Founders HQ
Startup and SME hub in Dubai launched on 6 October 2025, run jointly by the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy. It combines a physical campus with a digital platform.
Industry: Startup and SME ecosystem platform | Location: Dubai, United Arab Emirates | Founded: 2025
About Founders HQ
Dubai Founders HQ is a startup and small-business platform in Dubai that combines a physical campus with a digital platform. It is a joint initiative of the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism and the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and operates under the Dubai Economic Agenda, known as D33. The campus is at the 25Hours Hotel at One Central, near the Dubai World Trade Centre, and is open to founders worldwide.
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, launched the platform on 6 October 2025. Its stated aims are to help scale 30 unicorns from Dubai and to enable 400 small and medium-sized enterprises to grow by 2033.
The campus offers co-working space, private offices, meeting rooms and event areas for workshops and pitch sessions. Services include acceleration programmes, mentorship, investor access, networking, business setup and licensing support, and advisory services. The digital platform adds a learning library in Arabic and English, a directory of Dubai's startup community and step-by-step business setup tools.
Programmes include the Antler Residency for pre-seed startups, an Entrepreneur Academy for people exploring entrepreneurship, and an accelerator run with Plug and Play. Endeavor and Plug and Play were named as partners at launch, and more than 25 public and private partners, including venture capital firms, financial services companies, government entities, telecom operators and innovation hubs, had joined. According to partner content paid for and controlled by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, the first Plug and Play wave ran for 100 days with 23 startups and five corporate partners: du Business, DHL, Talabat, Emirates Flight Catering and Visa. The same text reports 36 proof-of-concept opportunities, of which 15 reached advanced contracting or due diligence and five produced signed agreements.
Gulf News reported on 27 November 2025 that the hub had onboarded 500 startups and 1,500 members in its first six weeks, with daily occupancy of about 70 percent, in a campus of 20,000 square feet. As of July 2026 it was still adding programmes, according to the same partner content.