Three leading technology companies are growing their presence in Abu Dhabi, as the emirate doubles down on its focus to support the growth of innovation-focused companies. The Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) announced today individual partnerships with Callsign, Lyve and RIZEK to provide the three companies financial and non-financial incentives as part of its AED 2 billion ($545 million) Innovation Programme.
The partnerships further expand Abu Dhabi’s thriving information and communications technology (ICT) ecosystem, which has seen a significant boost in 2021, with a raft of new entrants to the emirate. With ADIO’s support, technology leaders Anghami, Bespin Global and STARZPLAY Arabia each established new headquarters in Abu Dhabi, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) will soon launch a cloud infrastructure region in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In total, ADIO has provided more than AED 865 million ($235 million) of support to seven ICT companies this year to help them innovate.
As part of the Innovation Programme, ADIO has awarded Callsign, Lyve and RIZEK competitive financial incentives, including rebates on highly skilled payroll and high-tech CAPEX, as well as non-financial incentives, such as support with establishment processes and ecosystem engagement.
Partnerships with Callsign, Lyve and RIZEK
Callsign is a company headquartered in London, that has introduced a pioneering approach to re-establishing digital trust. Callsign’s unique intelligence-driven authentication positively identifies users, delivering safety and minimal friction for genuine users, while ensuring that bad actors are blocked. This is being used to underpin digital trust across financial institutions, governments and commerce globally.
The company has invested in building a world-class centre of technical excellence in Abu Dhabi’s Hub71, the emirate’s global tech ecosystem, to fuel innovation and growth in the digital identity and security industry. Its engineering facility attracts and retains high-skilled talent, having grown its Abu Dhabi team to 45 employees in the last six months, with plans to expand to more than 100 employees by year-end. Callsign’s rapid expansion supports its mission to establish the region as a global hub for digital identity expertise.
Lyve is a global logistics solutions and technology company founded in the UAE, with a presence in 12 countries worldwide. It connects businesses with their partners and customers through patented cloud-based logistics platforms and digital transformation innovations, facilitating millions of orders every month. The company will be establishing its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, along with the relocation of various management roles and its technology team. Already one of the fastest-growing last-mile delivery platform companies, Lyve will continue to enhance its ecosystem of digital products from Abu Dhabi to be a one-stop-shop for businesses, as it seeks to digitise the global last-mile landscape.
RIZEK is a homegrown online platform that connects users to a variety of service providers, allowing its user base easy access to services in healthcare, beauty, cleaning, maintenance, and many other segments at the time and location of their choosing. The company was the first local platform to introduce home polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and the first platform in the world to facilitate COVID-19 vaccines at home. It has experienced exponential growth since its inception just under a year ago, recording an increase of 800% in revenue and a 700% increase in customer base. ADIO’s partnership will aid RIZEK in its continued growth as the company expands into new markets, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and develops more segments to broaden its range of services.
ADIO’s Innovation Programme was established under Ghadan 21, Abu Dhabi’s three-year accelerator programme, which is concluding at the end of 2021 having made significant progress in driving the development of the emirate’s knowledge economy.
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