The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will extend a comprehensive soft landing package to five Indian startups, enabling them to expand their operations in the UAE and scale their businesses globally. Moreover, the startups received selection under the India-UAE CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) Council programme after a multi-stage evaluation process, according to Ahmed Aljneibi, director of the UAE-India CEPA Council.
Aljneibi highlighted the overwhelming response to the programme, saying, “We had 10,000 applications since the launch back in June… I’m so happy that we finally reached the conclusion of identifying 20 of the best and brightest startups in India and narrowing them down to the five winners who will join us in the UAE for an immersion programme. We will provide them with a soft landing package to help them expand their business into the UAE and, hopefully, scale up globally.”
Furthermore, he detailed the extensive support package, stating that it will include visas, accommodation, transportation, mentorship, trade licensing facilitation, and opportunities to engage with investors. He added, “Hopefully, they can find some investment opportunities during their time in the UAE,” while emphasising that the evaluation focused on startups addressing real-world challenges relevant to the UAE and the broader MENA region. He also noted, “It was very hard to choose from all 10,000… This is the first iteration of the UAE-India startup series, and we hope to continue this after today.”
Additionally, DocketRun Founder and CEO Ajay Kabadi outlined the company’s expansion plans. He said, “We are working closely with heavy industries in the UAE of steel, aluminium and other industries to replicate the benchmarks we have set in India… We have seen great results in India, and it’s going to work out similarly across other regions as well.”
Raghavendra Meharwade, Mentor at DocketRun, further emphasised the programme’s impact on their growth. He stated, “… We are into the business of saving lives and increasing the productivity of industries… Our next goal is to prove the same use cases in the UAE at a larger scale… Being selected from 10,000 to being in the top five was not an easy journey. But a fantastic environment and the support provided by this forum, which we used to scale up, helped us believe that we can make it.”
Moreover, the participation of these startups underscores CEPA’s expanding role in enabling market access, investment pathways and technology exchange between India and the UAE. As the Gulf region increasingly emerges as a global hub for advanced and future industries, Indian entrepreneurs continue exploring the UAE’s rapidly growing innovation ecosystem for expansion, strategic partnerships and capital opportunities.
