Abu Dhabi’s tech start-up hub welcomes first unicorn

CARS24, India’s biggest online retailer for used cars and the UAE’s largest used car retailer, is valued at $1.84 billion and is now part of Hub71’s Value Creation Program, targeted at later stage start-ups.

A unicorn is a start-up valued at more than $1 billion.

Hub71 said it is increasing market access for founders worldwide to join and partner with Abu Dhabi’s rapidly growing tech ecosystem, which is now ranked in the top 10 start-up ecosystems worldwide, according to Startup Genome.

The new cohort gathers start-ups at various stages of growth that have collectively raised $34 million in funding and have committed to relocate 82 entrepreneurs to Abu Dhabi.

A total of 14 new start-ups will join Hub71’s Incentive Program which features an expanded range of incentives that provide more choice and flexibility for founders to benefit from dedicated resources to support the growth of their ventures.

They were selected from 108 applications. Most of the successful start-ups specialise in HealthTech, Artificial Intelligence and Software, originating from countries including Israel, Canada, US, Bahrain, Japan, UK, Turkey, Mauritius, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia.

The applications primarily originated from the UAE (34 percent) followed by US (11 percent) and UK (6 percent). As Hub71’s profile grows internationally, the global tech ecosystem received its first applications from Latvia, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Portugal and Romania.

Jida Itani, chief operating officer at Hub71, said: “As Hub71 matures and we continue to build momentum in growing the tech ecosystem of Abu Dhabi globally, we have made it a priority to strengthen our value proposition for later-stage start-ups and increase market access for tech startups at all stages. In doing so, we have attracted our first globally enduring tech company that is now benefitting from our Value Creation Program.”

The second cohort of 2021 will be the first to benefit from Hub71’s new broader range of incentives that provide generous support packages to help start-ups thrive.

The equity-free incentives go beyond subsidised housing, health insurance and office space and now include workforce support, licence and visa support, upskilling, growth marketing and discounted perks to ease the process of growing a start-up in Abu Dhabi.

The new cohort in detail

• Yodawy: A digital pharmacy marketplace that serves all the stakeholders of the healthcare ecosystem, including customers, insurance companies, pharmacies, doctors, and pharmaceutical/FMCG companies.
• Seegnal: A smart and intuitive clinical decision support platform that empowers clinicians to manage and resolve patient-specific Drug Related Problems (DRPs).
• PayMob Smart Payments: Allows any commerce solution vendor to offer financial services.
• IT Flakes: An all-in-one coaching management tool to help lifestyle and wellbeing experts manage and build their business while maintaining their clients better.
• HelpWear: A medical device company that makes a wearable heart monitor.
• Predictiv Care: An advanced personalized Digital Twins to predict and prevent diseases and adverse drug reactions by analyzing 20,000 genes for 22,000 diseases and 750 drug reactions.
• BitGrit: A decentralised and tokenised AI platform that helps companies crowdsource custom AI models through competitions, recruit top data science talent, and license community-developed AI on our marketplace.
• Verofax: Delivers automation and validation solutions for industries from manufacturing to retail and Banking.
• PaySky: A digital payments ecosystem enabler, building the payments infrastructure to power the new digital economy across Africa & the Middle East.
• Senniors: A digital health ecosystem focused on the care of the elderly and dependent people. They offer the elderly a comprehensive, progressive, and dynamic home care solution.
• SPL Solution: A cloud migration platform that enables enterprises to modernize legacy applications and realise the true benefits of the cloud.
• UVL Robotics: Helping and supporting logistics companies in their challenges by providing robotics and autonomous solutions.
• Pocket Clinic: Provides a smart injector and complimentary treatment for more than 50 million insulin-dependent diabetes worldwide with different income levels who can`t access/afford the new device.
• Wainsk: Brings vision to hospitals making them safer, smarter, and more efficient. It uses location technology and intelligence coupled with deep patient flow knowledge to simply make things work naturally.