Unicorns value US$400bn powered Dubai’s Increase North Star — why startups must attend in October 

Increase North Star, the world’s largest occasion for startups and traders, will have a good time its tenth version from October 12-15 at Dubai Harbour — after final 12 months welcoming 65 unicorn corporations with a mixed market worth exceeding $400bn.

Organised by Dubai World Commerce Centre and hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Financial system, the occasion marks a decade of advancing the emirate’s place as a worldwide capital of the digital financial system and a high vacation spot for innovators, traders, and pioneering tech enterprises, according to the Dubai Financial Agenda (D33).

Since its launch in 2016, Increase North Star has seen explosive development. The variety of exhibiting corporations and collaborating traders has expanded from 39 international locations in its first version to greater than 100 in 2024.

Increase North Star 2025 in Dubai

Digital startups grew from 350 to 1,800 over the identical interval — a 414 per cent enhance — whereas traders surged from 150 to 1,200, marking a 700 % rise.

Audio system additionally elevated dramatically, from 25 in 2016 to 650 in 2024.

Saeed Al Gergawi, Vice President of Dubai Chamber of Digital Financial system, stated: “Since its inception in 2016, Increase North Star has performed a pivotal position in supporting Dubai’s imaginative and prescient of turning into a worldwide centre for innovation and entrepreneurship in superior applied sciences.

“During the last years, this occasion has reworked right into a strategic platform that empowers entrepreneurs and traders from all over the world to discover development alternatives in Dubai and contributes to shaping the worldwide digital financial system.

“Dubai Chamber of Digital Financial system is dedicated to constructing on the success of Increase North Star because it enters its tenth version. We stay targeted on persevering with to draw the worldwide tech neighborhood and showcasing Dubai’s aggressive benefits as a number one vacation spot for digital corporations, in addition to a really perfect platform for connecting innovators, founders, startups, and international traders.”

Along with its record-breaking scale, the occasion supplies startups with instruments, steering, and investor entry to show concepts into thriving ventures. It equips entrepreneurs to scale internationally whereas providing insights into the methods behind the world’s most profitable digital corporations.

Final 12 months’s exhibition additionally featured the UAE’s largest youth-focused innovation initiative, YouthX Unipreneur, and cutting-edge showcases in blockchain, fintech, deep tech, local weather tech, AI, and Web3.

This 12 months, contributors will as soon as once more compete within the Supernova Problem, with as much as $200,000 in funding on supply for successful startups.

With its monitor report of attracting unicorns valued at tons of of billions of {dollars}, Increase North Star has cemented its position as a worldwide hub for digital entrepreneurship and funding.