Expand North Star’s highly anticipated ninth edition takes place at Dubai Harbour from 13-16 October. The acclaimed event brings the global startup ecosystem to the UAE to accelerate the world’s most sought-after startups toward rapid growth and development.
Expand North Star 2024, the world’s largest startup and investment event, is officially underway in the UAE as Sunday saw the entire global startup ecosystem enjoy an action-packed opening day at Dubai Harbour. Hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and organized by the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), Expand North Star takes place from 13-16 October at the Middle East’s biggest superyacht club.
Already the annual go-to showcase for startups, investors, accelerators, and tech enthusiasts to source funding, investment deals, and essential industry updates, Expand North Star 2024 is primed to be the most prominent, dynamic, and influential in its nine-year history. Seamlessly integrated with GITEX GLOBAL, the event presents an extensive program and immersive exhibition with over 1,800 exhibiting startups and more than 1,200 investors with assets under management (AUM) exceeding $1 trillion.
Fascinating first day
While bringing the entire startup ecosystem to the UAE, this year’s edition is also the largest and most international to date with over 100 countries participating.
Alongside panelists from France, Italy, Poland, and Portugal, Dr. Sebastian Schäfer, CEO of House of Finance & Tech Berlin, discussed the future of funding and investments. Dr. Schäfer called for newfound cross-continental collaboration between European nations, citing the vast “untapped potential” across the digital space.
He said: “As countries, we don’t collaborate. We need real joint value propositions for tangible success and use cases that help us to work together. We have the ingredients needed to compete with the big tech companies from China and the US – but we need novelty ways to utilise advantages, harness talent, and create future unicorn factories. There’s so much untapped potential waiting to be explored.”
Expand North Star 2024 also welcomes a wide variety of new exhibiting companies from Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and Latin America alongside many from the Middle East and Africa.
