10 start-ups graduate from Abu Dhabi's Techstars Hub71 Accelerator programme

The companies, which hail from seven countries, aim to raise $15m from investors this year

Techstars started its first accelerator programme in Abu Dhabi in January last year. Victor Besa / The National

A cohort of 10 technology start-ups has graduated from the Techstars Hub71 accelerator.

The companies, which hail from the UAE, the US, Singapore, Indonesia, India, the UK and Australia, aim to raise $15 million from investors this year. To date, each company has raised $120,000 from Techstars.

“These founders represent top-notch talent,” Vijay Tirathrai, managing director of Techstars, said. “We are extremely proud to be working with them and excited by what they are capable of.”

The accelerator progamme is part of the Colorado-headquartered global investment and innovation platform Techstars. It has teamed up with the emirate's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company and global tech ecosystem Hub71 to run an annual three-month acceleration programme that brings 10 potential pre-seed stage start-ups to the capital.

After interviewing more than 600 start-ups from various sectors including artificial intelligence, FinTech, health technology, augmented reality and logistics, Techstars accepted less than 2 per cent of applicants for the accelerator programme.

“There has never been a better time to be an entrepreneur … I am looking for bold founders who want to create the companies of the future, with a long term committed perspective and willingness to fight for it,” Ibrahim Ajami, head of ventures at Mubadala, said.

From the UAE, two companies – Klaim and Strategy Connect – were accepted into the programme.

Klaim, which provides medical claim management and financing, entered the accelerator as an idea and emerged with 60 medical facility partnerships and a $4.7m pipeline across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“In 12 weeks, Klaim went from just a concept to an incorporated company with $1m in funding, operating in the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” chief executive and co-founder Meriem Tamarzizt said.

Some of the participating start-ups have already attracted early traction, such as augmented reality platform Assemblr, which has been downloaded 2 million times and garnered 23.7 million views. Before entering the programme, Pax Credit facilitated $3.9m worth foreign exchange transactions in emerging markets to help international students save money on university fee payments.

Techstars runs 50 similar programmes in nearly 22 countries. It has supported more than 2,500 start-ups with a total market capitalisation of $33 billion since 2006 across various industries, according to the company.

It operates as a venture capital firm and invests in technology start-ups in the cloud infrastructure, healthcare, cyber security and communication sectors.

The start-up incubator started its first programme in Abu Dhabi in January last year. Earlier this month, Techstars and the Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology teamed up to launch Riyadh Techstars Accelerator.