Hub71 Selects Record 40 Startups For Cohort 19 Following Highest-Ever Application Intake

Hub71, Abu Dhabi’s global tech ecosystem, has selected 40 startups for Cohort 19, its largest intake to date, following a record 2,502 applications from 117 countries. The selected startups collectively raised USD 296 million (AED 1.09 billion), bringing a new group of market-ready technology companies to Abu Dhabi’s startup ecosystem.

With an acceptance rate of 1.6%, the new cohort brings together startups from 14 countries, with 88% joining from international markets. 

All 40 startups have been selected for Hub71’s Access Programme, with 12 joining the sector-agnostic track and 19 entering the Hub71+ Digital Assets, Hub71+ ClimateTech and Hub71+ Life Sciences specialist ecosystems.  Six startups have been selected through Anjal Z, delivered with the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) and focused on early childhood challenges. The remaining three will join through Hub71’s pathway into Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry (SAVI) cluster. 

Ahmad Ali Alwan, CEO of Hub71, said: “Cohort 19 reflects the growing depth and maturity of the companies joining Hub71, with founders building across increasingly specialized sectors. They add new expertise, technologies and perspectives to the community, while gaining access to the capital, partners and market opportunities that can help them build enduring companies.”

Spanning Pre-Seed to Series A, Cohort 19 brings technologies and expertise into sectors aligned with Abu Dhabi’s economic priorities, with more than two-thirds of selected startups operating in Hub71’s priority sectors. AI is also prevalent across the cohort, with 90% of selected startups incorporating AI at the core of their technologies. 

His Excellency Dr. Yousef Al Hammadi, Executive Director of Knowledge and Impact, Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, said: “We should measure innovation by the difference it makes in a child’s life: a teacher who can respond sooner, a parent who can find the right support, or a child who can communicate more easily. Through Anjal Z and our partnership with Hub71, we are helping six startups test and adapt their solutions for Abu Dhabi’s children and families. Our focus is practical progress that families can see and feel.”

The cohort also includes six Series A companies, up from two in Cohort 18. The strength of Cohort 19 also reflects the growing role of Hub71’s partner and founder community in attracting startups to Abu Dhabi. Of the startups selected, 85% were sourced proactively or referred through partners, founders and investors, reflecting both their confidence in Hub71 programmes and the growing network effect of the ecosystem as it actively attracts new founders into Abu Dhabi.

Among the startups joining Cohort 19 is UK-headquartered TurinTech AI, an AI-powered software engineering platform that automates code modernisation, validation and optimisation. The company has raised USD 15 million (AED 55.1 million). Also joining is US-headquartered Remarkable AI, an AI-powered customer retention platform helping e-commerce brands increase conversions and repeat purchases, which has raised USD 14 million (AED 51.4 million). Emirati-founded Mosadad also joins the cohort, having raised USD 540,000 (AED 2 million) in Pre-Seed funding. The company helps insurance companies process motor accident claims and payments faster by connecting insurers, garages, banks and regulators through a single system.

Hub71+ Life Sciences saw the strongest application growth among Hub71’s specialist ecosystems for Cohort 19, with applications nearly doubling from the previous cohort. Among the seven startups selected is US-headquartered Avesta 76 Therapeutics, which is developing a cancer treatment designed to target a single protein across cancer types and has secured USD 40 million (AED 146.9 million) in funding, including USD 35 million (AED 128.5 million) in non-dilutive funding. SernaBio, also headquartered in the US, combines RNA data with generative AI to design and validate new small-molecule therapies and has secured USD 12.8 million (AED 47.0 million) in funding. 

Startups joining Hub71+ ClimateTech include UK-headquartered Roslin Technologies, which develops animal stem cell lines and scalable technologies for cultivated meat production and has raised USD 22 million (AED 80.8 million). Meanwhile, the Hub71+ Digital Assets intake includes Amantrue, a Switzerland-headquartered company building a verification network that enables people and AI agents to prove attributes without revealing personal data. The company has raised USD 35.6 million (AED 130.7 million) in funding. 

Cohort 19 marks the first intake of startups through Hub71’s dedicated pathway into Abu Dhabi’s Smart and Autonomous Vehicles Industry (SAVI) cluster. The pathway attracted over 100applications, with three startups selected to access the cluster’s network of industry partners, infrastructure, regulatory pathways and testing environments. Among them is US-headquartered Autolane, which has raised USD 7.8 million (AED 28.6 million) for an AI platform that coordinates autonomous delivery and mobility networks across fleets, retailers and infrastructure, alongside UAE-headquartered Robox and Sinaha Technology.

Six startups will join the 2026 Anjal Z cohort, delivered in partnership with the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA), working across education, accessibility and neurodevelopmental care. Among them is UAE-headquartered TAIA, which previously participated in the MZN x Hub71 programme, delivered in partnership with Khalifa Fund, and is now progressing through Hub71’s wider ecosystem. The company helps early-years schools assess student work and produce bilingual reports in Arabic and English. Also joining is ConnectHear, which translates between speech and sign language in real time, enabling deaf children and their hearing family members to communicate.

Through Hub71’s 12-month Access Programme, startups will receive tailored mentorship, expert-led workshops and access to investors, corporate and government partners, alongside up to AED 500,000 in incentives. Selected top-performing startups may qualify for further support as they progress through Hub71’s programmes.

With Cohort 19, Hub71’s ecosystem now comprises 644 startups.

