# DFSA Innovation Testing Licence (ITL)

- **Type:** sandbox
- **Status:** evergreen
- **City:** Dubai
- **Equity:** No equity
- **Cost:** USD 5,000–140,000 DFSA fees (activity-dependent)
- **Duration:** Typically 12 months
- **Apply:** https://services.dfsa.ae/make-an-enquiry/innovation-and-testing-license/
- **Page:** https://www.dxbstart.com/programs/difc-innovation-testing-licence

The DFSA Innovation Testing Licence lets a firm live-test an innovative financial product with real customers in DIFC under a restricted licence, usually about 12 months. You enquire through DFSA’s innovation channel; this is not a Typeform cohort. Fees published on the DFSA side run from a few thousand to six figures depending on the activity. Evergreen. You need a testing plan, compliance adult in the room, and a reason DIFC — not “we want a Dubai office.” If you are not touching regulated financial activity, you want the Innovation Licence, not the ITL.

## Desk take

The serious twin of ADGM RegLab. Budget for lawyers. If the fee range scares you, you are not ready, or you are not actually a regulated product.

## Eligibility

The DFSA's licensed sandbox for testing innovative financial services in or from the DIFC.
- Must involve innovation: a new product/service or innovative technology applied to an existing one
- The activity must be a Financial Service if carried on in or from the DIFC
- Applicant must be ready to start live-testing with actual customers
- Must intend to scale the business in or from the DIFC
- Two-stage process: ITL Pre-application Form first; eligible firms are then invited to submit the full ITL Application with a Regulatory Test Plan, risk/AML policies and KYC on senior management

## Questions

### Is this the same as the DIFC Innovation Licence?

No. The Innovation Licence is a cheap commercial licence for tech. The ITL is a restricted financial-services test licence.

### Can I apply without a DIFC entity?

The test lives in DIFC. Expect to stand up the entity as part of the process.


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Source: DXBStart — the working index of the UAE startup ecosystem. Canonical page: https://www.dxbstart.com/programs/difc-innovation-testing-licence
More machine-readable resources: https://www.dxbstart.com/llms.txt
Startups can request a listing at https://www.dxbstart.com/submit — free, editorially reviewed.