London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 09, 2025

Dubai aims to become Start-Up capital of the world

Dubai aims to become Start-Up capital of the world

With unrivalled access to the globe, Dubai is seeking to make itself the start-up capital of the world. We meet the entrepreneurs, incubators and analysts to find out why the start-up ecosystem in the city is thriving.

As a hub connecting the east and west, Dubai offers unrivalled access to the rest of the world and the diverse population within. Formerly dependent on oil, it now forms less than 1% of the city's GDP.

Dubai Start-Up Hub


Dubai Chamber is a semi-government organisation that offers support to those wanting to set up a business. Its entrepreneurship arm, Dubai Start-Up Hub, assisted over 2000 entrepreneurs last year.

Natalia Sycheva, the Senior Manager of Entrepreneurship at Dubai Chamber told Euronews that Entrepreneurs are no different than any other person in the world who is “looking for a nice environment where you have access to the entertainment, educational facilities and definitely having that ease of setting up the business”.

In Q1 of this year, Dubai economy issued over 15,000 new licences. That is a growth of 19 per cent compared to Q1 of 2020. The licences issued in Q1 this year were for professional, commercial and tourism and industrial activities.

Success story


Since 2019, athleisure brand L'Couture has grown from local success to global business with its own store in the city.

Lyndsay Doran, Founder & CEO of L’Couture, set up the business after she saw “a huge gap in the market” for comfortable, high quality, but affordable activewear.

Back in 2019, Lyndsay Doran had never opened a business before.

“So I was just learning on the job. But I think it's been very supportive here as a female founder,” she said.

A nurturing environment


Dubai is keen not just to increase the number of start-ups, but also to nurture and develop those businesses and to build more success stories.

Data platform Magnitt tracks every investment that takes place in the venture capital and Start-Up space.

The Founder & CEO of MAGNITT, Philip Bahoshy, said governments and corporates at all levels are very interested in innovation and start-ups.

“So when they're trying to make policies, when they're trying to identify potential investments, when start-ups are looking at their competitors, that's the data that we're trying to aggregate and help educate people in this space,” he told Euronews.

Incubator Intelak was set up to support and launch start-ups in the aviation, travel and tourism industry.

Yousuf Lootah, Executive Director of Development & Investments at DTCM said they have “awarded about 1.4m AED (310,000 euros) in equity free seed money to these businesses.”

One of Intelak's success stories was Dubz, a business that helps travellers clear their luggage before heading to the airport.

Yousuf Lootah said “We helped them with the market research, finding what the right sweet price point is. Due to that initiative, they got a majority stake bought by Dnata Group into them, and that opened up 90 global hubs.”

An attractive offer


Dubai has just issued guidelines on 100 per cent ownership for foreign investors.

The UAE also has one of the lowest tax rates across its competitor countries with nil rate of corporate tax and five per cent VAT.

The Emirates vision is to embrace a future dominated by technological and research-based industries and become the Start-Up Capital of the world.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
Mayor in western Germany in intensive care after stabbing
Australian government pays Deloitte nearly half a million dollars for a report built on fabricated quotes, fake citations, and AI-generated nonsense.
US Prosecutors Gained Legal Approval to Hack Telegram Servers
Macron Faces Intensifying Pressure to Resign or Trigger New Elections Amid France’s Political Turmoil
Standard Chartered Names Roberto Hoornweg as Sole Head of Corporate & Investment Banking
UK Asylum Housing Firm Faces Backlash Over £187 Million Profits and Poor Living Conditions
UK Police Crack Major Gang in Smuggling of up to 40,000 Stolen Phones to China
BYD’s UK Sales Soar Nearly Nine-Fold, Making Britain Its Biggest Market Outside China
Trump Proposes Farm Bailout from Tariff Revenues Amid Backlash from Other Industries
FIFA Accuses Malaysia of Forging Citizenship Documents, Suspends Seven Footballers
Latvia to Bar Tourist and Occasional Buses to Russia and Belarus Until 2026
A Dollar Coin Featuring Trump’s Portrait Expected to Be Issued Next Year
Australia Orders X to Block Murder Videos, Citing Online Safety and Public Exposure
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
×