IN5 Start-up Funding Reaches AED 8 Billion, Driven by Dubai’s Pro-Innovation Policies

TECOM Group’s incubator showcases significant funding increase, spotlighting over 1,000 innovators at Expand North Star.

PC: Dubai Holding

Pro-innovation policies introduced in Dubai have enabled start-ups operating in TECOM Group PJSC’s in5 incubator to raise more than AED 7.8 billion since inception. The total amount of funding is now up 163% since 2023, announced at Expand North Star, the world’s largest event for start-ups and investors, highlighting the fantastic growth of in5-supported enterprises this year.

Majed Al Suwaidi, SVP at TECOM Group PJSC, said that start-ups are a key indicator to long-term economic growth and aligns with the vision of entrepreneurship and innovation that Dubai has under its Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’. “Achieving this milestone in funding reinforces in5’s mission to unlock entrepreneurial excellence by providing opportunities, partnerships, and access to investors,” he added.

Launched in 2013, in5 has been able to service more than 1,000 start-ups in strategically critical sectors, including technology, media, design, and science, through three specialized innovation centers in Dubai Internet City by in5 Tech, in5 Media at Dubai Production City, and in5 Design at Dubai Design District. Accordingly, government efforts to grow the creative economy have not been shy, and by the first half of 2024, in5 Media saw a 20% increase in active start-ups.

Some of the major new additions to the in5 system come in the form of the inception of in5 Science, launched last June 2023 with the Dubai Science Park. This space holds more than 35 start-ups focused on science, while collaborating with Dubai’s Research and Development Programme that backs the sectors in life sciences, energy, and environment.

Dubai remains a place with a robust landscape for start-up funding, especially in the AI direction. It seems the forward-thinking strategies of the city have borne fruits on that front. In the last few months, some notable success stories emerged from in5: there are Ziina, one of the fintech start-ups that raised AED 80.8 million and Podeo, one of the distribution platforms for podcasts that secured AED 19.8 million in the Series A rounds.

in5 provides start-ups with the necessary tools-including advisory services, mentorship, and investor access via its Investor Hub at in5 Tech. Such a scenario allows in5 to show its innovation-driven ecosystem to more than 1,200 global investors, who include emerging players like AI-enabled communications start-up Grambell, and online travel agency Estaie.

Over the last two decades, TECOM Group’s sector-focused districts which include Dubai Internet City and Dubai Science Park among others, have undoubtedly amplified Dubai’s role as a global hotspot of creativity and entrepreneurship.