Dubai’s Intelak Hub announces 2021 programmes for aviation and tourism startups

Intelak Hub, the region’s only startup platform dedicated to the travel, tourism and aviation sectors, has opened registrations for local, regional and international startups to apply for its new cohorts of programmes, starting June 13, 2021.

The Intelak Hub was launched in July 2020, and assembles three distinct platforms including the Intelak Incubator, Intelak Accelerator and the Intelak Idea Lab.

Intelak Hub is sponsored by principal partners Emirates Group, Dubai Tourism, Accenture and Microsoft.

Due to the significant clout of the partners within the aviation and tourism industry, startups who are part of the programme have access to a robust ecosystem dedicated to mentoring startups from ideation through to equity-free funding, growth and scaling.

 

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Programme participants will also have access to an alumni pool for networking and business opportunities.

Intelak Hub’s 2021 offerings include the Intelak Incubator, a 12-week programme for early stage startups offering equity-free funding, market feasibility guidance, pitch deck advisement, and demo day showcases where Dubai is used as a proof-of-concept for their solutions, according to the Dubai Media Office. Additionally, it will include Dhs50,000 in equity-free funding, with the opportunity to showcase solutions at a demo day, and further access to ecosystem collaborations.

The Intelak Accelerator meanwhile is an eight-week programme for late stage startups looking to scale their businesses, offering comprehensive go-to-market counsel, access to partner ecosystems to test and implement their solutions, exhibition space and exclusive pitching and investor opportunities at GITEX Future Stars.

Meanwhile, the Intelak Idea Lab is a three-week programme nurturing young Emirati talent to develop and support homegrown talent and entrepreneurship. Applicants can be considered for all programmes regardless of which programme they enter when joining Intelak Hub and startups do not need to be based in Dubai to take part. All cohort programmes will have a hybrid structure consisting of physical and digital components.

Over the past five years Intelak Hub, previously known as Intelak Incubator and Futurism Accelerator, has supported programme participants from over 20 countries. Since 2016, participants have been awarded Dhs1.4m in equity-free seed funding.

“As businesses begin to rebuild and reimagine themselves, the startup segment will become more important than ever for our economies – driving innovation and growth by putting bold ideas into practice. Indeed, this year has already begun on a high note, with UAE start-ups attracting investment of $256 million in the first quarter,” said Sayed Hashish, general manager of Microsoft UAE.