Fikra Ventures has announced a partnership with Hub71 to develop and grow AI-native companies from Abu Dhabi to global markets.
Under the agreement, Fikra Ventures joins Hub71 as a partner venture studio. It will act as a venture builder within Hub71’s Initiate Programme. The company will create AI startups in-house and form joint ventures with selected global AI firms looking to enter the regional market from Abu Dhabi.
Wael Aburida, CEO & Managing Partner of Fikra Ventures, and Ahmad Ali Alwan, CEO of Hub71, signed the agreement at Hub71.
As global use of AI grows, success depends on more than model performance. Market access, regulation and speed to market now play a major role. This partnership combines Hub71’s founder support with Fikra Ventures’ venture studio model to help AI companies grow in real markets, starting in Abu Dhabi and expanding worldwide.
As a founding member of the Initiate Programme, Fikra Ventures will support an AI startup cluster through two routes.
The first is venture creation. This involves building AI-native companies with founders based on proven market demand, with commercial readiness built in from the start.
The second route is global scale-in. Fikra will help selected international AI firms enter the region through joint ventures. It will build the operating structure needed to win customers and grow.
“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,” said Wael Aburida, CEO & Managing Partner of Fikra Ventures. “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.”
“Hub71 is focused on helping high-potential technology companies scale globally from Abu Dhabi by strengthening the commercial pathways that turn innovation into durable businesses,” said Divya Nair, Startup Journey Lead, Hub71. “This partnership with Fikra Ventures strengthens the ecosystem’s venture-building and market-entry capabilities, supporting new venture creation and enabling global companies to expand into the region through Abu Dhabi with targeted go-to-market support.”
Hub71 launched the Initiate Programme in 2025. It supports founders at the idea and pre-seed stage by helping them build early products and test market demand.
Through this partnership, Fikra Ventures adds hands-on venture-building support to the programme. This helps develop AI companies built to scale from Abu Dhabi to global markets.