The Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) has committed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore’s Tribe Accelerator, a government-backed blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) project accelerator.
According to the terms of the MoU, the DIFC and Tribe Accelerator aim to work cooperatively on knowledge sharing initiatives and plan to secure event partnerships. The DIFC has reaffirmed its intentions to work on various Asian Fintech partnerships.
The DLT project accelerator had, in December of last year, expressed an interest in forming government-backed partnerships with various countries to support development through innovative technologies. Tribe Accelerator had helped projects secure a total of $28 million for startups operating across the globe, in order to support blockchain-focused initiatives.
Arif Amiri, CEO at DIFC Authority, stated:
“As the leading Fintech hub in the Middle East Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, we have been laying a robust foundation for the future of finance for the past 15 years, focusing on developing a pioneering and enabling FinTech ecosystem. Much of our focus has been developing MOUs with organisations and partners who share our vision for accelerating financial innovation.”
He added:
“Dubai is the gateway to the MEASA region for aspiring FinTech firms, innovators and entrepreneurs seeking to expand in the region. Our MoU with Tribe Accelerator reinforces the robust and collaborative business relationship between Dubai and Singapore based firms, as well as DIFC’s strategic goal to drive the future of finance through an enabling business environment.”
He also pointed out that Singapore-based Fintech firms are established pioneers within the financial technology industry and continue to drive growth via partnerships with leading institutions and organizations based in the MEASA region.
DIFC’s FinTech Hive introduced their funding accelerator initiative, in January 2020, for startups based in the MEASA area. The Fintech Hive Scale Up program aims to provide investment and partnership opportunities for firms that have completed their Series A funding rounds.