United Arab Emirates
Asia · Pop. 10.9M · #24 startup ecosystem by EV
1 Overview
* 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.
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 company headquartered in United Arab Emirates, grouped by Dealroom sector.
Largest rounds in United Arab Emirates - 2024–2026
3 Startup hubs
Inside United Arab Emirates: 2 startup hubs, 74 universities
Hubs are sized by combined enterprise value; universities by the startup founders they produced. Hover any point for its numbers; the lists rank hubs by EV and universities by founders.
4 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.
5 Founder origins
Where United Arab Emirates's unicorn founders build
3 founders born in United Arab Emirates are behind 3 unicorns; 33% of those were built in the US. Origins are resolved from biography and education history, not current address. Compare with the other origin countries in Asia, ranked by founders or per 1M inhabitants.
6 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 | EV growth | Unicorns | VC invested | Tracked startups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | China | $5.8T | 3.1× | 521 | $34.5B | 25.1K |
| 2 | India | $925B | 7.5× | 131 | $14.1B | 13.7K |
| 3 | Israel | $578B | 5.4× | 133 | $10.6B | 4,860 |
| 4 | South Korea | $433B | 15.4× | 48 | $8.3B | 8,131 |
| 5 | Singapore | $322B | 8.5× | 40 | $4B | 4,063 |
| 6 | Japan | $229B | 5.8× | 21 | $7B | 7,960 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | $178B | 12.4× | 21 | $3.1B | 1,280 |
| 8 | United Arab Emirates | $79.1B | 10.5× | 24 | $3.9B | 1,617 |
| 9 | Indonesia | $64.9B | 5.0× | 12 | $485.4M | 1,221 |
| 10 | Taiwan | $61.9B | 7.6× | 12 | $209.1M | 653 |
| 11 | Türkiye | $52.7B | 16.0× | 10 | $716.6M | 2,072 |
| 12 | Vietnam | $34.4B | 15.3× | 4 | $461.5M | 623 |
7 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.
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.