Dubai SME Seed Capital & Expansion Loans
Dubai SME seed and expansion facilities via thefund.ae: debt for Dubai SMEs, not a venture round. Register on their portal. Evergreen as a product family. Expect SME paperwork — financials, a Dubai licence, and a business that looks like a company, not a weekend app. Nationality and SME-definition rules live on their site and change. Read them. This is not Khalifa Fund (Abu Dhabi) and not a SAFE.
DESK TAKE
Useful if you are a real Dubai SME that can service a loan. Useless if you are pre-revenue and hoping the government will be your seed investor.
ELIGIBILITY
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Fund for SME (Dubai SME's funding arm) gives loans to Emirati founders of innovative Dubai startups. - Project/business must be 100% owned and managed by UAE national(s) - Applicant must be 21+ and personally committed to running the project - Project must be less than 5 years old; new-project applicants may hold max 5 Dubai trade licences (6 for existing enterprises) - For the Credit Bank Scheme, a business account is opened with the funding bank and debt burden ratio must not exceed 50% of monthly income - Business plan required; online application via thefund.ae portal
QUESTIONS
Is this equity-free capital?
It is a loan. Equity-free is not the same as free money.
Can a free-zone company apply?
Their rules decide. Check thefund.ae eligibility before you build a narrative.