Israeli online global venture firm OurCrowd has announced plans to significantly expand its Abu Dhabi operations.
The plan includes a new venture capital (VC) office and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech hub enabled by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), the government entity responsible for attracting and facilitating investment in Abu Dhabi.
The two new initiatives, which were announced during Abu Dhabi Finance Week, will see OurCrowd expand its team based at Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) to 60 over the next four years, as part of a USD 60 million investment by the company in the emirate.
The Abu Dhabi Global Market is the international financial center of the UAE’S capital city, serving as a strategic link particularly between the economies of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia as well as in the rest of the world.
OurCrowd and ADIO are collaborating to launch Integrated Data Intelligence Ltd (IDI) to commercialize AI for businesses.
IDI is developing AI solutions for business, including project-based and AI-as-a-service offerings. It will act as a technical hub of excellence using advanced data automation, AI and Machine Learning (ML) models to reduce costs and improve outcomes for data intensive tasks. The company will be headed by Dr. Hasanat Dewan, who has led innovation and technology transformation in an executive capacity for global financial institutions including E*TRADE Financial Corp., BNY Mellon, Russell Investments Group, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley.
Based at ADGM’s Hub71 global tech ecosystem, IDI will develop AI solutions that enable businesses to easily adopt and leverage advanced technology. The launch of IDI reinforces Abu Dhabi’s commitment to support the expansion of innovative businesses that contribute to the emirate’s knowledge economy.
OurCrowd Arabia, which opened in the UAE capital in 2021, is also establishing a new VC investment center in Abu Dhabi to manage deals for its existing platform and cater to emerging markets.
The agreements strengthen the fast-growing ties between the UAE and Israel, which have advanced significantly since the landmark Abraham Accords were signed in 2020.
