Global investors invited to meet start-ups in metaverse

DIFC FinTech Hive, the financial technology accelerator in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, announced that it will host its annual flagship Investor Day event in the metaverse for the first time. 

Investor Day is the graduation platform for DIFC FinTech Hive’s programs, as well as a chance for the wider investor community to meet start-up finalists.

On November 10, the avatars of 41 start-up founders from DIFC’s 2022 FinTech Accelerator programme will showcase their innovative technologies to virtual incarnations of investors, industry leaders, and the program’s financial and knowledge partners. Senior stakeholders from leading Middle Eastern financial partners will have the opportunity to watch start-ups pitch their ideas in the FinTech metaverse, as well as attend a virtual exhibition to explore ideas and interact with founders firsthand.

The DIFC FinTech Accelerator program connects the world’s most innovative start-ups with the region’s leading financial services firms, such as banks, investment firms, and insurance companies. The program allows them to collaborate to develop, test, and tailor innovations that will open up new growth opportunities.

This year’s program drew leading technology entrepreneurs from around the world from a variety of sectors, including FinTech, RegTech, and Islamic FinTech. To shape the future of the financial services sector, the cohort addressed key technology innovation themes such as open banking, InsurTech, RegTech, digital assets, ESG, wallets and payments, credit scoring, InvesTech, and more. HSBC, Visa, ADIB, Zurich, Emirates Post Group, CBI, ADCB, ADNIC, Dubai Islamic Bank, Al Masraf, and Mashreq are among the program’s partners this year.

Along with the 2022 FinTech Accelerator program, the DIFC FinTech Hive completed its 2022 Scale-Up program. A panel of funding partners, including Wamda, Gulf Capital, Dubai Cultivat8, Impact46, Dubai Future District Fund, and Shorooq Partners, heard pitches from ten Series A+ FinTech start-ups. The start-ups came from Belgium, Jordan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, the DIFC FinTech Hive’s AccelerateHER programme continued to nurture female talent, with 35 women taking part in more than 20 technical bootcamp workshops and receiving one-on-one mentoring from industry leaders to advance their ideas and shape the future of financial services.

Mohammad Alblooshi, Sector Head for FinTech at DIFC, said: “DIFC’s accelerator programmes continue to attract the world’s most innovative start-ups in the financial services sector and we enjoy connecting them with meaningful partners and serious investors. Interest continues to grow in our region from global investors, which is why we are tapping into the metaverse to offer them increased access to an exclusive cohort of promising start-ups that have successfully graduated from our Accelerator programme. 

“According to DIFC FinTech Hive’s 2022 FinTech Report, global investor interest in the MENA region more than doubled last year with 55 per cent of deals in 2021, including participation from foreign investors, up from 40 per cent in 2020. As we continue to cement our position as a global financial centre and a FinTech and innovation hub, the metaverse will play a major role for DIFC FinTech Hive to lead innovation in the future of financial services.”

According to the DIFC FinTech Hive’s 2022 FinTech Report, funding activity in the sector nearly doubled in 2021, with MENA raising USD 998 million, a 78% increase from 2020.

This year, more than 65 ecosystem partners supported DIFC FinTech Hive’s programs, including partners from the legal, regulatory, compliance, consulting, technology, marketing, and other fields.

Visit https://fintechhive.difc.ae/events-news/Investor-Day-2020-2 for more information and to register for Investor Day 2022.