Fikra Ventures has entered into a partnership with Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, to build and scale AI-native companies from Abu Dhabi.
Under the partnership, Fikra Ventures joins Hub71’s ecosystem as a partner venture studio and will operate as a venture builder for Hub71’s Initiate Program, building AI-native ventures in-house and forming joint ventures with selected global AI companies to pursue the regional market from Abu Dhabi.
The agreement was signed at Hub71 by Wael Aburida, CEO and Managing Partner, Fikra Ventures, and Ahmad Ali Alwan, CEO of Hub71.
This partnership brings together Hub71’s founder-focused ecosystem with Fikra Ventures’ venture studio platform to support the creation and scaling of AI companies designed to succeed in real markets, starting in Abu Dhabi and expanding globally.
As a founding member of the Initiate Program, Fikra Ventures will support the development of an AI startup cluster through two clearly defined pathways:
Venture Creation: Build AI-native companies in-house and in partnership with founders around validated market demand, with enterprise-ready products and commercialization embedded from day one.
Global Scale-in: Support selected global AI companies entering the region by forming joint ventures to pursue the regional market. Fikra builds the joint-venture operating platform and execution required to accelerate customer acquisition and scale.
Wael Aburida, CEO and Managing Partner of Fikra Ventures, said that, “We firmly believe in Abu Dhabi’s vision to be not only the capital of capital, but the capital of AI. We want to do our part to make that vision a reality. We will complement the significant investments Abu Dhabi is making in AI infrastructure by rapidly enabling world-class AI companies to become leaders in Abu Dhabi’s tech ecosystem and scale globally from here.”
Aburida further noted that, “Fikra’s ambition is to build the world’s leading AI-native venture studio, aligned with Abu Dhabi’s innovation leadership and powered by Hub71 within ADGM.”
