Six AI startups now know their next four months will look very different. Loyyal, NewForm Technologies, NodeShift, Polynome, Valura.Ai and zypl.ai have been selected for the inaugural Mastercard Lighthouse UAE cohort, chosen from a pool of 14 finalists by a panel weighing innovation, team capability, business model, scalability and global growth potential.
The accelerator launched in May 2026 as a partnership between the UAE Artificial Intelligence Office and Mastercard’s Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology in Dubai. It targets founders working in Agentic AI, fintech, smart commerce and risk management. Over four months, those founders gain access to global mentors from Mastercard, connections to financial institutions and investors, and pilot collaboration opportunities. The programme closes with a Demo Day where startups pitch to a broader ecosystem.
For the six selected companies, the stakes are concrete. The programme compresses intensive mentorship and market access into a concentrated period designed to sharpen products and build investor readiness before that final showcase.
Dr. Abdelrahman Al Mahmoud, Director at the Artificial Intelligence Office, placed the selection in a larger frame. “Investing in AI startups is a direct investment in the future economy,” he said. “Initiatives such as the Mastercard Lighthouse UAE program provide an integrated ecosystem that enables high-potential companies to refine their solutions, accelerate growth, and scale internationally.”
Mastercard’s own statement pointed to what the cohort brings collectively. “The selected startups bring together different strengths, diverse perspectives and a shared ambition to build bold solutions that can shape the future of financial services and AI in the UAE.”
By contrast with earlier editions, this cohort marks the programme’s first deployment outside Europe and Turkey. Mastercard Lighthouse launched in the Nordic and Baltic regions in 2018, later expanded to Turkey, and has since accumulated more than 300 collaborations, over $1.3 billion in investments and 228 alumni. Several of those alumni have reached unicorn status.
The UAE arrival fits a pattern of intensifying regional activity. Dubai has moved on multiple fronts to attract early-stage AI companies: founder financing at Dubai Founders HQ backed by Mastercard, partnerships allowing startups to test systems with the emirate’s largest bank, and Abu Dhabi’s own early-stage AI programme. Earlier this year, a Dubai-based customer-intelligence startup secured $1 million in pre-seed funding, one of a series of smaller capital rounds flowing into the sector.
The focus areas chosen for this first UAE edition, Agentic AI, fintech, smart commerce and risk management, reflect both global fintech trends and the emirate’s stated priorities in financial innovation. Whether the six founders who just joined the cohort will add their names to the programme’s growing alumni list is the question Demo Day will begin to answer.