Abu Dhabi’s Hub71 ramps up Dh1.5b in investments for startups

Abu Dhabi: Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, on Wednesday announced that its startup community ramped up approximately Dh1.5 billion of investments since inception and secured Dh30 million in 2021 through over 20 corporate deals during the year.

The aggregate valuation of Hub71 startups soared to Dh5.87 billion, with close to 1,000 jobs created since its inception in 2019, demonstrating impact of a thriving technology community in the UAE capital.

Backed by Mubadala, Hub71 is accelerating Abu Dhabi’s digital transformation and the UAE’s progress to becoming an entrepreneurial nation by 2031.

Mohammed Ali Al Shorafa Al Hammadi, Chairman of Hub71, said: “Entrepreneurship will be a key cornerstone of a sustainable economy and if the quality of Hub71’s founders are anything to go by, we have every confidence the tech ecosystem will continue to attract long-term investment, international partnerships and companies exceeding the one-billion-dollar valuation mark.

“…Hub71’s strong performance in 2021 exemplifies the enabling business environment we have established in Abu Dhabi. We aim to position technology companies for growth, and our priority remains to enable a flexible and favourable business environment that supports creative ideas and scales solutions to address society’s most pressing challenges.”

Wider impact

Hub71 released its new 2021 Impact Report, where it highlighted growth and success stories emerging from its community of more than 100 startups over the past year.

The community boasts startups from 25 nations across 18 sectors, ranging from fintech, robotics, AI and Big Data to healthtech, ag-tech and cybersecurity.

Hub71 has connected founders with investors and funds and contributed Dh36 million through its various initiatives to ease the startup journey in Abu Dhabi. Startups at Hub71 closed 32 funding rounds in which companies such as Trella closed a Dh154 million Series-A funding round, and BitOasis, the cryptocurrency platform, along with Securrency, the blockchain-based financial infrastructure company, both raised Dh110 million in Series-B rounds to fund their expansion across the UAE and the region.

Seven Proof of Concepts (POCs) have been successfully implemented and three-multimillion-dirham deals have been signed through Hub71’s The Outliers program, which seeks innovative solutions to challenges set by corporate and government partners.

Badr Al Olama, Acting CEO of Hub71, said the report “demonstrates how much progress Hub71 startups have achieved over the past year”.

“Founders play an immense role in Abu Dhabi by defining the future of technology that is capturing the imagination of a city full of ambition.”