Dubai Future District Fund (DFDF) was created in 2022 to invest in innovative startups and emerging technology companies. It is specifically focused on attracting companies to the “Dubai Future District,” a business hub that brings together all the resources that an early-stage company would need to grow the country's economy in an innovative and sustainable way. The fund exists to grow the nation's technology sector and the number of people who call Dubai home.
DFDF believes a sustainable innovation ecosystem is made up of multiple stakeholders, including but not limited to entrepreneurs, investors, subject matter experts and policy makers. The government-backed fund invests in promising technology companies that will grow in Dubai and scale globally. The other side of the house, the fund of funds, partners with global funds that have an interest in investing in the heated emerging technology sector in Dubai and the surrounding Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Ben Zarrour
Senior Investment Associate
Karim Konsowa
Investment Associate
Basma Hamza
Investment Analyst
Building an ecosystem
DFDF views regional development through a global lens. The team works to attract promising startups from across the globe to Dubai. They’re keen to identify technologies or build verticals that aren’t currently represented in Dubai’s economy.
DFDF also works to support other investors entering the region by bridging gaps between the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia and the US. Because it is a government-backed entity, funds interested in investing in the MENA region, specifically in Dubai or the United Arab Emirates, look to DFDF for intelligence and leadership.
Informing winning investments
The DFDF team is charting new territory for the country. To be successful and achieve their ambitious goals, they needed a powerful research tool. After evaluating several options, they decided to work with PitchBook. DFDF chose PitchBook for its ease of use, global coverage, richness of data and insights, and the powerful market mapping feature.
On the fund of funds side, the DFDF team uses PitchBook to map out the funds that have participated in investments in the MENA region. The team can analyze past investments of the fund, the performance of those investments, the fundraising history and more. Before PitchBook, this research was inefficient, to say the least. It involved sorting through news coverage and outreach to industry sources to corroborate those findings.
| “ | PitchBook has fast-tracked my ability to analyze funds and portfolios. I can do higher-quality research in less time using PitchBook.”—Karim Konsowa, Investment Associate |
Due to the high-tech nature of its investments, DFDF receives a high volume of inbound opportunities. The fund relies on PitchBook for due diligence and leans heavily into the PitchBook’s market maps feature to analyze industries, scout companies for investment, and build thought leadership. In-depth understanding of market dynamics helps DFDF invest with confidence. PitchBook’s valuation tools are also particularly critical to the firm’s success.
| “ | PitchBook saves time by bringing all the research I need into view. It shows comparable companies I might have missed if I searched on my own. I can see the competitive landscape quickly and easily.”—Basma Hamza, Investment Analyst |
Big wins in a short time
In less than a year, with the help of PitchBook, DFDF has made direct investments in a handful of exciting ventures. Two very recent investments include:
NymCard
A banking-as-a-service (BaaS) provider, NymCard makes it possible for fintechs and other industry innovators to plug and play finance into their applications, enabling them to scale payment programs across multiple markets.
FinFlx
A provider of a cloud-based solution for managing gratuity liability, in compliance with the UAE's labor laws.
As the firm builds a new investing ecosystem for the MENA region, PitchBook is helping the DFDF team win by saving them time, delivering timely and rich insights and elevating the quality of their research—far beyond what could be gleaned from general online research, or other research providers.
| “ | As we develop the future-economies thesis and investment rubric for the fund, I’m leaning on data, research reports and a host of value-add information from PitchBook. We couldn’t do it without this tool.”—Ben Zarrour, Senior Investment Associate |
Learn more about tech investing and the MENA region
Mapping MENA’s VC Ecosystem
Discover niche spaces on the rise before your competitors with PitchBook’s Emerging Spaces
Explore disruptive private market sectors with Emerging Technology Research
