UAE's startup finance party gets hotter
By Sandhya D'Mello / Khaleej Times - Image Credit: Khaleej Times
SOURCE: Khaleej Times - UAE's startup finance party gets hotter
The UAE has amazing ability to constantly challenge to bring out the best in entrepreneurial sphere and the activity in the startup industry is all set to record another booming phase in 2018.
The UAE startup industry is benefitting from the macro trends and is banking on Expo 2020 Dubai. Introduction of value-added tax (VAT) from January 1 is also among other key factors. In addition, the startups from the US and Europe are not only planning to open shops here but are open to joint ventures and tie-ups in order to get the best from the UAE's startup industry.
Talal Bayaa, CEO and co-founder of Bayzat, said: "I am very optimistic about the 2018 as we will see the surge in more investments and opportunities in Series A and Series B for most startups. The seed round and angel funding is also bullish of the ever-growing and expanding UAE startup industry."
2017 proved to be a record year for the Mena startup ecosystem, continuing its signs of maturity and growth, according to Magnitt's annual state of Mena funding, which looks at Mena specific investments. The report highlighted that $560 million of investment made in 260 Mena startups.
"2017 was a great year for Mena startups, founders and investors across the board. Investment continues to grow at all stages across the funding cycle. With regards to overall trends 2017 broke the record for number of deals and amount invested, when removing investments in Careem and Souq. This is positive news and should provide confidence across the market heading into 2018. We expect to see a continuation of this trend throughout the year," said Magnitt's founder, Philip Bahoshy.
Bayaa explains, that among the key economic sectors there may be a surge in activities in tech sector such as e-commerce, financial consultancy, audit, payrolls as these companies and startups are currently benefitting from the rise in VAT registrations and related activities.
Source: khaleejtimes.com