Top 3 Most Valuable Unicorns in United Arab Emirates 2022

Top 3 Most Valuable Unicorns in United Arab Emirates 2022

The economy of the United Arab Emirates is considered to be the fifth-largest in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran and Turkey, with a gross domestic product GDP of US$421 billion in 2020. The UAE is already considered a top business hub for the kind of environment and professional culture. It makes the best-suited environment for the startups to gain a unicorn status because it delivers the combination of factors right from the conception to the creation of the entity of a Unicorn.

This country is coupled with talent, and it has the presence of supportive regulatory bodies and government programmes that aid in scaling projects and startups. The UAE has a reputation for political, social and economic stability, making it one of the most attractive places to do business. It has a very stable microeconomic environment with sustainable economic policies and superior growth strategies, which have fuelled the US’s performance.

It grants the global financial service companies and institutions working in the region and allows multiple startups easy access to the numerous capital streams. Brands like Yala Group, Kitopi and Careem are working with some of the most motivating regional entrepreneurs who have followed their success party and trying to become the next unicorn.

It has set their ambitions clear about unicorns as we have planned that they would try to have 20 of the startups to be raised more than the value of $1 billion as this step would form the basis for the UAE ” Entrepreneurial Nation” initiative, that will work on making the public-private alliances and funding possibilities to help all of the startups in the country to grow. “Several large corporations have come to us saying we want to be a part of this,” Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, who is the minister of the state for entrepreneurship and SMEs.

Their entrepreneurial nation initiative brings three different kinds of programmes, the StartUp initiative, which aims to achieve the success stories and help the entrepreneurs in the UAE and beyond embark on the journey. This SkillUp academy is designed to equip the UAE population with entrepreneurial skills.

The ScaleUp platform will empower future unicorns by providing a complete support system to unlock all the high potential companies with their growth potential. Constantly challenging the new entrepreneurs in the country is consistently found to be a beautiful kind of labour market. It is very tempting to go for any kind of job than to start a business because a majority of the entrepreneurs or employed, and have a side hassle.

However, the people of the country still want to courage the younger students to look into full-time entrepreneurship motivation. Lately, the country announced their corporate tax, which was a complete win for most entrepreneurs, As it brought the government fees to be reduced, which benefited the people a lot. The country has launched a Dh1 billion private equity fund to lend to SMEs working in the strategic sectors. The government is completely ramping up the lending activities to support the ecosystem and boost its GDP contribution by bringing strategic financing solutions.

SMEs are considered the backbone of the UAE economy, with a government introducing the economic support packages to help all the business owners whether the COVID-19 pandemic. It has taken measures to create a more attractive environment and culture for all the foreign investments by easing visa rules, liberating company ownership rules and updating laws. It has received a lot of attention in recent years, mainly due to tourism and the presence of oil in the country.

When someone thinks of Dubai, they always imagine the lavish lifestyles the country’s citizens have and all the beautiful scenic locations. There are many top UAE startups in the country, with a significant emphasis on technology and SaaS. The government has an advantage in attracting foreign capital because it has a good population, which is overwhelming for all the foreign workers. It has announced the Visa and business reforms aimed at attracting more expatriates to live and work there after the business went through a tough time last year from the coronavirus outbreak.

The government of UAE has planned to provide the funding in several formats, including equity, direct lending and loan guarantees, to boost the startups and entrepreneurship and help them become unicorn companies. The United Arab Emirates is known to be the federation of seven emirates along with the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

The economy is always dominated by Petroleum, produced mainly in the Abu Dhabi emirate. The country presents to us a striking mix of ancient customs with the use of the modern technology of cosmopolitanism and insularity.

There is no second thought that the startup scene in Dubai is very much unique compared to other places. It has created dozens of successful starters over the years, and some are already worth billions of dollars. So let’s have a deep look at the three Unicorn companies that are good at operating and making remarkable progress in the country.