The 40 startups selected to join Hub71’s Cohort 19 include:

Access Programme – Sector Agnostic Track:

1. Brickwise AI is an AI property management platform that helps property managers automate operations, manage tenants and properties, and collect rent.
2. Steel Robotics builds an AI and robotics platform for steel factories, starting with welding cells that already deliver 3–5x more output with the same workforce
3. LabLabee AI is the sovereign agentic platform for autonomous networks. Engineers describe what the network should do, and agents build, test, and fix it.
4. Layer10 is an enterprise AI platform that helps large organisations use AI reliably to automate complex day-to-day business operations.
5. LinqAlpha is an AI platform for investment research, turning financial data from global markets into a real edge for institutional investors.
6. Mosadad is anational AI-assisted ecosystem that connects insurers, traffic authorities, regulators, and garages, settling motor claims in days instead of months.
7. Octostar is an AI-native platform redefines data investigation, helping law enforcement and intelligence agencies solve crimes and save lives.
8. Remarkable AI is an AI platform that helps retailers and e-commerce brands increase sales by driving repeat purchases and personalised customer engagement across email, chat, and social media.
9. Terminal 3 is a deep-tech company building cryptographic solutions for the world’s most pressing data privacy and security problems.
10. TinkerBloX builds software that helps AI data centres and compute platforms get more performance and efficiency from existing hardware without needing to buy more GPUs or rebuild their systems.
11. TurinTech AI builds Artemis, an AI platform that automatically verifies and optimises software, models and AI workloads for performance, cost and compute efficiency.
12. Gamester Kids is an Arabic-first learning platform for children aged 2–6 combining games, stories, songs and guided activities.

Hub71+ Digital Assets

1. Amantrue is a solution for accelerating and de-risking the institutional adoption of AI technologies, providing guarantees of verifiability and data protection.
2. Compute Labs is an investment platform that turns GPUs and other AI computing infrastructure into an income-generating asset class.
3. Inference Labs verifies the work of AI systems, so businesses can trust machine-made decisions without a human checking every one.
4.  Midenbuilds privacy and compliance infrastructure for financial institutions and digital asset businesses.
5. ONOFF connects LATAM commodity suppliers with global importers and finances the trade.
6. OpenAssets modernizes the rails of finance as assets move onchain, empowering the world’s largest institutions to build their digital infrastructure on a shared standard.

Hub71+ ClimateTech 

1. Decomer Technology is developing novel water-soluble, plant-based and edible packaging materials to combine convenience with sustainability.
2. Desert Shrimp (Atarraya) is reimagining protein production in arid regions through modular indoor aquaculture built for reliable, year-round local supply.
3. Flybox delivers Insect Waste Management (IWM) technologies that use insects to transform organic food waste into sustainable protein and fertiliser.
4. Infrared City is the climate intelligence layer for sustainable cities and buildings, making climate insights accessible to everyone who shapes them.
5. Project Vesta removes carbon dioxide by adding crushed olivine into coastal projects to deliver permanent carbon removal safely, effectively and responsibly at planetary scale.
6. Roslin Technologies is an animal stem cell technology company focused on bringing halal cultivated meat to the Middle East.

Hub71+ Life Sciences

1. Avesta 76 Therapeutics is developing medicines targeting how cancer survives, while using AI to uncover therapeutic opportunities from proprietary biology across oncology, metabolic disease, and longevity.
2. Biodock Inc. is a biological intelligence platform connecting thousands of labs worldwide transforming imaging data into discoveries, from new medicines to healthier crops.
3. Nia Health builds AI-powered medical apps that help people living with chronic skin diseases like eczema and psoriasis manage their condition every day.
4. Parallel Health uses AI and DNA testing of the skin microbiome to improve aging and solve chronic skin problems with personalized treatments.
5. Qalam Health Solutions develops an AI-powered medical probe helping clinicians identify cancerous tissue in the operating room faster and more accurately to prevent cancer relapse and repeat surgeries.
6. SernaBio is building an AI-powered drug discovery platform to unlock RNA as a drug target and develop medicines for previously untreatable diseases.
7. Vital Audio uses phone calls to monitor patients’ heart and respiratory health, helping clinicians identify early signs of deterioration without wearables or additional devices.

ECA Anjal Z x Hub71 Programme 

1. AISTHESIS is a sensory intelligence system that helps caregivers recognise when neurodivergent children struggle to process sensory input and provides personalised guidance to respond sooner.
2. ConnectHear provides the foundational AI layer for sign language across the digital and physical world, enabling Deaf people to communicate with businesses and public services in real time.
3. Everybody Counts is creating a global data lake of how children learn mathematics.
4. TAIA is the AI teaching assistant for schools, automating assessment and grading, surfacing learning gaps early, guiding instruction, and tracking every learner’s progress.
5. Team Monolith is an AI platform using AI tutors and analytics to teach and assess STEM and AI education across K–12 and universities.
6. Tritone Health helps health systems deliver autism assessments and care with AI, from first referral to lifelong monitoring.

SAVI x Hub71 Programme

1. Autolane is the autonomous delivery platform orchestrating how self-driving vehicles pick up, deliver and transact at retail and commercial properties.
2. Robox builds AI-powered robotic retail units that create personalised products on the spot and run autonomous stores 24/7, with zero staff.
3. Sinaha Technology provides a vendor-independent Robotics Management System that helps companies integrate, manage and optimise robots from different manufacturers through one unified platform.