Emirates NBD, in collaboration with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Fintech Hive and Microsoft, is launching an accelerator programme specifically for metaverse startups.
This initiative marks Emirates NBD’s inaugural venture into the metaverse, aligning with the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, which aims to create over 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030 and contribute $4 billion to the nation’s economy within five years.
The bank is seeking leading fintech firms, digital experience startups, and emerging technology players in the metaverse realm. The focus will be on enhancing its virtual presence across three main areas: developing the technology stack to transition to 3D, crafting virtual worlds to enrich customer experiences, and establishing a decentralized payment infrastructure that allows customers to create, monetize, and trade digital assets and services.
During the ten-week acceleration programme, the DIFC Fintech Hive will assess and match Emirates NBD with startups that provide value-creating propositions, including relevant experience and technology for the metaverse. This will culminate in a demo day where selected participants will present their ideas to the bank.
Miguel Rio Tinto, group CIO at Emirates NBD, stated: “As a bank that has always been at the forefront of adopting emerging technologies, we see unique opportunities to reimagine financial services, including virtualising interactions with customers and catering to the creator economy by facilitating new products and marketplaces. With the help of the DIFC FinTech Hive and Microsoft, Emirates NBD aims to become a launchpad for innovative financial services in the metaverse, actively collaborating with global startups to co-create new experiences for our customers.”
This move follows a similar initiative by Italian banking group Sella, which launched an acceleration programme in June focused on startups involved in the virtual economy.