The grand economic vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has led to the creation of thriving technology hubs like Dubai Internet City that have transformed the industry in the region, making Dubai a major global innovation and start-up hotspot, said His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai.
His Highness said the emirate’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem has enabled a host of technology start-ups to script global success stories. From world-leading infrastructure and regulatory frameworks to availability of incubators and smart funding, Dubai provides all the elements needed for new ventures of all sizes to succeed.
Sheikh Hamdan’s remarks came during a meeting with Pavel Durov, Founder and CEO of Telegram , one of the world’s leading cloud-based instant messaging and VoIP services. Globally headquartered in Dubai, Telegram is valued at more than $20 billion, and has more than 570 million users, out of which 100 million were acquired in January alone. In 2020, Telegram became one of the 10 most downloaded and popular apps in the world. By 2022, it is expected to have one billion active users per month. Telegram is only one of many of global entrepreneurial success stories that have emerged out of Dubai in the past few years.
Other notable ones include Careem, acquired by Uber; Souq.com, the first unicorn company in the Middle East, acquired by Amazon; Media.Net, one of the world’s largest ad tech companies; Anghami, an Arabic music streaming platform; and Wrappup, the developer of an AI-based productivity app, acquired by US tech firm Voicera. Last year, Dubai-based Emerging Markets Property Group (EMPG) and OLX Group, owners of homegrown technology firms Bayut and dubizzle, announced the merger of their MENA and South Asia operations to form a Dubai-based unicorn company. These companies have shown the world how Dubai enables startups to dream big and achieve even bigger.
Written By: Majid Alhusseini
