Dubai's Venture Capital Ecosystem

Saudi Arabia

The number of scaleups in Dubai has increased considerably, growing&nbsp;26% between 2021 and 2022. While Riyadh and Cairo had higher growth rates, in terms of absolute numbers, Dubai saw an increase of 64 scaleups between 2021 and 2022 growing from 242 to 306 scaleups.

Increasing Number of Dubai-based Scale-ups: From 2021 to 2022

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Lucidity Insights reviewed 13 years of data from 1 January 2010 to the end of 2022, to determine how many scaleups reside in 19 MENA countries (excluding Israel). Scaleups are startups that have raised a minimum of US $1 million of startup capital since inception. In this review, we considered all scaleups that had raised at least one funding round since January 1, 2010. The MENA region tallied 749 scaleups in total.

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The top 3 countries in terms of the number of scaleups that call these markets home were: #1 UAE, #2 Egypt, and #3 Saudi Arabia. As of the end of 2022, the UAE had the strongest lead with 339 scaleups calling the Emirates home. Egypt and Saudi Arabia followed with less than half of the UAE&#39;s scaleups with 140 and 132 calling these countries home.&nbsp;

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Dubai in particular is a beacon of light for the regional tech ecosystem, being home to 40% (306) of all scaleups across the entire region, and accounting for 90% of all scaleups in the UAE.

Top 10 MENA Countries for Tech Scale-ups 2023

Top 10 MENA Countries for Tech Scaleups 2023

Though global VCs are increasingly joining investment rounds in the region, the list of the most active VCs investing in Dubai-based startups, based on the previous five years from 2018 to 2022, is primarily dominated by regional investors.&nbsp;

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500 Global (US), Global Founders Capital (Germany), Techstars (US), and BossaNova Investimentos (Brazil) are just a few of the international investors that have actively invested in Dubai-based startups over the past five years.

Increasing Number of Dubai Scaleups: 2021 to 2022

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