups over the next three to five years will go to Mena-based tech and AI companies, the company said. “Our key idea is to help founders of start-ups with the potential to scale up their business to enter global markets, no matter the language or location of their potential customers,” said Rashit Makhat, co-founder of Scalo. “[We] are constantly searching for breakthrough ideas that can grow worldwide. At the same time, we are always exploring new opportunities in other fast-growing sectors. Markets displaying multiple growth potential over the next five to 10 years are of particular interest to us.” Scalo has so far invested in companies including <a href="http://megarender.com/" target="_blank">Megarender.com</a>, the online cloud render farm, and Voctiv, a technology company that helps businesses worldwide to build fully autonomous, AI-powered contact centres.
