From Hyderabad to Abu Dhabi: How Hub71 Is fuelling a new era of cross-border innovation

As I entered Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, positioned on Al Maryah Island, I used to be instantly surrounded by a palpable sense of innovation and exercise. The air crackled with the power of concepts in movement. Daylight streamed by the tall glass partitions, illuminating the polished flooring the place startup founders labored intensely on their laptops and prototypes. A faint scent of espresso hung within the air, alongside the constant sounds of typing and video conferencing. Wall-mounted screens streamed dwell knowledge from AI and climate-tech ventures, whereas mentors and buyers moved between teams, providing suggestions. International innovators had been in all places, intensely discussing options to essential international points.

Launched in 2019, Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, a worldwide tech ecosystem within the Abu Dhabi International Market, has rapidly turn into a number one tech hub within the Center East. Established underneath the UAE’s 50 billion AED Ghadan 21 financial diversification program, it fosters innovation, entrepreneurship, and international collaboration. Hub71, supported by Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Funding Firm, goals to make Abu Dhabi a number one middle for tech innovation and entrepreneurship. “At Hub71, we’re constructing extra than simply startups. We’re constructing a launchpad that brings collectively international corporations and forward-thinking buyers to show daring concepts into international ventures, all from the guts of Abu Dhabi,” explains Ahmad Alwan, Deputy CEO, Hub71.

Core experience: A holistic assist system
The hub facilities its information on supporting startups and scale-ups with an entire set of help. Its Firm Constructing Program stands out for providing monetary and sensible assist, resembling equity-free incentives, investor/mentor/company associate entry, plus backed housing and workplace house. Alwan, a Hub71 founding member since 2019, notes its holistic technique empowers startups of all ranges to amplify their worldwide attain.

Hub71’s key benefit is connecting startups to substantial funding sources. Over 30 enterprise capital corporations, household places of work, and industrial companions are a part of its ecosystem, providing founders unparalleled alternatives to safe funding. It additionally attracts high expertise from all over the world, with its neighborhood comprising greater than 450 founders from 60 nationalities as of 2025. This variety fuels creativity and cross-pollination of concepts, enhancing Abu Dhabi’s place as a worldwide innovation hub.

Since its inception, Hub71-backed startups have collectively generated AED 4.3 billion in income and attracted AED 7.2 billion in funding, underscoring its function in fuelling innovation-driven progress.

The vast majority of Hub71’s startups are seed-stage corporations (80%), whereas 15% are Sequence A and 5% are Sequence B or later, showcasing a sturdy early-stage innovation pipeline. Alwan mentions that hub’s assist for startups is multifaceted. Incentives embody AED 250,000 in-kind, AED 250,000 money (SAFE word), and an extra AED 250,000 for high-achieving startups finishing the year-long program. Startups within the Shiny program might rise up to AED 750,000 extra in funding. These choices embody entry to over 40 service suppliers in authorized, audit, advertising, and operations.

Hub71’s intensive assist community contains 23 authorities, 30 market, 51 capital, 10 expertise, 11 cross-border companions, and 48 household places of work, fostering a complete ecosystem for collaboration and progress. It rigorously selects high-potential startups. For Cohort 15 introduced in September final yr, Hub71 acquired 1,228 functions, narrowed down by a number of rounds of evaluations to only 48 finalists who had been chosen to affix this system.

Sectoral breadth and deep experience
Hub 71 states its sectoral breadth permits Hub71 to deal with a number of the world’s most urgent challenges, from local weather change to monetary inclusion. The sectoral synergies it gives spans fintech, healthtech, local weather tech, edtech, AI, robotics, large knowledge analytics, and mobility. Past these, the ecosystem can be energetic in well being and life sciences, cyber safety, IT, e-commerce, journey and tourism, agritech, foodtech, gaming, telecommunications, legaltech, aviation and house, insurtech,Blockchain, and enterprise labs.

In fintech, Hub71 has turn into a vacation spot for startups driving innovation in digital funds, lending, and monetary inclusion. Within the healthtech house, it helps corporations centered on telemedicine platforms, digital well being information, and AI-powered diagnostics. Climatetech is one other key space, with Hub71 backing options that deal with sustainability and local weather change in step with international priorities. The hub’s dedication to AI and digital transformation is underscored by the launch of the area’s first AI Heart of Excellence (AI CoE), developed in partnership with e& enterprise (previously often called Etisalat Group).

Enabling Indian startups: Hub71’s worth proposition
Currently, Hub71 has turn into a focus for deepening Indo-UAE ties within the know-how and startup sectors. In keeping with HUb71, the mixture valuation of Hub71 startups, together with Indian ventures, stands at AED 5.87 billion. These figures spotlight the tangible financial advantages of Indo-UAE collaboration inside the Hub71 ecosystem.

Hub71, in 2023, partnered with T-Hub, one in all India’s largest startup incubators and a number one tech hub in Hyderabad. The organisation says its T-Hub partnership has considerably elevated curiosity from Indian startups, with round 30% of functions to its packages now coming from India. Furthermore, the collaboration helped foster stronger ties between the 2 startup ecosystems. A great instance of profitable collaborations is Stride Ventures, an Indian enterprise debt fund that has joined Hub71 as a capital associate. Stride actively engages with Hub71 to supply deal movement from the area, whereas additionally taking part in a job in startup choice. Just lately, it invested $1M in Maalexi, a Hub71 startup. Equally, Cars24, a used automobile market, was the primary Indian firm to affix Hub71. It has since turn into the most important used automobile platform within the UAE, boasting a valuation of $1.84 billion and annual revenues exceeding $600 million. Ultrahuman, a Bengaluru-based longevity and well being platform, can be leveraging Hub71’s international community of buyers, company companions, and mentors to develop past India. The corporate says Hub71’s packages are serving to it entry capital, navigate rules, enabling it to scale its healthtech options internationally. Three extra Indian startups are actually working from Hub71. Arcab is a mobility service remodeling work commutes by shared vans, collaborating with over 40 operators and managing a fleet of greater than 3,000 buses. Hafla claims to be the world’s first AI-based occasion ideation and sourcing platform, providing complete options for venues, tools, and providers. And, Funder AI is a digital financing platform serving SMEs and salaried professionals, offering revolutionary funding options.

Abu Dhabi’s strategic benefits additional sweeten the deal: ranked the world’s second most steady economic system by the U.S. Information & World Report (2024) and named the fastest-growing rising startup ecosystem in MENA by the International Startup Ecosystem Report (2024), the emirate gives 0% earnings tax, 100% international possession, on‑ and offshore licenses, and a ten‑yr Golden Visa. “It’s additionally one of many most secure cities on this planet, with 80% of the worldwide inhabitants simply an eight‑hour flight away,” Alwan highlights. “These components make Hub71 a formidable alternative for founders.”

The creator lately visited Abu Dhabi on the invitation of the Abu Dhabi Media Workplace.