Accelerators & incubators · 19
CODE — Center of Digital Entrepreneurship
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Access to 7 CODE labs and a 20-partner innovation network.
No equity — accelerator programme
—
in5 Dubai
Accelerator · UAE
Subsidized business licence and coworking workspace.
No equity — service or permission
—
inspireU by stc
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
General track (3 months) or Advanced track (6 months, invitation-only).
No equity — corporate accelerator
—
Newlab Riyadh — Mining Innovation Studio
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Targeted investment.
No equity — targeted investment
—
Sheraa
Accelerator · UAE
Equity-free grants plus programme support.
No equity — grant
—
TAQADAM
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Up to $140K: $40K base grant plus up to $100K follow-on for top teams.
No equity — grant
—
Bahrain FinTech Bay
Accelerator · Bahrain
Accelerator programme and a CBB sandbox pathway.
No equity — service or permission
—
CDL-Doha
Accelerator · Qatar
Non-dilutive mentorship, with investor access via the CDL network.
No equity for participation
—
DIFC Innovation Hub — Fintech Accelerator
Accelerator · UAE
Regulatory sandbox access and programme support for fintech startups.
No equity — service or permission
—
Digital Incubation Center
Accelerator · Qatar
Free incubation, including a 5-week Idea Camp and a 2-year full programme.
No equity — service or permission
—
EWAx Sedrah — Environment Accelerator
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Support programme for environment, agriculture and water startups.
No equity — service or permission
—
impactU by stc
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Impact incubation programme.
No equity — service or permission
—
Innovate For Tomorrow (Dubai Holding)
Accelerator · UAE
AED 500,000 to the winner plus a funded UAE pilot; runners-up AED 250,000 and AED 100,000.
No equity — prize plus funded pilot
—
Intelak
Accelerator · UAE
AED 50K equity-free grant.
No equity — grant
—
KAUST ScaleX
Accelerator · Saudi Arabia
Lab access and R&D support to scale into Saudi Arabia; no funding provided.
No equity — in-kind support only
—
Kuwait Digital Startup Campus (KDSC)
Accelerator · Kuwait
Non-dilutive programme support and investor matchmaking.
No equity — non-dilutive programme
—
Oman Startup Hub
Accelerator · Oman
Programme support plus Microsoft cloud credits.
No equity — service or permission
—
Scale Now (MCIT)
Accelerator · Qatar
Non-financial capability building and market access support.
No equity — service or permission
—
TASMU Accelerator
Accelerator · Qatar
QAR 200,000 (about $55,000) cash prize to top cohort startups, plus a virtual programme.
No equity — 100% founder ownership retained
—
Grants & prizes · 16
Cultural Development Fund (CDF)
Grant · Saudi Arabia
Up to SAR 500,000 non-repayable per project, capped at 20 projects total.
No equity — grant
29 Sep 2026closes
FinTech Development Grant (QFTH)
Grant · Qatar
Milestone-linked co-funding.
No equity — co-funding
—
KFAS Applied Research Grant
Grant · Kuwait
Non-dilutive R&D grant; amount is project-dependent.
No equity — grant
—
KFAS Young Researcher Grant
Grant · Kuwait
Non-dilutive grant; amount is project-dependent.
No equity — grant
—
RDIA — Saudi Innovation Grants
Grant · Saudi Arabia
Innovation grants of up to SAR 4 million per project (Saudi Innovation Grants Program).
No equity — ownership retained
—
Tamkeen
Grant · Bahrain
Grants and subsidies; amount depends on the project.
No equity — grant
—
Misk Foundation
Grant · Saudi Arabia
Zero-equity grants up to SAR 1M through the Challenge for Change programme.
No equity — grant
—
NTDP — National Tech Dev Program
Grant · Saudi Arabia
Non-dilutive grants and debt from a SAR 2.5B programme; LendTech loans up to SAR 8.5M.
