Whilst the rest of the business world is going into summer, slow down, the tech community are still in full swing across the Middle East
DIFC Fintech Week, Growth X ADGM graduation, Mohammed Bin Rashid War Stories and Dubai Eye takeover at PwC; it's been a jam packed end of June.
Abu Dhabi Investment Office saw the 21 startups graduate from the Growth X accelerator at a flagship event hosted in the ADGM auditorium.
Hosted by Microsoft for Startups Laura Mansour, she welcomed keynote speaker Serene Shalan head of investment promotion and business advisory who spoke to the incentives and support available to startups in Abu Dhabi.
This was followed by a final presentation from each of the startups judged by a panel of the corporate partners, culminating in a presentation of awards.
Meanwhile back in Dubai, PwC Ventures meanwhile kicked off a second week of Dubai Eye TV & radio broadcast from the PwC HQ experience centre at Emaar Square.
Scale Lead Patricia Keating gave an overview of the progression and development of the startup ecosystem and discussed the impact of growth in attracting international players specializing in acceleration to the market. She joined a compliment of PwC digital experts over the fortnight who spoke on Metaverse, Artificial intelligence, digital assets, circular economy and ESG and more. Catch up on all the broadcast interview recordings »» here
The PwC experience centre further welcomed the Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund alumni and current cohorts and partners were for a peer to peer shared learning experience.
Aya Sadder founder of Bolt, the delivery partner for the accelerator programme welcomed stakeholders including publication Entrepreneur Middle East, Dubai Future District Fund, Dubai Future Accelerators. Keltoum Zniber from Bolt facilitated the session followed by a legal workshop with Legal Circle Surraya Turk.
The week also saw the inaugural DIFC Fintech Week at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Over the course of two days featured 85+ speakers, 26+ sessions focussed on key themes including regtech, future of fintech, sustainability, metaverse and Web 3.0.
The two days saw 1600+ delegates who saw 22 fintech exhibitors, 26 media partners, 12 sponsors and 5 association partners showcase the best of fintech in the region.