United Arab Emirates
Asia · Pop. 10.9M · #24 startup ecosystem by EV
1 Overview
2 Largest rounds
Largest funding rounds in United Arab Emirates
A live treemap of $40M+ rounds from the Dealroom API. Each cell is one round into a United Arab Emirates-headquartered company, grouped by Dealroom sector.
Largest rounds in United Arab Emirates - 2026
4 Startup funnel
United Arab Emirates's power-law funnel
From the first cheque written to a $10B+ outcome. Each arrow shows what fraction of companies at one stage graduate to the next, tracked by founding cohort.
* C→Unicorn and Unicorn→Decacorn rates are derived from current counts (no founding-cohort data); the four mid-funnel rates use Dealroom's cohort tracking.
5 VC investment
How much venture capital flows into United Arab Emirates
VC investment into United Arab Emirates-headquartered, VC-backed companies, broken down by round size, company location, sector and funding stage. Live from the Dealroom Next Gen API.
6 Notable companies
Top private companies in United Arab Emirates
Up to 20 names per tier from Dealroom's tracked dataset. Decacorns are valued $10B+, unicorns $1B+, thoroughbreds have crossed $100M in revenue.
7 Academia
United Arab Emirates's academic flywheel
Companies founded by university alumni or spun out of research, plus the institutions producing the most founders tied to United Arab Emirates.
| # | University | City | Founders | Companies |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American University of Sharjah | Sharjah | 169 | 182 |
| 2 | American University in Dubai | Dubai | 102 | 116 |
| 3 | S P Jain School of Global Management | Dubai | 66 | 78 |
8 Location comparison
How United Arab Emirates stacks up
Compare United Arab Emirates with similarly sized ecosystems in Asia — switch between combined EV, 5-year EV growth, and a growth × size view. Expand the table for the full ranking.
Combined enterprise value of each ecosystem.
Top ecosystems in Asia ranked by combined EV. United Arab Emirates's row is highlighted (#8).
| # | Ecosystem | Combined EV | 5-yr EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $5.8T | 3.1× | 502 | $33.9B | 24.7K |
| 2 | India | $924B | 7.5× | 128 | $13.9B | 13.4K |
| 3 | Israel | $602B | 5.6× | 132 | $10.9B | 4,783 |
| 4 | South Korea | $430B | 15.4× | 45 | $8.3B | 7,982 |
| 5 | Singapore | $321B | 8.6× | 40 | $4B | 3,945 |
| 6 | Japan | $223B | 5.6× | 21 | $4.5B | 7,856 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | $179B | 12.4× | 20 | $3.1B | 1,235 |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | $76.4B | 10.2× | 22 | $3.9B | 1,579 |
| 9 | Indonesia | $64.9B | 5.0× | 12 | $485.4M | 1,214 |
| 10 | Taiwan | $61.3B | 8.1× | 9 | $209.1M | 626 |
| 11 | Türkiye | $52.6B | 16.1× | 9 | $714.6M | 2,040 |
| 12 | Vietnam | $34.3B | 15.3× | 4 | $461.5M | 616 |
9 Patent intelligence
United Arab Emirates startup IP portfolio: 890 patent families
Granted patent families assigned to startups headquartered in United Arab Emirates. Aggregated across the country's hub-level filings — Bay Area, Boston, etc. roll up under the United States row, the same way Tokyo and Osaka roll up under Japan.
10 Premium analytics
What we don't show on this page (yet)
Sector breakdowns, founder origins, AI-talent leaderboards and live deal flow are gated to logged-in Dealroom users. Book a demo to access the full United Arab Emirates dataset — or see a sample on the Dealroom app.
More data
Explore Dealroom data →Get the full United Arab Emirates ecosystem on Dealroom
Live company-by-company deal flow, full cap tables, founder pedigrees, hiring signals and revenue trajectories.