No equity — grant
—
Qatar–Spain Innovation Program (QASIP)
Grant · Qatar
Co-funding up to QAR 1.5M for 1–3 year bilateral Qatar–Spain R&D projects.
No equity — grant
—
QRDI Qatar Open Innovation (QOI)
Grant · Qatar
QAR 365K in funding per challenge, over a one-year pilot.
No equity — grant
—
QRDI SBIG
Grant · Qatar
Grants up to QAR 3M over 3 years, or phased QAR 800K–2.2M funding.
No equity — grant
—
QRDI Technology Development Grant (TDG)
Grant · Qatar
Co-funding up to QAR 10M per project; the company also carries a funding share.
No equity — co-funding, not an investment
—
ROWAD Awards
Grant · Qatar
Business award incentives.
No equity — grant
—
TiE Women MENA
Grant · UAE
Pitch competition with US$50,000 in equity-free cash prizes.
No equity — cash prize
—
WISE Prize for Education
Grant · Qatar
A share of a $1M prize pool, plus a $100,000–125,000 conditional grant per finalist.
No equity — grant
—
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Grant · UAE
Non-dilutive prize: US$1M per category winner, US$100K per finalist.
No equity — prize money
—
Government programmes · 32
CBK Wolooj Innovation Hub
Government · Kuwait
R&D programme support for fintech innovation projects.
No equity — programme support
—
CBK Wolooj Regulatory Sandbox
Government · Kuwait
Regulatory permission to test fintech products live; no funding provided.
No equity — service or permission
—
Central Bank of Oman — FinTech
Government · Oman
Regulatory permission to test products live; no funding provided.
No equity — service or permission
—
CMA FinTech Lab (ExPermit)
Government · Saudi Arabia
Regulatory permission to test products live; no funding provided.
No equity — service or permission
—
Duqm Free Zone
Government · Oman
Free zone incentives plus a 30-year tax holiday.
No equity — service or permission
—
Invest Qatar
Government · Qatar
FDI facilitation, government introductions and direct pitching to VC funds via Gateway.
No equity — service or permission
—
Media City Qatar
Government · Qatar
Gaming and screen incentive programmes; licensing with 100% foreign ownership.
No equity — incentives for licensed entities
—
MISA — Ministry of Investment
Government · Saudi Arabia
Investor registration, RHQ programme access and Startup Saudi services.
No equity — service or permission
—
Premium Residency — Entrepreneur Track
Government · Saudi Arabia
Residency for founders with a round of SAR 400K+ (20% share) or SAR 15M+ (10% share).
No equity — one-time fee SAR 4,000
—
QFC Digital Assets Lab
Government · Qatar
Regulatory pathway only; no capital is deployed.
No equity — regulatory pathway
—
Riyada — ASMED
Government · Oman
Grants and loans; amount depends on the project.
No equity — grant or loan
—
ADGM
Government · UAE
A RegLab regulatory sandbox; not a funding programme.
No equity — service or permission
—
ADIO
Government · UAE
Project-dependent incentive packages plus regulatory fast-tracking.
No equity — service or permission
—
Bahrain EDB
Government · Bahrain
Investment incentives, fast registration and a startup visa.
No equity — service or permission
—
CBB FinTech Regulatory Sandbox
Government · Bahrain
Regulatory permission to test fintech, payments and crypto products.
No equity — service or permission
—
CBK Digital Banking Guidelines
Government · Kuwait
A licensing pathway toward operating a digital bank.
No equity — service or permission
—
CBUAE FinTech Sandbox
Government · UAE
Regulatory permission to test fintech and digital-banking products.
No equity — service or permission
—
Cloud Computing SEZ
Government · Saudi Arabia
OECD-compliant tax treatment, expat-levy exemption and electricity at $0.05/kWh.
No equity — service or permission
—
CMA FinTech Unit (Module 19)
Government · Kuwait
Regulatory permission to operate as a securities crowdfunding platform or fintech.
No equity — service or permission
—
DIFC
Government · UAE
100% foreign ownership in a dedicated free zone; not a funding programme.
