Dubai’s efforts to boost tech startups ‘exhilarating’, says Pakistani AI firm founder
Not many can say they have had the chance to demonstrate their work to His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.
But Pakistan’s Arslan Javed, founder of property platform Graana and generative AI firm Musavir, got to do just that when he took part in Dubai Future Foundation’s accelerator programme.
It started when Musavir was one of 30 startups selected for the programme last year under the theme ‘the future of generative AI in media and communication’ out of some 650 that had applied.
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“The crown prince came over to the accelerator to review progress and I showed him an image of an Emirati woman with an Arabian horse and Burj Khalifa in the background,” recalled Javed in an interview with Business Recorder.
“So he got naturally attracted to it and came over to see it, and I showed him how Musavir is more culturally sensitive (than its competitors).
“I generated an Emirati woman using another image generator, and it generated a very nice image, but it wasn’t as (culturally) appropriate as ours. He really liked that.”
According to its website, Dubai Future Accelerators (DFA) facilitates collaboration between startups, private entities and government to work on pre-specified challenges. It combines startups’ innovation and agility with the scale of forward-thinking public and private sector organisations with the idea that this will position Dubai as an attractive destination for startups and entrepreneurs, and as a citywide testbed for innovative technology.
Up to two members of the chosen teams get flown to Dubai for an in-house residency with flights and accommodations fully paid.
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“It’s very intelligent of them. They’re bringing all the talented people from around the world into Dubai,” says Javed.
“In our cohort, we had companies from around 50 nationalities, including the US and Europe.” Musavir was the only one from Pakistan.
Praising the accelerator further, Javed said it entailed many trainings and workshops and helped immensely in networking in the region. In fact, some of their initial B2B clients came as a direct result of this.
“Overall the foundation was extremely helpful and they didn’t ask for anything in return. They funded the whole thing and it was a really amazing learning experience.”
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Javed said startups in Pakistan should keep an eye on the Dubai Foundation website as being part of its accelerator can be very beneficial.
When asked about the work Dubai is doing to support tech startups, he said “it is exhilarating.”
“The top leadership has the conviction to enable technology and startups and make Dubai a hub, like a Silicon Valley of the Middle East,” said Javed. “They’re really pushing hard and really serious about it. They make sure all companies are facilitated.”
In fact, he says there are many lessons Pakistan can learn from Dubai’s work in this space, starting with online payments.
“The first thing they need to do is make it easy for startups and the younger generation to start their business, get a bank account, get online payments.”
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An inability to do so means many startups go outside and get a bank account in some other country and start earning in that country.
“I think they’re working to get PayPal,” he said, referring to recent news that government is working to enable freelancers to channelise remittances through the international payment gateway.
“Let’s hope it works.”
What does Musavir do?
Musavir is an image generation platform - which means a user can give it any text prompt and it will generate an image.
“Even if you give it simple prompts, it will still generate really strong visuals and these images can be used in marketing content,” said Javed.
It creates high resolution output which means advertisers can use it for their ad campaigns, billboards, and high-res displays. It also has real-world applications for designers, architects, and content creators. Musavir will soon have the option to generate videos as well.
Musavir offers B2C subscriptions ranging from $5 to $20. But it believes what sets it apart is its B2B offering, which starts from $1,500 a month for unlimited generations.
“Our B2B model is where we are focused and that’s what really differentiates us. No other image generator is focused on B2B.
“We train the model based on your brand’s visual language. So the model is able to generate images that are according to your brand language. That’s the unique offering.”
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The company is headquartered in Dubai and currently specialises in image generation for the Gulf market specifically.
“It understands their culture, it can generate their people, their dresses, all the traditional elements in a really good way.”
The reason for being in Dubai is “it gives you a very good base to expand into the GCC and globally as well. All the top companies, all the top venture capitalists are based in Dubai, and you have access to capital and it really opens your company up to different markets.”
When asked about advice for Pakistani startups who also want to set up shop in Dubai, Javed sais the best way to go about it is to have the business development and sales team in Dubai, while the rest can be based in Pakistan.
He also says if you’re a tech company, you should register in the Dubai International Financial Centre.
“They have an innovation hub and very subsidised co-working spaces and with many facilities that you can’t even imagine, within a price of about $250 per month.”
“The license fee is very low and it’s all digital. You can do it from anywhere, so it’s fairly easy.”
The process of registering is also completely digital, with no actual paperwork involved.
“If you have your documents ready, you can be registered in a free zone within a month,” said Javed.
He added that Dubai offers licenses for AI companies that are 90% subsidised. According to him, it costs about $1,500 per year to register a company.
Last year in August, several publications reported that DIFC’s Dubai AI and Web 3.0 Campus began offering a 90% subsidy on commercial licenses for AI and Web3 businesses as the UAE aims to become one of the leading nations in AI by 2031.
The only challenge, Javed said, is to ensure you are keeping up to date with all regulations and compliance requirements. “That can be a bit burdensome, you have to be ready for that.”
Despite being based in Dubai, Javed says “we’re not ignoring other markets, we’re also training our AI models for South Asia, for China, for countries, which are mostly neglected by major AI players.”
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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