Dubai's $150k is just the cherry on top honestly… The bigger money in the UAE sits with family offices, and most founders have never pitched one. DIFC alone now hosts 1,408 family-related entities (up 36% in a year) 6 that are actively writing cheques: - DAMAC Group (Hussain Sajwani): $50M into Anthropic, plus bets on xAI and Mistral - Royal Group (Sheikh Tahnoon): his private investment house. He also chairs G42 and IHC - 2PointZero: the $27B+ holding company IHC set up in 2024 - CE-Ventures (Crescent Group, Sharjah): $500M+ invested, led Kitopi's seed round - Abu Dhabi Capital Group: owns ALEF Education, the first edtech to list on ADX - Kanoo Ventures (YBA Kanoo): backed CorrosionRADAR alongside Aramco Ventures Follow @arorabhavyam for more content around founder programs, investors and AI! 🫡 How to actually get in the room: - One family member or a CIO usually makes the call. No partner-vote like a VC - Pitch into what the family already runs. Sector fit beats a pretty deck - A warm intro from a portfolio founder or co-investor beats any cold DM - Set up a UAE entity before you reach out. Dubai's grant asks its winners for one anyway Win the grant, open the entity, then go meet the families.