Oman Technology Fund enlists Irish investor NDRC to provide startup expertise

NDRC, the Irish early stage technology investor and accelerator, has been retained by the Oman Technology Fund (OTF), the Oman Government’s technology investment fund, to run a pre-seed accelerator programme in Muscat, Oman. Up to ten young ventures from Oman and the surrounding region will be selected by OTF to participate. NDRC will provide accelerator expertise and personnel throughout the three-month programme, with OTF investing the required capital in the companies.

The accelerator will commence in January 2018 and will include a two-week visit by the Omani ventures to Dublin in early 2018 to exchange learnings with Irish startups. Over the course of the programme, the NDRC team will work intensively with each startup, helping them to understand the value that their company can offer customers, their strategy for growth and getting them ready to meet the demands both of investors and the international marketplace.

OTF was launched by Oman Investment Fund (OIF) in October 2016, and has recently partnered with 500 Startups, a San Francisco-based VC fund and global accelerator network, to train and accelerate growth of later-stage technology startups. OTF supports entrepreneurship in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region.

NDRC CEO, Ben Hurley said: “This is a positive development for NDRC, which builds on the international investment being secured by our portfolio ventures, and reflects well on how Ireland’s startup enterprise ecosystem is viewed internationally. Along with the excellent work undertaken by Enterprise Ireland and others in the region, we believe NDRC’s presence in Oman may help provide beneficial links for our startups into this market in to the future.”

Yousef Al Harthi, OTF chairman, said: “Signing this agreement with NDRC highlights our shared principles regarding the startup ecosystem, helping us to provide training and expertise to early-stage, technology companies.”