Abu Dhabi, 15th June, 2021: Modus Capital, a Venture Builder (VB) and Venture Capital (VC) fund with offices in New York, Cairo, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi, has announced the launch of its UAE-based venture builder, Ventures Lab, in partnership with Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem.
Offering hand-in-hand building and operational support, the new program empowers current and aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world to turn transformational ideas into sustainable and scalable startup business ventures based out of Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
Ventures Lab will equip early-stage global founders with the tools that they need to test and validate their ideas, build Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and take them to market. This will be aided by Modus’ expert team of entrepreneurs and operational specialists and Hub71’s vibrant community of global partners and its active capital community with assets under management worth over $1.72B.
From ideation to exit, Modus will partner with exceptional founding teams, providing tailored support across a myriad of functions in every phase of the startup lifecycle including marketing, strategy, and product development capabilities at Hub71. Ventures Lab, which is actively encouraging female entrepreneurs and UAE Nationals to apply for the builder, will run for a period of nine months, with startups benefiting from up to $450K in funding and services from the Modus Venture Builder throughout the duration of the program.
Upon graduation, they will also have the opportunity to attain direct investment through Modus Capital’s $80M MENA Venture Fund (MMVFI) and receive ongoing guidance on their path to becoming Series A ready. In addition, Hub71 will provide successful applicants with the potential to commercialise their products, access to its growing capital community of 17 VC funds, and present them to the global networks of its strategic partners.
Kareem Elsirafy, Managing Partner at Modus Capital commented, “We’re excited to be supporting and fostering entrepreneurship through our partnership with Hub71, with not just capital, but also the expertise and hands-on operational and tailored guidance that startups are in need of in the early-stages. Hub71 has built a leading global tech ecosystem, and I’m proud to partner with them to add value to the ecosystem that they’ve built by creating significant opportunities for shared expertise and launching the first collaborative venture builder in the MENA region alongside them”.
Modus Capital works with founders by combining the operational and financial capital needed to build scalable tech companies. Modus, which was born in the US and has since expanded to the MENA region, transferring its international know-how and applying it to the regional ecosystem, is built on three distinct pillars where each supporting entity provides unique value-added to the other, Venture Builders, Venture Capital, and Corporate Innovation.
“The region needs experts who know how to venture build and know the local market – these two combined do not currently exist in MENA and that is the gap Modus is helping to address and close”, Kareem added.
Modus has plans for further expansion and is looking to launch an additional 3 venture builders across markets in the region, beginning with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) later this year.
The announcement also marks the first time Hub71 will pursue venture building as part of its grassroots ecosystem, reinforcing that Abu Dhabi is the ideal launchpad for growth. Entrepreneurs and founders will gain seamless access into Hub71’s community upon graduation from Ventures Lab to benefit from incentives, value-add programs, and opportunities to raise further funding and collaborate with the public and private sectors to scale widely adopted technologies as part of Abu Dhabi’s economic transformation.
Nader Museitif, Head of Products and Business Development at Hub71 said, “We believe that a strong and sustainable business model is just as important as the founder themselves, which is why from ideation to exit, our partnership with Modus will deliver more than access to Hub71, but also the strategic planners, coders, marketing experts and tech developers to help commercialise their products and secure capital”.
Ventures Lab will accept a minimum of 16 companies per year with stages of companies varying from pure idea to market tested prototype specialised in any sector with startups in, but not limited to, priority sectors’ FinTech, Direct-to-Consumer, HealthTech, and EdTech gaining preference.
Ventures Lab is open for applications now.
