The UAE is the first regionally in attracting venture capital investments

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The United Arab Emirates ranked first regionally, at the level of the Middle East and Africa, in attracting heads of state. Venture capital invested in start-ups, according to the Magnitt report on “Venture Capital Markets and the State of Startup Financing in the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Pakistan” for 2022. The UAE is the most active market in the Middle East and Africa, as it succeeded in attracting venture capital totaling about 4.3 billion UAE dirhams (US$1.165 billion) in 2021, achieving a significant growth leap in this regard compared to 2020, at a rate of up to 93 %, as this is the first time in the history of the UAE that venture capital investments in emerging projects exceed the $1 billion barrier.

Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, said Business and small and medium enterprises, the result achieved by the UAE in the field of attracting venture capital Financing emerging projects represents a new achievement added to the track record that the state has achieved thanks to the support and vision of its wise leadership in developing and diversifying its national economy, providing an advanced system for entrepreneurship and emerging, small and medium companies in the UAE, and consolidating its position as a first destination for business and pioneering projects in the region and the world, in line with the fifty goals. and the determinants of the UAE Centennial 2021.

His Excellency added that 2021 is an exceptional year for the entrepreneurship sector in the UAE, as the country has succeeded in achieving a great developmental leap that doubles in the volume of capital investments. The risks that have been attracted and attracted to finance emerging projects and small and medium-sized companies in the country, in conjunction with the launch of integrated and gigantic national projects to achieve a fundamental shift in the entrepreneurship system, foremost of which is the home of entrepreneurship and the fifty projects aimed at serving entrepreneurs and owners of entrepreneurial projects.

His Excellency indicated that the result is evidence of the strength of the national policies and strategies that have been implemented to enhance the competitiveness and attractiveness of the business environment and entrepreneurial activities. For business in the country in particular, derived from the vision and directives of the wise leadership and the fifty principles, and reflects the strength of the economy based on knowledge, innovation and technology in the country through various tools, the most important of which is risk capital, and it gives a clear message that the country’s markets are able to attract the best quality investments and represent the first destination To link new and pioneering projects with local, regional and international investors to support and help them achieve high levels of success and access to local and foreign markets, and in a manner that provides a system that supports the process of companies’ development at a rapid pace and puts them on a new path of regional and global competitiveness starting from the land of the Emirates.

In detail, the Magnet report indicated that the venture capital investments received by the UAE in 2021 were distributed among 155 startup projects in the country, with a growth of more than 12% compared to 2020, as the report indicated. The UAE ranked first in all the regions covered by the report, including the Middle East, Africa, Turkey and Pakistan, in terms of the average size of a single financing deal, reaching 202 1 About 28 million dirhams, an increase of 72% over the average volume of financing deals concluded in 2020, which consolidates the position of the UAE as an incubator for the growth of projects and supports the model of unicorn companies. The report indicated that the UAE ranked first in the Middle East and Africa in the number and size of acquisition deals, as it witnessed 11 acquisitions out of 35 operations in the region, and the total volume of these deals reached 2.2 billion dirhams (605 million dollars), which reflects the vitality The market for emerging companies in the country and its promising prospects for growth, especially with regard to the return on investment for business owners and investors, and prosperity in the labor market and jobs in this sector in the country. About 46% of the total venture capital received by the Middle East and Africa combined in 2021, and more than 26% of the total number of deals concluded in this same region in the same last year, which reflects the high confidence of regional and global investors in the country’s markets. The UAE and its promising prospects for growth. The report indicated that the top five activities in attracting capital at the level of this region included, in order, food and beverages, financial technology, e-commerce, transportation and logistics, and enterprise software. Two Emirati women are among the five companies that have attracted the top five financing deals in this region, the Kitopi Food and Beverage Company, which secured a financing of 1.5 billion dirhams ($ 415 million), which is the largest financing deal in the region, and Pure Harvest for smart farms. Harvest Smart Farms, which obtained a financing of 238.5 million dirhams (65 million dollars), which is the fifth largest financing deal in the region.

The report also stated that the UAE represented the destination The favorite in the Middle East and Africa to move the headquarters and regional headquarters of emerging companies to it, pointing out that the most prominent of these operations in the country’s markets last year was the transfer of the Lebanese company “Anghami” for music broadcasting via digital platforms to the Abu Dhabi Global Market, and “Suef” company Swvl, the Egyptian company for transformational mass transit solutions based in Dubai, the US Stripe, which is one of the leading financial technology companies in Silicon Valley in the United States and which has chosen Dubai as a springboard for its regional expansion in the Middle East and North Africa, and We WeWork is an American commercial real estate and office space solutions company that operates today in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

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