1.  Vista Global

Vista Global is one of the largest corporate aircraft providers in the industry, which was founded in 2004. It has been called the leader in the private aviation industry, and it provides clients with the most advanced line services at the very best value anytime, anywhere. It has established a highly profitable, high-growth track record backed by premium services and an unparalleled vision to innovate the industry.

It has aimed to revolutionise and modernise the private aviation experience with an idea to ensure seamless travel with maximum efficiency. Over the past two decades, It has invented the aid–right line solutions by giving clients access to a global play while paying only for the hours they need. It has also established a brand as the, Vista is, a private aviation platform, but it comprises two established brands,

VistaJet and XO offer a subscription model and a luxury offering that upgrades the benefits of the sharing economy. Between 2020 and 2024, this private aviation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 55% and is supported by the new entrant as only 10% of people can afford to fly private. Vista global has significant room for growth in the vast, growing and highly fragmented market. It has become the leading player and is considered the only genuine global attention alternative to jet ownership as the group of this platform only holds approximately 2% of the market share.

Graded their unique relationship with different clients who always trust the group with the most significant upfront deposit is to enter the door of the luxury market – worth an estimated $1 trillion. The clients of this platform highly diversify its residents and citizens of the world across all regions. The primary client base is forced into two distinct groups, large multinational corporations and UHNWIs.

It has the most experienced leaders and an extended global reach. It comprises more than 2000 aviation and technology experts from 60+ nationalities and is always preferred by the largest corporations. It has flown to 187 countries with more than 200 group fleets and 2100+ alliance jets, and it has established 20 worldwide.

Founded in the company chairman, Thomas Flohr, has also stated,” Vista global is the one company committed to making the aviation better. It means changing the foundations of how we operate to benefit clients and the whole international community. This industry must step up to combat climate change and its impact today – it’s the right thing to do, and we have to act now.” The first brand, VistaJet, provides the clients with an entire fleet of aircraft while paying for only four hours they fly. It was founded in 2004 and is considered to be the first and the only global business aviation company.

It has an innovative kind of program membership that has flown to different corporations, government, and private clients on a fleet of 480 silver and red business jets to over the 96% of the world, including the significant locations. The second one is the XO, which is just a click to the different flight solutions, always serving all individuals, businesses, and families’ diverse private aviation needs.

Company Overview

2. Emerging Markets Property Group

 All the most significant classified players in the emerging markets and known to be global real estate companies that are always specialising in developing luxury property in the emerging markets. This company is led by a team of very spirited entrepreneurs who always keeps a track record of all the success they have every year. The EMPGs and one for being the go-to class five platforms in the markets which always means that the amount of traffic to receive it is most often 2nd to none.

It has 217 million monthly visits across the different portals, so the users always trust this company. It is a team of 6750 people across 16 other countries. It is considered a melting pot of cultures and competencies that are brought together with a similar aim of creating the best-classified experience in the world. The people always know how to unlock the different potential and that of the teams and become the catalyst for the success.

Their bespoke classifieds portal the best and strongest brands in the market. This company acquired the status of a unicorn in April 2020, When it received a valuation of $1.00 billion, founded by Zeeshan Ali Khan and Imran Ali Khan. It owns and operates bespoke classified portals in different markets. Group of this company has a flagship venture which includes the below ten leading brands across multiple countries with an employee strength of over 7000.

The brands of different nations include Pakistan – Zameen and Zamin developments, UAE – Bayut and dubizzle, KSA- Bayut and Zameen, Egypt- OLX, Lebanon- OLX, Bangladesh- B property, Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico- Lamudi, Turkey- EREB, Thailand- Kaidee, Jordon- Bayut, and Romania- Sector Labs.

Emerging Markets Property Group constantly aims to disrupt traditional processes in emerging markets by introducing different solutions that will always make the property and classified search faster, simpler and more accessible. It has a competitive advantage that comes from the tremendous value that they add to the business and the significant level provided to the end-users.

It always works, intending to use digital tools to conquer all emerging markets by using one of the portals at a time. Acquired the unicorn status after raising a $50 million round that OLX led with the existing shareholders. EMPG did not announce the exact valuation. Still, the deal values the company at over $1 billion.

