Key Capital Becomes Hub71 Capital Partner to Widen Investor Access
A memorandum of understanding formalises two years of joint work that has already put 14 Abu Dhabi startups in front of London investors.
Nadia Mansour Nadia Mansour covers fintech across the UAE and MENA for Anecdoted -- digital banking, payments licences and the startups building around them. nadia@anecdoted.com
Key Capital has signed a memorandum of understanding to become a Capital Partner of Hub71, formalising a relationship that has already run for two years and has put 14 startups from the Abu Dhabi tech hub in front of investors in London.
The UAE asset manager, which invests in venture capital secondaries, will introduce Hub71 founders to investors outside the region, mentor them, and put money behind startups preparing to expand abroad. Hub71 said the arrangement may also extend to Key Capital taking a role in choosing which startups join the hub and in shaping its programmes and events.
The roadshow behind the deal
Much of the groundwork sits in Key Trek London, the annual roadshow Key Capital established in 2023 to bring Middle East and North Africa technology companies to the UK capital for meetings with investors. Hub71 took part for the first time in 2025. Since then its startups have held more than 120 one-on-one conversations with UK and European investors, and both organisations say founders have stayed in contact with the investors they met.
Nine Hub71 companies joined this year: Thndr, Abhi, NymCard, NodeShift, BioSapien, eVoost AI, FlapKap, Orbii and Synapse Analytics.
Earlier editions have turned into financing. RemotePass, a Hub71 startup, raised funds from the EBRD after being introduced to the lender at Key Trek 2024.
Steadier access to capital
Ahmad Ali Alwan, chief executive of Hub71, said meaningful investor relationships are central to helping ambitious startups get to growth capital. Basil Moftah, managing partner at Key Capital, said the roadshow's yearly format helps founders build the strategic relationships they need in order to scale.
Hub71 expects the agreement to give regional founders more consistent access to global capital and markets.
What changes in practice is the structure of the introductions. Hub71 has spent two years joining a roadshow it did not create; it now has a named partner with a defined role in its own selection process and programming. For Key Capital, the secondaries focus makes early sight of scaling companies useful, and a say in which startups enter the hub gives it that view earlier than an annual pitch session would.
The track record so far is one disclosed financing and a long list of conversations. Whether the nine companies on this year's trip follow RemotePass into closed rounds is the number that will matter.
