“From day one, it was going to be Dubai,” says Chafic Idriss, co-founder and CEO of TWIG, a Dubai-based ‘save now, buy later’ platform that has secured over $1m in pre-seed investment.”

Originally from Lebanon, Idriss has worked with Deloitte across the region, advised governments through UN agencies, and collaborated on projects with international bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank.

Dubai was the obvious choice to found his startup because “of the ease of doing business, the infrastructure and the regulators,” he says. And “there’s so much talent here.”

TWIG is part of a FinTech boom in Dubai, that is attracting founders like Idriss, international businesses, and investors looking for cutting-edge opportunities. While global investment in the sector fell 48% in 2023, it grew 92% in the UAE.

In part this is due to the innate advantages of a city that is at once a thriving technology hub and one of the modern world’s great wealth capitals – straddling the line between finance and tech.

But it is also thanks to the unerring support of a government that has made FinTech a strategic priority, putting Dubai firmly at the forefront of the sector.

The FinTech capital of MENA

In the Global Financial Centres Index 2024, Dubai is the highest ranking city in MENA for FinTech. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is home to over 1,000 FinTech businesses alone.

The region’s leading finance center comprises a full 6% of the emirate’s GDP, with ambitions to double its share by 2030. FinTech plays an outsize role, responsible for 27% of the DIFC’s growth.

Its success aligns with the emirate’s broader economic goals. The Dubai Economic Agenda 2033 (‘D33’) aims to make Dubai a top four global finance hub by 2033, while generating $27 billion annually from digital transformation. The government itself is 99.5% digitized, with blockchain playing a crucial role.

1000+

The number of FinTech businesses in the DIFC

$27BILLION

How much Dubai aims to generate annually from digital transformation

Such wholesale digitization is enabled by a robust supporting infrastructure with some of the fastest internet speeds in the world, powering world-class data centers and cloud infrastructure.

Full-throated state support and top-tier infrastructure are solid foundations for FinTech. But just as important are the emirate’s clustering effect, and its forward-thinking regulators.

“They want us to succeed”

Dubai has been integral to TWIG’s development. Having started direct-to-consumer, Idriss and his co-founders soon discovered that “the cost of acquiring customers is quite high.”

But while exhibiting at events in the emirate, retailers approached them asking to integrate TWIG into their systems. Dubai regularly hosts events like the FinTech Summit, which attracts over 8,000 C-suite executives from over 100 countries.

So TWIG pivoted to a B2B model. Retailers use its technology to offer customers incentives to save towards purchases, encouraging responsible spending while nurturing brand loyalty.

The day-to-day clustering of the DIFC was equally significant. Startups are often literally across the hall from bankers, family offices, and VCs. It’s something that “really sets [Dubai] apart from other countries… the number of family offices that want to invest in innovation,” says Idriss.

And a DIFC base provides a direct line to regulators. TWIG obtained an Innovation Testing Licence (ITL) and are in the sandbox, supervised by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), which oversees the financial institutions in the DIFC.

Idriss describes a close working relationship with the regulator to develop TWIG’s product. “They’re not here to stop innovation,” he says. “They want us to succeed.”

Such a progressive approach is crucial to the growth of a startup like TWIG. But it’s also a major component of Dubai’s magnetism for international companies.

A launchpad for global ambitions

WadzPay “bridges the gap between fiat currencies and virtual assets,” according to Anish Jain, founder and CEO.

Its blockchain-based platform powers a range of applications, from digital currency wallets to token-based loyalty programs and fractional ownership of real-world assets.

Founded in Singapore, the company opened its Dubai offices in 2022. With bases across the globe, Jain says a main attraction of the emirate was its “supportive regulatory environment.”

WadzPay holds a Virtual Asset Services Provider (VASP) licence from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA) – the world’s first virtual asset-specific regulator. Jain describes the licence – issuance of which is subject to meeting pre-operating requirements and qualifications – as a “pivotal advancement for WadzPay… enhancing trust and credibility among stakeholders.”

But Jain also views Dubai as “a launchpad for global ambition,” acting as both a gateway between east and west, and into “the emerging MENASA markets (Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia).”

Even for a digital business, Jain credits the emirate’s strategic location and “world-class airports, ports, and logistics infrastructure” for offering “connectivity and market reach.

“Dubai serves as a launchpad for broader global ambitions.”

— Anish Jain, Founder and CEO of WadzPay

Where FinTechs go to grow

Already a tech- and finance-friendly city, Dubai was always a natural fit for FinTech. But its strident support and strategic investment have truly built a home from which the sector can grow.