The Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Fund (MBRIF), an initiative launched by the UAE Ministry of Finance to support innovation in the UAE, hosted its first-ever Investor Demo Day for its current cohort of the Innovation Accelerator Programme.
The Demo Day served as a platform for MBRIF members, representing several priority sectors, including HealthTech, Real Estate, FinTech, AgriTech, Data storage, E-commerce, CleanTech and Artificial Intelligence, to showcase their innovation and capabilities.
Over 42 local, regional and international investors and over 50 interested partners and collaborators joined the Demo Day, where the members pitched their unique business model to highlight how their product is poised to disrupt and advance the UAE market. Networking breakout sessions followed the demos, where interested investors interacted with the members to learn more about their proposals.
Over 42 local, regional and international investors and over 50 interested partners and collaborators joined the Demo Day
Commenting on the Demo Day, Fatima Al Naqbi, Chief Innovation Officer at the Ministry of Finance, and official representative of the MBRIF said: “We are extremely proud of our cohort of innovators and the high-quality solutions they have brought forward to strengthen UAE’s position as a leading innovation hub. The MBRIF Accelerator Programme is here to equip our members with the tools they need to grow and connect with the right corporate partners, helping them realize their commercial and expansion plans.”
The thirteen MBRIF members who presented were:
- Aitrics and P4ML – from the healthcare sector
- Mobsting – an on-demand video crowd-sourcing application
- Northladder – an auction driven second-hand marketplace
- Alesca Life Technologies – a farming solutions and turnkey indoor vertical farms company
- Ajar – a real-estate digital bank
- Colosseum – a live interactive game streaming platform
- Letswork – a shared workspace provider
- Shorages – an E-commerce warehousing and fulfilment services provider
- Giisty – a short peer-reviewed audio and video messages creator
- Widebot – an AI Chatbot platform
- Hotel Data Cloud – a B2B hotel content distributor; and
- Wahaj Solar – a concentrated solar power provider
Over the years, the MBRIF Accelerator program has significantly contributed towards bolstering the innovation ecosystem in the UAE. Since the inception of the program in December 2018, the Accelerator has brought innovators from diverse sectors of the economy such as Technology, Healthcare, Education, Transportation, Clean Energy, Water and Space, among others. The Accelerator places emphasis on nurturing and growing local entrepreneurs to advance innovation in the UAE.