Why Abu Dhabi: Building the foundations for startups to scale from here

Hub71 exists to help founders build and scale globally competitive companies from Abu Dhabi. Attracting startups and backing them early is the easy part, and plenty of markets can claim it. The real test of an ecosystem is what happens as those companies mature: whether they can raise larger rounds, build commercial relationships, attract international investors and expand into new markets.

Recent independent benchmarks point to real progress. MAGNiTT’s inaugural Ecosystem Benchmarking Index ranked the UAE first across 12 core MENA startup markets, with an overall score of 82.2, while Abu Dhabi was named the region’s leading AI city in The Observer’s inaugural AI Cities Index.

Each offers a different lens on what makes a technology ecosystem strong. MAGNiTT weighs the macroeconomic foundation, ecosystem scale and activity, exits and maturity, and the investor landscape; the AI Cities Index assesses investment, innovation and implementation. Both point to areas that matter as technology companies grow: access to deeper pools of capital and an environment where new technologies can move from development into commercial use.

These are the foundations Hub71 is built to strengthen, an ecosystem designed to attract ambitious founders and give them the connections and opportunities to keep growing from here.

A deeper capital market

The most revealing part of MAGNiTT’s analysis sits beneath the headline ranking. Between 2021 and 2025, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt accounted for 91% of the $14.6 billion raised across the 12 markets assessed, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia alone representing 76%.

The concentration is more pronounced at later stages. Although nine markets recorded at least one Series B or later transaction over the five-year period, the UAE and Saudi Arabia attracted 87% of the capital deployed at those stages.

Building a company through those stages requires more than a strong early funding environment. As businesses grow, they need access to larger pools of institutional capital, investors with different areas of expertise and networks that extend into new markets.

MAGNiTT also identifies a clear link between international investor participation and overall funding levels, reinforcing the value of connecting local ecosystems with capital beyond their borders, as companies prepare for larger rounds and international growth.

This is a priority for Hub71. Our capital community now spans 68 capital partners and 51 family offices, bringing founders closer to a broad range of regional and global investors. Alongside building that network, our focus is on connecting founders and investors to connect at the right stage, and supporting relationships that continue as companies grow.

Turning technology capability into commercial opportunity

Abu Dhabi’s position in the AI Cities Index adds a second dimension. By assessing implementation alongside investment and innovation, the index recognises that technology leadership depends on the ability to put new capabilities to work.

AI companies need access to research, compute infrastructure and technical talent, but those ingredients alone do not build enduring businesses. Companies also need customers, investment, regulatory pathways and opportunities to deploy their technology in real operating environments.

Abu Dhabi gives founders access to many of these capabilities. Through Hub71+ AI, startups connect with the technology partners, investors, research institutions and infrastructure that carry a product from development to commercial application.

We take the same approach across our specialist ecosystems in Digital Assets, ClimateTech and Life Sciences. Their role goes beyond bringing startups in the same sector together, they also connect founders more closely with the organisations shaping those industries, from investors and corporates to regulators, researchers and government partners.

When those relationships work, founders can test commercial demand, navigate sector-specific requirements and build partnerships as they develop their technology. That is a far stronger foundation for taking a product to market and, ultimately, scaling it beyond Abu Dhabi.

From ecosystem scale to company growth

Hub71’s own growth tracks the development of Abu Dhabi’s technology landscape. Our community now includes 570 startups, 323 of them onboarded through Hub71 programmes. Startups in our programmes have raised AED 11 billion and generated AED 6 billion in revenue. Around them sits a network of 46 market partners, 68 capital partners, 51 family offices and 20 cross-border partners.

The value of that community is in what it unlocks: capital networks open routes to investment; market partners can become customers and collaborators; specialist ecosystems provide sector expertise and infrastructure; and cross-border relationships can open doors to new markets.

This is where the two rankings resonate with what we are building. The depth of the UAE’s capital market and Abu Dhabi’s technology capabilities are strong foundations, but companies still need the right connections to turn those advantages into growth. That is Hub71’s role, bringing founders closer to the capital, customers, partners and markets they need at each stage of their journey.

Because attracting an ambitious startup to Abu Dhabi is only the beginning. The greater opportunity is helping that company build from here, grow from here and compete globally.