Startupbootcamp establishes regional headquarters at Dubai’s DIFC

International startup accelerator Startupbootcamp will open its regional headquarters at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), cementing a three-year partnership between the two organisations.

With the support of DIFC and others, Startupbootcamp launched FinTech Dubai in 2018, an initiative that has since graduated 20 fintech startups in the fields of payments, lending and Islamic digital banking.

The three-month growth programme provides mentorship as well as access to resources, technology and expertise to build proofs-of-concept to validate their business models.

Three programmes now take place within DIFC, supporting start-ups at various stages of growth. These include the original DIFC fintech accelerator programme, Fintech Hive scale up and Startupbootcamp scheme. The first half of 2020 saw DIFC Fintech Hive triple in size with the opening of a larger space in Gate Avenue supporting start-ups, scale-ups and entrepreneurs.

“After years of steadfast growth and development in fintech, we are delighted to welcome Startupbootcamp’s headquarters to our centre,” said Arif Amiri, chief executive officer of DIFC Authority.

“The DIFC’s robust ecosystem of unique infrastructure, expertise in multiple fields, and access to the international community of the world’s leading financial institutions offers stellar opportunities for new and existing startup fintech firms both in the region and globally to elevate and grow their businesses,” he added.

Read: China strengthens fintech cooperation with Dubai through new agreement with DIFC

The fintech sector has is growing rapidly in the region, with over 200 fintech companies based out of the DIFC alone.

According to the 2019 MENA Fintech Venture report, a total of $237m has been invested in 181 deals since 2015 in MENA-based fintech startups, with 51 of those deals signed in 2019 alone.

While 2017 was the breakout year for fintech venture investment across MENA, 2018 and 2019 saw fintech ranked first in the region by the number of deals, overtaking other popular industries such as e-commerce and transport and logistics.