LinkedIn Top Startups 2024: The 10 UAE companies on the rise

Today, we unveil LinkedIn's annual list of Top Startups, revealing the 10 emerging UAE companies you should know now. These companies aren’t just growing fast and garnering attention from investors and jobseekers — they’re also building innovative solutions that are shaping the future of the country’s booming real estate sector and fintech. 

The list is built on exclusive LinkedIn data across four key pillars: employee growth; jobseeker interest; engagement within the company and its employees; and how well these startups have pulled talent from Top Companies. To be eligible, companies must be headquartered in the UAE, fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees and be 7 years old or younger. You can learn more about our methodology at the bottom of this article.

Here are this year’s 10 Top Startups in the UAE — and join the conversation using #LinkedInTopStartups.

All headcounts are provided by the companies, unless marked with an asterisk. Those headcounts are from LinkedIn data. 

1. Astra Tech

Astra Tech Technology, Information and Internet

Full-time headcount: 250 | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: FinTech, Product Development, Social Media | Most common job titles: Product Manager, Back End Developer, Talent Acquisition Manager | Largest job functions: Marketing, Business Development, Human Resources | What they do: Astra Tech is the parent company of calling app Botim, payment app PayBy, finance app Quantix and home services app Rizek.

See jobs | See people you may know

2. Qashio

Qashio Financial Services

Full-time headcount: 48 | Year founded: 2021 | Most common skills: Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), HTML, Node.js | Most common job titles: Senior Software Engineer, Account Executive, Business Development Manager | Largest job functions: Sales, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: Qashio is a spend management platform designed for businesses to manage expenses with integrated payment cards. 

See jobs | See people you may know

3. Grubtech

Grubtech Software Development

Full-time headcount: 180 | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Lead Generation, Social Media, Research Skills | Most common job titles: Sales Manager, Software Architect | Largest job functions: Sales, Customer Success and Support, Business Development | What they do: Grubtech is an operating system for delivery-centric virtual and hybrid restaurants, providing services including software and payment solutions. In May, it raised $15 million in a series B funding round led by Jahez.

See more about Grubtech | See people you may know

4. PRYPCO

PRYPCO Financial Services

Full-time headcount: 127 | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: Real Estate, Business Relationship Management, Financial Services | Most common job titles: Mortgage Advisor, Relationship Manager, Business Development Manager | Largest job functions: Finance, Business Development, Operations | What they do: PRYPCO is a platform that allows users to manage their properties and invest in real estate through products such as fractional property investment and mortgage facilitation.

See more about PRYPCO | See people you may know

5. The Giving Movement

The Giving Movement Retail Apparel and Fashion

Full-time headcount: 195 | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Fashion, Digital Photography, Editing | Most common job titles: Customer Service Representative, Customer Service Specialist, Retail Operations Manager | Largest job functions: Customer Success and Support, Marketing, Operations | What they do: The Giving Movement is an athleisure brand dedicated to producing eco-friendly products. It uses sustainable materials and donates part of its profits to Dubai Cares, through which it contributed $800,000 to relief efforts in Gaza earlier this year, and Harmony House in India.

See more about The Giving Movement | See people you may know

6. Glucare.Health

GluCare.Health Hospitals and Health Care

Full-time headcount: 80 | Year founded: 2019 | Most common skills: Healthcare Management, Clinical Research, Diabetes | Most common job titles: Nutritionist, Endocrinologist, Logistics Coordinator| Largest job functions: Healthcare Services, Customer Success and Support, Operations | What they do: GluCare Health is a startup which provides a hybrid digital health model to help with diabetes management, integrating continuous glucose monitoring, wearable devices, and AI-powered analytics with traditional healthcare in a clinic. 

See jobs | See people you may know

7. Huspy

Huspy Financial Services

Full-time headcount: 300 | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: Property Management, Real Estate, Entrepreneurship | Most common job titles: Real Estate Consultant, Account Manager, Business Development Manager | Largest job functions: Real Estate, Finance, Sales | What they do: Huspy is a proptech startup that allows home buyers in UAE to digitally secure mortgages, connect with real estate agents, and complete transactions.

See jobs | See people you may know

8. CAFU

CAFU Software Development

Full-time headcount: 646 | Year founded: 2018 | Most common skills: Android, Mobile Applications, User Experience (UX) | Most common job titles: Software Engineer, Pilot, Product Manager | Largest job functions: Operations, Engineering, Business Development | What they do: Cafu is an on-demand fuel delivery service. Users can use the app to have fuel delivered, get a car washed and engine oil changed wherever they are. 

See jobs | See people you may know

9. Stake

Stake Financial Services

Full-time headcount: 70 | Year founded: 2020 | Most common skills: User Experience (UX), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Social Media | Most common job titles: Business Development Officer, Relationship Manager, Software Engineer| Largest job functions: Marketing, Sales, Operations | What they do: Stake is a fintech platform that provides access to real estate investments with lower entry costs by allowing users to invest in fractional ownership of rental units. Stake also handles property management.

See jobs | See people you may know

10. Qlub

qlub Financial Services

Full-time headcount: 150 | Year founded: 2022 | Most common skills: Business Relationship Management, Teamwork, Research Skills, Account Management, Negotiation | Most common job titles: Business Development Manager | Largest job functions: Business Development, Operations, Sales | What they do: Qlub is a platform that offers digital payment solutions in F&B outlets, including instant payment of the bills, splitting payments with friends, and adding a tip. 

See jobs | See people you may know

You can check out the Top Startups in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the UK and the U.S.

Methodology

LinkedIn measures startups based on four pillars: employment growth, engagement, job interest and attraction of top talent. Employment growth is measured as percentage headcount increase over methodology time frame, which must be a minimum of 10%. Engagement looks at non-employee views and follows of the company’s LinkedIn page, as well as how many non-employees are viewing employees at that startup. Job interest counts the rate at which people are viewing and applying to jobs at the company, including both paid and unpaid postings. Attraction of top talent measures how many employees the startup has recruited away from any global LinkedIn Top Company, as a percentage of the startup’s total workforce. Data is normalized across all eligible startups. The methodology time frame is July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. 

To be eligible, companies must be fully independent, privately held, have 30 or more full-time employees, be 7 years old or younger and be headquartered in the country on whose list they appear. We exclude all staffing firms, think tanks, venture capital firms, law firms, management and IT consulting firms, nonprofits and philanthropy, accelerators and government-owned entities. Startups who have laid off 10% or more of their workforce based on corporate announcements or public, reliable sources between July 1, 2023 and the list launch, are not eligible. These decisions are made by the LinkedIn News team based on company statements and/or reputable news outlets.

About company insights

*Company insights were sourced from LinkedIn Talent Insights. Data reflects aggregated public member data from active LinkedIn profiles in the relevant country and includes full-time employee profiles associated with the company on LinkedIn. We exclude members who identify as part-time or contractors. Headcounts are provided by the companies directly, unless otherwise noted with an asterisk. Those headcounts are based on LinkedIn data. All insights reflect a 12-month time period looking back from July 2024. Skills data was derived from measuring the most frequent skills among a company’s employees. Most common job titles represent the occupations that are most common within each company. Largest job function measures the function area most prevalent within each company. 

Reported and proofread by: Nabila Rahhal, Salma Altantawy

Methodology and insights by: Alejandra Budar