# Khalifa Fund SME Funding Products

- **Type:** grant
- **Status:** evergreen
- **City:** Abu Dhabi
- **Operator:** Khalifa Fund
- **Equity:** Interest-free loans (not equity)
- **Cost:** No application fee published
- **Duration:** Product-dependent tenor
- **Apply:** https://www.tamm.abudhabi/en/abu-dhabi-government-entities/khalifafundforenterprisedevelopment
- **Page:** https://www.dxbstart.com/programs/khalifa-fund

Khalifa Fund’s SME funding products are interest-free loans for qualifying Abu Dhabi SMEs — micro through expansion, with published tickets into the millions of dirhams and high project-cost coverage. Apply via Tamm / Khalifa Fund service pages. Evergreen product family, not a cohort. Nationality, SME definition, and sector rules are strict. This is development finance. A two-person foreign SaaS with an ADGM licence is often the wrong applicant. Read the scheme, not a LinkedIn thread.

## Desk take

Real money if you are the SME they wrote the law for. A waste of a week if you are hoping they became a VC.

## Eligibility

Interest-free government loans for Emirati-owned SMEs based in Abu Dhabi, applied for via TAMM.
- Business owner must be an Emirati entrepreneur, aged 21–60
- Business must be based in the emirate of Abu Dhabi (incl. Western Region)
- Sectors: Healthcare, Education, Agriculture, ICT, Tourism, Manufacturing, and innovative projects (Agri Tech Financing product for agri-tech solutions)
- Existing businesses generally need 2+ years of operation (3 if funding a new branch); Microfinance Loan covers new entrepreneurs with project costs up to AED 1M
- Application and registration run through the TAMM Abu Dhabi government services platform

## Questions

### Is this a grant?

It is typically a loan product. “Interest-free” is not “non-repayable.”

### Can non-Emiratis apply?

Depends on the product. Their site is the source. Do not take a consultant’s word.


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