The OLX group has become the single largest shareholder of EMPG, owing to 39% of the company and the new investment. It Will be used by the company to make a range of services and create a more seamless user experience by enhancing their data transparency. It works with the five funding rounds and the primary three investors.

Company Overview

3. Kitopi

It is a cloud kitchen startup that offers delivery services only to restaurants in the country. It is a complete tech-powered, and multi-brand restaurant founded in 2018 and works with our mission to satisfy the world. This platform has partnered themselves across five countries, working in 200Plus kitchens.

This company partner and invest in F&B brands and the different restaurants worldwide, always helping them expand their barriers. It has the Smart Kitchen Working System, which is built in the house and ensures the speed and efficiency and always working with the focus on making sure that the customers are always satisfied, and the brand is continuous with time. The one factor that makes the platform very unique in the country is that they have developed and in-house a suite of applications, known as the intelligent kitchen operating system or the ‘SKOS’.

It is a custom build technology, optimising all the aspects of the kitchen operations in real-time to maximise efficiency and increase utilisation. It works with their unique and talented squads of engineers who have successfully planted this innovative kitchen system. They were constantly using their data to innovate better and more.

The world’s leading and the most attractive cloud-kitchen platform is working with its pioneering team that is already creating the resilient, best and most scalable software solutions. The medium of Kitopi enables its data-powered products and decisions to satisfy the world’s appetite.

The Kitopi, the members, always believe their people to be their organisation’s core. It is a fun and diverse group of people working collaboratively to complete the world’s hunger. Andres Arenas founded Bader Ataya, Mohamad Ballout and Samkan Darkan with their platform services in Cloud Infrastructure, Delivery, Food, Beverage, Food Delivery and Restaurants. It has been working successfully with its twenty significant investors. It is also the world’s leading state-of-the-art who have managed cloud kitchen platform.

It successfully enables the restaurants to open delivery to only locations with the necessary infrastructure and software with the most minimal capital expenditures. When this Dubai-based cloud kitchen. Startup Kitopi raised their Series C funding round 2 led by Softbank’s Vision Fund of $415 million. Their launch of the cloud kitchens has successfully doubled the order volume while reducing the preparation time by 40 per cent.

It has also expanded its subscription-based meal plans and the different grocery deliveries in the last year. It has an overall business growth of 300 per cent in 2020. Their cloud kitchen model has been giving more profits than the profit margins ranging in the 15 to 20% range.

It has cloud kitchens that are better suited to socially distanced customers’ needs than traditional dine-in restaurants. It acquired the unicorn status in the month of July 2021 with a valuation of $1.00 BIllion. This company has been successful because it does everything effectively except the final courier delivery.

Company Overview

Dubai has a successful oil-based company. The little oil wealth was very much better between the 1960s and 1990s, which was used to enhance the other sectors of their economy. In the year 1998, Dubai began their permitting the foreign investors to buy the 99-year leases on properties, which has allowed the real estate sector to flourish better. The Dubai International Financial Centre was introduced in 2006.

It has a hot climate, with its wide highways and a year-round reliance on the purpose of air-conditioning. It is not considered a suitable city for Pedestrians because it has immense vehicle traffic. The aspect of tourism has been dramatically enhanced by the Dubai-owned airline, Emirates which has been operating an extensive and modern fleet of aircraft.

The municipality of Dubai is considered one of the country’s largest government institutions, and the city’s electricity and water provisions have primarily kept up with the city’s population growth. Their parks and public spaces have been extensively developed and maintained. The education system of the United Arab Emirates is divided into private and public sectors.

The public sectors are taught in Arabic, while most private schools and all the universities teach in English. UAE is known for their large number of international sports events as they have majorly boosted the culture and status as a tourist destination. It has made its moves to pay its continued focus on the trade and investing procedures, channelling oil surpluses into the major infrastructure projects like its international airports and their dry docks.

edited and proofread by nikita sharma