ADIO invests $16m in new startups

The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) has allocated $16.3 million to invest in a new batch of startups that have applied to its Ventures Fund.

The five successful applicants – Securrency, TruKKer, Sarwa, YACOB and Okadoc – are all startups either based in or expanding into Abu Dhabi. Two of them, Securrency and Sarwa, respectively provide blockchain technology for digital securities trading and a technology platform for personalised investing.

The ADIO fund was set up in March 2019 as part of the Abu Dhabi government’s Ghadan 21 accelerator project and as a means of boosting the emirates’ technology industry and providing finance to startups.

In addition, ADIO has also made its first investment in a venture capital firm, the UAE-based Global Ventures. The terms of the deal will see ADIO match every dirham raised by Global Ventures in the private market via the Venture Fund’s New Fund Manager Programme.

“The Ventures Fund was created to deepen Abu Dhabi’s innovation ecosystem and ensure big thinking is not constrained by limited capital,” said Tariq Bin Hendi, director general of ADIO. “Once a startup is operational, Abu Dhabi is safe ground for innovation and a place where entrepreneurs can confidently take commercial and creative risks.”

©2020 funds global mena

Related Articles