Abu Dhabi Investment Office publicised its plan to provide financial and non-financial incentives to three technology companies in Abu Dhabi, namely Lyve and Rizek of the UAE, as well Callsign of the UK.

Over AED 90 million ($24.5M) of monetary support is allocated to fund the businesses in order to help grow their operations regionally through ADIO’s AED 2 billion Innovation Programme in Abu Dhabi.

“The three of them fit very, very well within our ICT [Information and Communications Technology] cluster approach and [form]part of this wider innovation approach we are keen on expanding,” Tariq bin Hendi, ADIO’s Director General, told The National.

Mr. Bin Hendi added that the three businesses approached them, knowing the advantages of being in Abu Dhabi and how ADIO will play a major part in their expansion. ADIO, a government entity, plays a key role in attracting foreign and local investments into the emirate. Individual companies have their own requisites so the incentives provided are different for all. For instance, Amazon Web Services’ agreement which states building “quite substantial physical infrastructure” is being supported by ADIO while other business ventures may require high operational expenses by employing more highly skilled staff in the emirate. “But more importantly, aside from those two things, we are providing access to the market and to the ecosystem,” Mr. bin Hendi added.

About the Three Tech Companies

Callsign, a London based tech company digitally authenticates users for financial institutions, governments and other relevant companies. It is currently establishing its centre of technical excellence at technology centre Hub71 in Al Maryah Island, Abu Dhabi and has now grown a total of 45 staff members over the past six months with the goal of increasing it to 100 by the end of this year.

Lyve is a logistics technology company that connects businesses to partners and clients. It is building its head office in Abu Dhabi, along with relocating key management and technology roles with the aid of ADIO.

Rizek is an online platform, focusing on e-commerce where it links buyers to different services and products ranging from maintenance to beauty.

With these three agreements, the total amount of incentives provided this year is now more than Dh865M, backing seven companies in total.

Source: Gulf News 26.08.2021