ADGM, Plug and Play to accelerate startups in MENA

ABU DHABI- The Abu Dhabi Global Market, ADGM, and Plug and Play, the world’s global innovation platform, have announced the establishment of ‘Plug and Play ADGM’ office and announced the go-live date for its signature FinTech innovation programme for Abu Dhabi and the wider Middle East and North Africa, MENA, region.

The Plug and Play ADGM programme will be available in Q3 2018 and focuses on rapidly accelerating FinTech innovators and start-ups, who have exciting solutions and initiatives that address the dynamic needs of the capital markets in the region. The Plug and Play ADGM office is headquartered at ADGM on Al Maryah Island.

The initiative will serve as a strategic platform that connects the Plug and Play ADGM corporate partners to the most directly relevant and innovative solutions by FinTech startups under its programme. The platform will enjoy the advantages of ADGM’s internationally-aligned FinTech infrastructure and initiatives, for example, the ADGM FinTech Innovation Centre, the ADGM Regulatory Laboratory, and ADGM’s network of local and global institutions, FinTech bridges and industry partners.

The Plug and Play ADGM team will focus on developing and enabling FinTech start-ups to be market-ready and able to efficiently operate within a regulatory framework in Abu Dhabi and regionally.

Richard Teng, Chief Executive Officer, Financial Services Regulatory Authority of ADGM, in turn, said that the AGDM and Plug and Play share common visions in identifying the pipeline of needs and solving the challenges of the financial service in the region as well as developing the best entrepreneurs, among others.

Omeed Mehrinfar, Managing Partner, Plug and Play at Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said, "Through ADGM being a leading International Financial Centre, with resources such as their RegLab and Innovation Centre in place, we can augment our offerings towards local and international entrepreneurs that are looking to scale their FinTech solutions across the MENA region.

The ADGM partnership is also an opportunity for both of our entities to evaluate expanding into other industries and fields as it pertains to the region’s innovation agenda. This mutual roadmap, as well as their team culture and ours were an automatic match."