du launches $50 million fund to back UAE startups
The telecom operator is pushing deeper into digital infrastructure by pairing capital with Shorooq’s startup muscle, a move that could reshape how regional founders access scale.
du, led by CEO Fahad Al Hassawi, has launched du Ventures, a $50 million corporate venture fund developed with Shorooq to back startups across the UAE and the broader region. For executives, the signal is clear: telecoms are no longer just pipes, they are becoming platform players with capital, distribution, and strategic control over which technologies get scaled.
du just put $50 million behind a new bet on what comes next. The UAE-based telecom and digital services provider announced du Ventures, a corporate venture fund developed in partnership with Shorooq, with the explicit goal of accelerating digital innovation across the UAE and the broader region. The launch matters because it is not simply a side investment program. du is describing this as a milestone in its evolution beyond traditional telecom services and into a broader digital ecosystem role. In plain English: the company wants a seat closer to the startups building the tools that will shape payments, security, cloud services, customer experience, and more.
The size and structure matter. The fund will back promising startups and founders working across fintech, AI, cybersecurity, cloud, loyalty, gaming, enterprise solutions, and customer experience technologies. It will be managed by Shorooq, which will prioritize investments that fit du’s corporate strategy, and a significant share of the capital is specifically reserved for UAE-based ventures. That combination tells you the fund is not a generic check-writing exercise. It is designed to be strategic, with du bringing scale, infrastructure, and enterprise reach, while Shorooq brings the investment process and startup selection discipline. For founders, that can mean more than money. It can mean access to a telecom operator that can help shorten the path from pilot to customer adoption.
Fahad Al Hassawi, CEO at du, framed the move as part of a larger national and commercial agenda.
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