The Abu Dhabi Investment Office, ADIO, today announced AED60 million of investment in the latest batch of startups and fund managers applying to its Ventures Fund.
The recipients, Securrency, TruKKer, Sarwa, YACOB and Okadoc, are innovation-focused companies that are either based in Abu Dhabi or expanding into the emirate. ADIO also signed its first investment in a venture capital firm, UAE based Global Ventures.
ADIO’s Ventures Fund opened in May 2019, as an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 accelerator programme. The fund is supporting the growth of Abu Dhabi’s startup and venture capital ecosystem by increasing access to capital and stimulating the number of high skilled jobs in the UAE capital’s growing technology sector.
Commenting on the announcement, Dr. Tariq bin Hendi, Director-General of ADIO, said, "The Ventures Fund was created to deepen Abu Dhabi’s innovation ecosystem and ensure big thinking is not constrained by limited capital.
"Once a startup is operational, Abu Dhabi is safe ground for innovation and a place where entrepreneurs can confidently take commercial and creative risks. ADIO is passionate about supporting entrepreneurs, we want to give startups the opportunity to become the next regional, or perhaps even global, tech success story."
Global Ventures received funding through the Ventures Fund’s New Fund Manager Programme, which matches every dirham raised by the VC in the private market. The company is a growth-focused VC investing in revenue-generating enterprise technology companies that can scale and create impact in emerging markets.
Securrency, TruKKer, Sarwa, YACOB and Okadoc, received funding through the Venture Fund’s Startup Matching Programme, which matches dirham for dirham a lead investor’s commitment to an innovative startup, based in or relocating to Abu Dhabi. ADIO’s investments will work to spur further innovation in the capital.
Securrency, part of Abu Dhabi Global Market’s, ADGM, RegLab and a winner of Hub71’s Incentive Programme, is a pioneer of blockchain technology to support global digital securities transactions.
Sarwa is a tech-enabled financial platform that works on implementing time-tested investment strategies and developing a personalised investment experience.
Trukker, a regional logistic platform for road-freight, brings innovation to trucking with on-demand aggregation. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for customers to make automated bookings and real-time tracking of trucks.
Okadoc, is an online doctor appointment booking platform that connects healthcare providers and doctors with their patients.
YACOB, a seed stage startup, is helping to combat childhood obesity rates through an operating system for youth nutrition.
In addition to the Ventures Fund, ADIO is working alongside partners like Hub71, twofour54 and the other free zones to continue to grow the emirate’s innovation ecosystem.
ADIO’s role includes connecting with innovation-led investors and companies to help them maximise the use of Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure, from its research-led universities to its specialised free zones. 2020 will see Abu Dhabi open the world’s first AI university, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, while free zones like ADGM, Masdar and twofour54 have dedicated programmes to support early stage businesses to thrive.
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