Indo-Arab professionals launch financial instruments in Dubai – News

Financing possibilities will help fund the development of new economy businesses and help the UAE economy to expand rapidly

Representatives attending the event. – Photos provided

Six professional entrepreneurs in the UAE and India, who have invested in more than 75 startups and helped them raise $500 million worth of funding, have teamed up to launch a fintech platform called Funding Possibilities that will connect startups with Investors, borrowers and lenders, buyers and sellers. The mission of the platform is to bridge the gap between investors and new-age businesses.

Funding or access to capital has been a major obstacle to the development of start-ups, micro and small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the UAE. Funding Possibilities will be a sought-after platform for both seekers and providers of capital, offering all forms of capital beyond equity, including traditional debt, alternative and structured finance. It aims to make private markets more accessible and transparent.

It aims to give retail investors access to startups and enable retail investors to contribute to the entire startup ecosystem and new-age businesses. Funding Possibilities is an industry and stage agnostic platform designed to help build 10+ profitable unicorns, the Profi-Corns of the next decade.

The launch of the Funding Possibilities comes just three weeks after His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, launched the Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’, in which Consists of 100 transformative projects with an economic target of AED 32 trillion over the next 10 years, doubling its foreign trade to AED 25.6 trillion and adding 400 cities as major trading partners over the next 10 years .

More than 400,000 SMEs operate in the UAE. They account for more than 60 percent of the UAE’s non-oil economy and provide employment to 86 percent of the private sector workforce, the Khalifa Enterprise Development Fund reports.

Dubai is home to more than 10,000 small and medium-sized start-ups. Funding is critical to the success of start-ups and MSMEs. To achieve Vision D33, more funding options must be deployed for small businesses and start-ups to help grow and create jobs. Funding Possibilities will play an important role in helping start-ups and new-age businesses grow and become profitable unicorns (i.e. Profi-Corns) in the future. This in turn will help these businesses play an important role in realizing the Dubai Government’s D33 vision.

Sheetal Soni, CA, CFA Charterholder and Founder of Funding Possibilities. – Photos provided

Sheetal Soni, California-based, CFA charterholder and founder of Funding Possibilities, said: “Increasing financing options is an imperative for new-age businesses in the UAE. Funding Possibilities aims to fill a glaring gap in the private sector by providing them with innovative and quality financing channels to boost the growth of the UAE economy. The launch of Funding Possibilities coincides with the announcement of D33 – which will accelerate economic growth in Dubai and the UAE over the next decade. This will bring investors closer to start-ups for multi-stage financing, And provide growth capital to small businesses.”

Despite macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, startups in the Middle East, Africa, Pakistan and Turkey raised $7.2 billion across 1,473 deals last year, according to a report by data platform Magnitt. With Funding Possibilities, that number will grow rapidly to help thousands of startups at various stages of their lifecycle.

Prateek Toshniwal, California and co-founder of Funding Possibilities. – Photos provided

Prateek Toshniwal of California, co-founder of Funding Possibilities said, “We want to build a community of startups, investors, bankers, alternative finance providers, wealth managers, private equity, family offices, venture capitalists, credit insurance Companies and all other private institutional players. We will create a knowledge and resource base for start-ups, create an ecosystem to find the right co-founders, help them easily raise funds through various funding sources, and master the process from incubation to profitability. Unicorns in all stages.”

In the future, the platform will help companies raise debt, structured trade finance, alternative financing, income-based financing and venture debt. Funding Possibilities will work with professionals, private institutions and bankers across the region to fund high-quality deals in the debt space in the most efficient manner. It will simplify the debt and alternative financing process for corporates and financial institutions providing funds, as curated deals will reach the respective financing partners through a technology-driven end-to-end process.

It will also facilitate mergers and acquisitions and facilitate acquisitions or strategic investments. Funding Possibilities will help connect the right companies to each other and we will also work with private equity, institutional investors, family offices to facilitate integration.