Abraham Accords: Top 10 VCs in United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The Abraham Accords established after two successful years a bunch of opportunities for growth. However, opportunities stay empty without VCs and investors. Learn more about my personal Top 10 VCs in UAE on ‘VonNaftali’: Subscription $29,90/year

The investor scene in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is very diverse, has very deep pockets, is generally willing to take risks and rarely set a sector focus: investments are made from high-tech to real estate development under one roof. The center of the VCs and investor scene is without any doubt Abu Dhabi.

The VCs market is booming. This was recently underlined by the fact that the largest Israeli-based crowd investment platform – OurCrowd – has opened an office and more in Abu Dhabi. OurCrowd Arabia is the first Israeli VC in UAE. An result of the Abraham Accords. It is said that there are about 600 VCs in Abu Dhabi alone.

The boundaries between VC, investor houses, incubators and ecosystem/hubs are very fluid. Many companies map several segments here. Finally, The Abraham Accords have made Abu Dhabi an even more highly attractive hub for start-ups.

You will look in vain for an actual overview and rankings as you are used to from other ecosystems such as London or New York. That’s why it can only be a subjective foray on the one hand based on my own (digital) expertise and on the other hand a foray into other specialist media and blogs.

Of course the VCs and investors ecosystems are touched by the war in Europea and the constraints caused by covid. However, the VC market stayed robust.

MagnIIT reported in his 3rd quarter report for 2022 on the VC market in UAE: “After a record year for the venture capital market in the UAE, the first nine months of 2022 were relatively slower. The number of deals decreased marginally by 1.0%, while funding contracted by 7.0% to reach $845M.” and concludes: “This came in coherence with the trend in the global market as the ecosystem was impacted by challenging economic headwinds.In relative terms, UAE-based startups raised 57.0% of FY 2021 funding over 67.6% of total deals.“

As a first step, however, I recommend studying and visiting the website of ADGM – the ‘International Financial Center of Abu Dhabi’. It gives you deep insights into the legal frame and other useful informations: “Abu Dhabi Global Market is an award winning international financial centre located in Al Maryah Island and consists of three independent authorities – the Registration Authority (RA), the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and ADGM Courts.“

On this basis, a kind of quintessence was drawn. The focus was on VCs and investment houses that focus on start-ups. As final remark before I jump into the list: It is not a ranking like the name “TOP 10” might suggest, but a selection of 10 VCs and investment houses that I personally consider as important. So, no warrant is given. Here, we go.