No equity — service or permission
—
KDIPA
Government · Kuwait
Up to 100% foreign ownership and up to a 10-year tax holiday for investors.
No equity — service or permission
—
Knowledge Oasis Muscat
Government · Oman
Free zone benefits and tax exemptions.
No equity — service or permission
—
Masdar City Free Zone
Government · UAE
100% foreign ownership free-zone setup.
No equity — service or permission
—
Ministry of Commerce & Industry
Government · Kuwait
Company setup fees, which can be waived for SMEs.
No equity — service or permission
—
MoIC Bahrain
Government · Bahrain
Fast-track business registration and regulatory support.
No equity — service or permission
—
Qatar Financial Centre (QFC)
Government · Qatar
Business licensing; its Feb 2026 package waives registration and renewal fees for three years.
No equity — service or permission
—
Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZ)
Government · Qatar
Free zone investment incentives and benefits.
No equity — service or permission
—
SAMA FinTech Sandbox
Government · Saudi Arabia
Regulatory permission to test fintech and insurtech products.
No equity — service or permission
—
Sas for Excellence
Government · Oman
Up to OMR 1M ($2.6M) per company, plus wage subsidies.
No equity — non-dilutive
—
SHIFT Innovation Center Riyadh
Government · Saudi Arabia
Clinical testing access and MoH regulator connections.
No equity — service or permission
—
twofour54
Government · UAE
Creative Lab funding, licence-fee waivers and production-rebate access.
No equity — service or permission
—
UAE Golden Visa — Entrepreneur
Government · UAE
5-year renewable residency for entrepreneurs with a qualifying project.
No equity — residency permission
—
Corporate VCs · 1
colab by stc
Corporate VC · Saudi Arabia
Internal venture-building only; no external funding route for founders.
No equity — internal only
—
Loans & guarantees · 7
Emirates Development Bank (EDB)
Loan · UAE
Up to AED 2M per startup with no assets required, tenors up to 72 months.
No equity — repayable finance
—
Industrial Bank of Kuwait
Loan · Kuwait
Medium and long-term industrial and SME loan financing; amount varies by project.
No equity — concessional loan, repayable
—
Khalifa Fund
Loan · UAE
Loans; amounts not published, vary by programme.
No equity — loan, repayable
—
MBRIF
Loan · UAE
Government-backed bank-loan guarantees; terms set case by case.
No equity — loan guarantee
—
SME Fund (Bahrain)
Loan · Bahrain
Sharia-compliant SME financing; amount set case by case.
No equity — Sharia-compliant debt
—
Social Development Bank (SDB)
Loan · Saudi Arabia
Loans of SAR 50,000–500,000, repayment up to 9 years, grace period up to 12 months.
No equity — 9% administrative fee, 2% annual service fee
—
Kafalah — SME Financing Guarantee Program
Loan · Saudi Arabia
Bank loan guarantee of 80% standard, up to 90–95% in target sectors.
No equity — loan guarantee
—
Support programmes · 5
Fintech Saudi - Makken
Support · Saudi Arabia
Subsidised cloud and cybersecurity services for early-stage fintechs.
No equity — subsidised services
—
Startup Qatar AI Compute Credits
Support · Qatar
Capped in-kind AI compute credits.
No equity — in-kind support
—
Terminal 11
Support · Oman
Programmes and workspace access; no direct fund provided.
No equity — programmes and workspace
—
AstroLabs
Support · UAE
UAE/Saudi setup, licensing and coworking services; no direct funding.
No equity — service or permission
—
KFAS Innovation Challenge
Support · Kuwait
Training programme for intrapreneurial teams; no direct funding provided.
No equity — service or permission
—
How this list is made
A programme is listed here when the Cost line on its page begins with “No equity” — the programme’s own wording, taken from its website or application form, not our reading of it. Grants and prizes are not repaid; loans and guarantees are; accelerators and government programmes listed here take no stake for taking part. Where a programme charges a fee or takes equity under a separate track, its own page says so.