DUBAI: The Dubai International Financial Centre on Wednesday reported strong growth in the first half of 2021 achieving its 2024 strategy growth targets three years ahead of schedule. 

The number of active registered companies at the international financial hub in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia (MEASA) region has reached 3,292, an increase of 27 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2021. New companies registered during H1 totaled 492, up 59 percent year-on-year. 

This growth represents a tripling in size since 2014 when the 2024 Strategy was initiated and reflects DIFC’s significant efforts to build on its market-leading status in MEASA by continually enhancing its operating environment, legal and regulatory frameworks, innovation offering, and depth of its ecosystem. 

Overall, DIFC is now home to 1,025 financial and innovation-related companies, up 25 percent as compared to H1 2020. 

“DIFC will continue to build on our success to date to play a key role in accelerating not only our growth but also the economic diversification of Dubai,” DIFC Gov. Essa Kazim said.

The recently launched Innovation Hub has already reached full capacity, with over 140 new startups and fintechs joining this ecosystem during the first six months of this year. These include companies at all stages of development, from early-stage startups such as Rentd Technology Ltd., Crayfish Labs Technologies Ltd., PALFusion Technology Holdings and StashAway Management (DIFC) Ltd., growth stage ventures including Ebury and Adyen, unicorns including as SoFi (UAE) Ltd. and established big tech players like Amazon and Huawei.