A group of six entrepreneurs and investors across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India, who reportedly invested in more than 75 start-ups and helped businesses raise $500 million worth of capital, have joined hands to launch a Fintech Platform called Funding Possibilities. The new venture aims to connect start-ups with investors, borrowers with lenders and buyers with sellers. 

The mission of this platform is to bridge the gap between investors and new-age businesses.

Funding or access to capital has been a major hindrance to the growth of start-ups and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the UAE. Funding Possibilities will be a sought-after platform for both seekers and providers of capital, providing access to various forms of capital beyond equity, including traditional debt, alternative and structured finance. It aims to make private markets more accessible and transparent, said the company.

It seeks to give retail investors access to start-ups and enable retail investors to contribute to the overall start-up ecosystem and new-age businesses. The company is a sector and stage-agnostic platform and aims to help build more than 10 profitable unicorns in the decade to come, it added.

The development comes weeks after the launch of the Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’ by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai. Dubai Economic Agenda ‘D33’ includes 100 transformative projects, with economic targets of (Dirham) Dh32 trillion over the next 10 years, doubling its foreign trade to reach Dh25.6 trillion and adding 400 cities as key trading partners over the next decade.

As per reports more than 400,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operate in the UAE, representing more than 60 per cent of the UAE's non-oil economy and providing employment opportunities for 86 per cent of the workforce in the private sector.

“Dubai will rank as one of the top four global financial centers with an increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) to over Dh650 billion over the next decade and an annual Dh100 billion contribution from digital transformation. Over,” said HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in a media statement.

 “Increasing funding options are a need of the hour for the UAE’s new age businesses. Funding Possibilities is set to fill a clear gap in the private sector space providing innovative and quality funding channels for them to grow and fuel the growth of the UAE economy,” said Sheetal Soni, founder of Funding Possibilities.

The Funding Possibilities team comprises well-experienced and qualified Chartered Accountants, a CFA Charterholder, a tech geek as well as serial business entrepreneurs.

“We will serve the business community with curated deals to suit their needs, ease informed investment through a four-dimensional due diligence process, provide ease of exits and need-based relevant information at the user’s palm,” Prateek Toshniwal, co-founder, Funding Possibilities.

In its future phase, the platform will help raise debt, structured trade finance, alternative finance, revenue-based financing, and venture debt for businesses. Funding Possibilities will collaborate with professionals, private institutions and bankers throughout the region for funding good deals in the most efficient manner in the debt space. It will ease out the process of “debt” and “alternative finance” both for businesses and financial institutions providing capital as the curated deals will reach the respective funding partners through a tech-driven end-to-end process.

It will also enable mergers and acquisitions and help in buyouts or strategic investments. Funding Possibilities will help connect the right companies to each other and also will collaborate with private equities, institutional investors, and family offices to foster consolidation.