Endeavor Launches UAE’s First Unicorn Builder to Propel Global Startups

Editorial Team

Last updated 2-06-2025

2 min

Endeavor launches the UAE's inaugural Unicorn Builder programme to support promising local startups.

The programme partners with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism and Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy.

Ten startups, collectively raising over $100 million, join the first cohort after thorough selection.

Women co-founders lead three of these businesses, highlighting growing diversity in the UAE.

Personalised mentoring, workshops, and strategic support aim to transform startups into global giants.

Endeavor has just kicked off the UAE's first-ever edition of its Unicorn Builder programme, aiming to nurture an elite crop of local entrepreneurs and give their promising startups a leg-up in becoming billion-dollar successes. The initiative sees Endeavor teaming up with Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism, alongside theDubai Chamber of Digital Economy, to build the profiles of firms with global potential.

After a thorough selection process conducted alongside regional investment funds, ten top-notch startups have snagged places in the programme's first-ever cohort. These aren't merely fledgling outfits just starting out—the average company picked for this first batch has around four years under its belt already, and collectively they've managed to pull in more than 100 million dollars in funding. Impressively, women co-founders are leading the charge at three of these promising businesses—a great indication of growing diversity and inclusivity within the UAE's entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Designed to run over five months, the Unicorn Builder programme pledges a tailor-made journey for each startup. Each firm is set to benefit from personalised one-on-one mentoring sessions, specialist workshops with international industry experts, founder-led discussions, and targeted strategic backing to help them bolster their fund-raising capabilities and expand successfully, both regionally and internationally.

The launch of this new initiative is a key part of Endeavor's broader drive to empower the UAE's next generation of entrepreneurs, transforming their enterprises into true global giants. Naturally, that’ll only serve to bolster Dubai's already stellar reputation as a thriving international hub for innovation, enterprise, and the digital economy.

This initiative seems right in step with recent moves we've seen echoed by many in Arageek's network, where the effforts to boost digital startups across the Middle East is undoubtedly gaining serious momentum.

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