An event organised by the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF) on Thursday saw several startup entrepreneurs from the UAE and the MENA region presenting their innovative projects to venture capitalists and select investment funds.
The DFF event – organised in partnership with VC MENA – was part of its ‘10×10’ initiative to provide a platform for promising startups to meet with investors to explore opportunities for collaboration and growth in the technology and digital economy sector.
The investment firms which participated in the event included some of the biggest whose investment portfolios include more than 2,400 companies around the world, with 300 from the Middle East, of which 90 are from the UAE.
Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, minister of state for artificial intelligence, digital economy and teleworking applications and DFF’s deputy managing director, said the future economy was a key pillar in the UAE’s vision to establish a global hub for incubating and supporting entrepreneurs in various sectors.
The event’s objective is to support entrepreneurs in various sectors of innovation, technology and the digital economy to develop their concepts and expand their business from the UAE, Al Olama added.
Khalfan Juma Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation, said the event aligned with DFF’s efforts to provide a platform to connect local and global startups and entrepreneurs with investors, incubators and accelerators.
DFF said its initiative was aimed at helping investors from the region to utilise potential investment opportunities, mobilise support for their projects, expand their business in the UAE and globally, and ultimately become unicorn companies based in Dubai.
“The initiative strengthens Dubai’s position as a sought out destination that not only attracts talents and creative minds but also retains them and supports their growth from Dubai,” Belhoul said.
The first meeting of the ‘10×10’ initiative saw entrepreneurs from the region whose projects focused on sectors such as banking, data, healthcare, retail, e-commerce and real estate.
According to a recent study by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, Dubai hosts 39 percent of fast-growing startups in the MENA region.
The emirate also attracted 57 percent of the total funding that these fast-growing startups have received, which is estimated at $5.2 billion.
The UAE ranked first in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s (GEM) Global Entrepreneurship Index 2022 report on the basis of it achieving outstanding results in areas such as availability of good opportunities, skills and knowledge to start a business, planning to use more digital technology to grow business, and startups’ ability to generate new job opportunities in the coming years.
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