Tech hub in ADGM will offer AED 1bn of investment funds and subsidies to start-ups
Mubadala Investment Company, Microsoft and Japan’s SoftBank, with funding from the Abu Dhabi Government, are opening a tech hub in Abu Dhabi to attract the likes of Amazon and WeWork, as the capital’s strategic investment company aims to nurture tech companies and start-ups.
Hub71 is in talks to bring in the US co-working company WeWork and India’s hotel chain Oyo, both part of the Vision Fund portfolio of investments.
“Adapt or face the consequences,” remarked Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Deputy Group Chief Executive and Chief Executive of Alternative Investments and Infrastructure, Mubadala, at the recent Hub71 launch event.
The UAE accounts for 30% of all fundraising deals done in the region and has the highest start-up presence per million people in the GCC.
Mubadala Ventures, the technology investment arm of Mubadala with more than $225bn in assets under management, was set up in October 2017, to oversee its parent company’s $15bn investment in the Vision Fund. The unit also has an office in Silicon Valley.
“It is a AED 1 billion government initiative of which AED 500 million is investment in funds and companies and the remainder AED 500 million will be used as incentives to support start-ups with housing, office space and with health insurance under the Ghadan 21 initiative,” said Ebrahim Ajami, head of Mubadala Ventures.
The fund counts Apple, Qualcomm and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as investors. Mubadala is the second-biggest investor in the vehicle, after PIF.
Elham Al Qasim, the acting Chief Executive, Abu Dhabi Investment Office, said the application process for interested start-ups will open on April 28.
Selected ventures that commit to having their tech teams based in Abu Dhabi will qualify for housing and health care subsidies. “Talent is the lifeline of what will make this successful,” she commented.
Hub71, based in the Abu Dhabi Global market (ADGM) and named after the year of the UAE’s formation in 1971, marks Mubadala Ventures’ first foray into building a local presence.
