AstroLabs launches Google Tech Hub in Dubai

AstroLabs Dubai has accepted 35 new startups for the upcoming opening for the new Google Tech Hub Space in Dubai this summer. The workplace is the first of its kind in the Arab world and aims to provide a place where a community of entrepreneurs can work together to get their projects off the ground.

“As a guiding principle, we’re looking for the entrepreneurs that are making things happen,” said Michelle Joseph, COO of AstroLabs Dubai. “We’re also serious about building a real community, so collaboration is essential.”

The technology driven startups currently accepted to the program come from a wide range of industries and from all over the world, including the United States, Spain, France, Sweden, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco.

Google’s partnership with AstroLabs will give entrepreneurs access to an in-house mobile device development lab, over $100,000 in Google Cloud Credit and membership in the Google Tech Hub Network. For the same monthly fee of renting an office elsewhere in Dubai or the region, startups can also benefit from incredible business support.

The new space will be located in the Dubai Multi Commodities Center Free zone. This allows AstroLabs the opportunity to facilitate new business registration without upfront costs, and fast-track the licensing process for both local startups and global brands looking to expand to the Arab world from Dubai.

AstroLabs will also offer support for new projects on marketing and fundraising, and access to the AstroLabs Job Site. They will encourage group collaborations with programs like “Thorny Thursdays,” where they dedicate a group brainstorm around one issue faced by a participating startup.

Launch of the Google Tech Hub will also see the start of the AstroLabs Academy, a learning program on the most relevant topics in digital business. From analytics and data science to design and programming, the academy will deliver practical and actionable learning.

“AstroLabs is a space built by and for entrepreneurs,” said Joseph. “So we try to meet all the real and practical needs of tech startups in everything we do.”

Louis Lebbos and Mohammad Mekki founded Astrolabs in 2014 to create a tech launch pad for emergent online startups. Unlike traditional incubators and accelerators, the group does not take a share of the company for admission into the space.

Since its launch the company has supported more than 100 startups in the MENA region through their program Scaling Online Startups, a three-day acceleration workshop for online and mobile startups.