News

Hub71 To Invest $2 Billion In New Web3 Startup Ecosystem

Hub71+ Digital Assets will give startups access to venture capital companies and technology providers in Abu Dhabi and beyond.

Published

3 years ago

February 16, 2023

Nour Nasir

Hub71

Abu Dhabi global technology accelerator Hub71 is seeking to disrupt the Web3 space with the announcement of a new ecosystem focused on startup funding and blockchain technologies.

Over $2 billion has already been committed in capital, enabling the new Hub71+ Digital Assets ecosystem to offer Web3 startups access to venture capital companies, customers, tech providers, blockchain platforms, and much more.

hub71 digital assets launch event

Hub71’s anchor partner is First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), and its research and innovation center, known as FABRIC, will, in turn, help FAB to leverage its financial services in the metaverse. Further corporate, government, and investment partners will support the project’s growth across the UAE and beyond.

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“Hub71+ Digital Assets signifies that Abu Dhabi is open to disruptive businesses driving forward change and transformation on a global level. Teaming up with ADGM, FAB and its research and innovation center, FABRIC, alongside the world’s leading Web3 companies and enablers under one roof, will provide founders with an opportunity to fundraise, develop and commercialize innovations safely while operating within the largest regulated jurisdiction of virtual assets in the MENA region,” says Ahmad Ali Alwan, Deputy CEO of Hub71.

The new Hub71 alliance will help startups benefit from ADGM’s diverse ecosystem and efficient regulatory environment, which will help develop the UAE economy to keep pace with global trends.

News

Samsung And Spotify Offer Free Premium Deal In MENA

Nearly seven in ten streams in the region come from 18-to-34-year-olds — the audience Samsung is hoping to entice into its ecosystem.

Published

6 days ago

August 7, 2026

Nour Nasir

Samsung

Samsung has announced a partnership with Spotify spanning the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye, bundling Spotify Premium with select devices across its ecosystem. The headline offer — up to four months of Premium for free — is a first for the region.

Customers in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Türkiye who buy any OLED or 98-inch television, or any Galaxy S or Z series mobile device, get four months of Spotify Premium. The offer, tiered by market and device, is available at retail and on Samsung.com, and redeemed through the Samsung Promotion and Samsung Members apps.

For Samsung, the strategy is less about free music than about lock-in. The Korean tech giant’s pitch is continuity: a track starts on a Galaxy smartphone through Galaxy Buds on the commute, moves to a Samsung TV and soundbar in the living room, and stays controllable from a Galaxy Watch. The more seamlessly music travels between those devices, the harder it becomes to swap any one of them for a rival’s.

“Technology should bring people closer to the things they love, and few things connect people the way music does,” said Omar Saheb, Regional VP of Marketing and Online Business at Samsung Electronics MENA. The partnership, he added, gives customers “a genuine reason to choose Samsung for the experience, not only the product”.

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For subscribers, Premium brings the usual package: ad-free listening, offline downloads, richer audio quality on Galaxy Buds and Samsung sound devices, and Jam, which lets friends build a shared queue.

“At Spotify, we are always working to make every listening moment feel more personal, meaningful, and worth it,” said Rami Jamal, Head of Partnerships at Spotify for South Asia, Middle East, and Africa.

The demographics go a long way to explaining the strategy. Across MENA, Türkiye, and Pakistan, nearly seven in ten Spotify streams come from listeners aged 18 to 34, according to the company — precisely the audience Samsung wants inside its hardware ecosystem before buying habits harden.