Dubai International Financial Centre enacts new venture studio regulations

Dubai International Financial Centre enacts new venture studio regulations

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading global financial centre in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA) region, on Thursday announced the enactment of the new venture studio regulations. This move will establish the first global legal framework for the regulation of venture building, which will aim to promote the growth of innovative start-ups and scale-ups in the region from within DIFC.

Following a 30-day public consultation period, announced in February 2023, the Board of Directors of the DIFC Authority has enacted the venture studio regulations, which supports the DIFC Launchpad by providing a legislative framework for venture building. .

Key features of the regulations include providing the world’s first legislative framework for venture building, establishing legal certainty around the venture building model, and clarifying how venture studios, entrepreneurs, and start-ups interact with each other and the wider market. The regulations also facilitate ease of doing business within the venture studio model by implementing specific operational measures to enable the incubation of new business ideas, sponsorship of entrepreneurs, and reduced costs for scaling new businesses. The regulations came into effect on April 26.

Jacques Visser, chief legal officer at DIFC, commented: “We are pleased to announce the enactment of the DIFC