VC funds & investors in the UAE

How venture capital works in the UAE

Venture capital in the UAE runs through two financial centres with their own regulators: Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) on Al Maryah Island, where fund managers are regulated by the ADGM Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), where they are authorised by the DFSA. Phoenix Venture Partners, Bunat Ventures, VentureSouq, Iliad Partners, Natural Ventures, Klumi Ventures and Venturewave Capital hold ADGM licences; Nuwa Capital, Raiven Capital and Ajeej Capital (Cabrit Venture Fund I) are regulated by the DFSA in DIFC. Government capital sits behind several funds: Oraseya Capital is the AED 500M venture arm of the Dubai Integrated Economic Zones Authority (DIEZ), Mubadala Capital is Abu Dhabi's sovereign-affiliated asset manager with its own Ventures platform, and Dubai Future District Fund lists Leo Capital and Partech among its fund-of-funds investments. Saudi fund-of-funds reach into the UAE too: Jada Fund of Funds and SVC back Access Bridge Ventures and the Salica Oryx Fund, Jada Fund of Funds invested in the first close of Iliad Partners' Tech Ventures Fund I, and Shorooq Partners joined QIA's Fund of Funds programme in February 2026.

Stages and tickets: at pre-seed and seed, COTU Ventures writes initial cheques of $150k–$2m, Plus VC invests about $100K at seed with follow-ons up to $500K, and BYLD and Leo Capital lead pre-seed and seed rounds (Leo Capital reads every pitch without a warm introduction). Wamda Capital and Annex Investments invest from seed to Series A, Fikr Ventures at seed in edtech only. For Series A, Modus Capital prefers to lead late seed and Series A rounds with tickets of $500k to $2m, Iliad Partners invests at pre-Series A and Series A from a $50M Fund I, Access Bridge Ventures leads pre-Series A rounds from a $35M fund, and MEVP writes tickets of $3M to $5M from its $105M Middle East Venture Fund IV. Phoenix Venture Partners invests USD 100,000 to 7.5 million per company from seed to Series B out of its $50M Innovation Fund, Constructor Capital up to $10 million from pre-seed to Series A, and Partech's seed fund €300k–€3m. Later-stage capital comes from Yellowfin Capital Partners (US$100K–US$1M at growth and expansion stage), Venturewave Capital and White Star Capital (Series A and B; White Star's Fund IV is $250M), TAU Capital (approximately $15M per company at growth stage), Global Ventures ($400M AUM, growth stage), General Atlantic and SoftBank Vision Fund (growth equity). BECO Capital spans the whole range, from pre-seed to pre-IPO, with $820M+ across five funds.

Sectors: fintech is the deepest pool — Further Ventures (fintech and digital-asset markets), VentureSouq (FinTech and ClimateTech funds), Iliad Partners (fintech, proptech, logistics), BYLD (fintech, AI, industrials), Access Bridge Ventures and Nuwa Capital (portfolios include Malaa, MoneyHash and ClearGrid). Blockchain and digital assets have their own cluster in Abu Dhabi and DIFC: Klumi Ventures (pre-seed to Series A, equity plus tokens), Hashgraph Ventures (blockchain infrastructure and AI), Hashed (AI, crypto and frontier tech), Primal Capital (applied technology and digital assets) and Ajeej Capital's Cabrit Venture Fund I (Bitcoin and blockchain). Healthcare: TVM Capital Healthcare invests growth capital in tech-enabled healthcare companies, and Mubadala Capital's Ventures platform covers technology and healthcare. Impact and climate: Natural Ventures ($100m inaugural fund, first close July 2024) backs water and food security technology, Venturewave Capital invests in health, education, food and agriculture, climate and sustainable finance. Niche funds: Homegrown Ventures backs consumer goods brands (Fund I over $22.8 million, final close April 2026), Fikr Ventures seed-stage edtech, Mindshift Capital women-led companies with a gender lens, 212 B2B technology, TAU Capital and Constructor Capital deep tech.

Applying: 22 of the 48 UAE venture capital entries on the map take pitches through their own sites — among them MEVP (Apply for funding), Shorooq Partners (Get funded), Plus VC (Apply now), Jasoor Ventures, Salica Oryx Fund and Global Ventures (pitch forms), Oraseya Capital (Pitch to us), BECO Capital (founder route on its contact form with deck upload), Leo Capital (replies within 2–3 days), Fikr Ventures (four-step application, reply within two weeks), Homegrown Ventures (rolling review), Venturewave Capital (through its Venturebeam platform), Constructor Capital (Tell us about your startup), 212 (pitch deck through its contact form) and Yellowfin Capital Partners (Get Funding form). Phoenix Venture Partners takes pitches by e-mail (getfunded@pvp-me.com). The other 26 — including Iliad Partners, Nuwa Capital, COTU Ventures, Wamda Capital, White Star Capital, General Atlantic, SoftBank Vision Fund, TAU Capital and 21 Ventures — publish no application form; BYLD's founder Typeform is private and its Founders Program link returns 404. On GulfPitch every entry with a public application route carries an Apply button; the rest show the fund's own website.

Where they sit: Abu Dhabi, almost entirely inside ADGM on Al Maryah Island, holds the larger cluster — Further Ventures, Plus VC, Phoenix Venture Partners, Jasoor Ventures (ADGM Square), Bunat Ventures (Al Sila Tower), VentureSouq, Iliad Partners, Modus Capital, Phoenician VC, Hashgraph Ventures and Venturewave Capital (all Al Khatem Tower), Natural Ventures and Klumi Ventures (Al Sarab Tower), TAU Capital and SoftBank Vision Fund (Al Sila Tower), Annex Investments, Fikr Ventures, Mubadala Capital, Hashed (Sky Tower, Al Reem Island), General Atlantic (Al Maryah Island) and MSA Novo (ADGM Square), with Salica Investments, Constructor Capital, Primal Capital and White Star Capital naming Abu Dhabi among their locations. Dubai's funds gather in DIFC and around it — Nuwa Capital, BYLD (Index Tower), Raiven Capital (DIFC Innovation Hub) and Ajeej Capital (Cabrit Venture Fund I) in DIFC; BECO Capital at One Central, Dubai World Trade Centre; Jabbar Internet Group in Dubai Design District; Pin (Pininvest) in Business Bay; Oraseya Capital and Homegrown Ventures Dubai-based; TVM Capital Healthcare, Leo Capital, Partech, 212 and Mindshift Capital with Dubai as their regional office or hub. Yellowfin Capital Partners works from both cities (Tamouh Tower, Al Reem Island and Business Bay). Access Bridge Ventures, MEVP, Shorooq Partners, COTU Ventures, Lunara Partners, Global Ventures and Wamda Capital name the UAE or the MENA region without an emirate on their sites.

In numbers: 50 VC funds & investors in the UAE, 23 taking applications; 5 state on their own websites that they take companies from abroad (November 2026).

Facts from each programme’s own website, checked October – November 2026. Amounts in the currency the programme publishes.

Questions founders ask about VC funds in the UAE