Dubai Founders HQ has teamed up with Mastercard and Pemo to launch a new finance solution that helps startups save money, manage spending and improve cash flow.

DUBAI: Running a startup is hard enough without chasing receipts, tracking expenses across different apps or spending days closing the books every month. That’s exactly the problem Dubai Founders HQ wants to solve.

The organisation has partnered with Mastercard, with support from Pemo, to launch a new finance solution designed to help startups and SMEs manage their money more efficiently while cutting costs.

Eligible businesses can access more than AED10,000 in first-year value, including up to 2% cashback on eligible foreign exchange and advertising spend, free access to Pemo’s expense management platform, Mastercard-powered corporate cards and a range of exclusive business offers.

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The idea is simple: give founders better control over their money so they can spend less time on paperwork and more time growing their business.

Instead of using personal cards, collecting paper receipts and manually tracking expenses, founders can manage everything from one platform. They can issue company cards to employees, set spending limits, approve expenses in real time and automatically sync transactions with accounting software such as QuickBooks, Xero and Zoho.

According to the partners, businesses using the platform could recover between AED500 and AED1,200 every month from previously overlooked spending. They could also save more than 60 hours of administrative work each month, while reducing month-end financial closing from as long as nine days to just three in some cases.

Officials say the initiative supports Dubai’s ambition to become one of the world’s best places to start and grow a business.

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Hadi Badri, CEO of Dubai Economic Development Corporation, said startups need practical tools that improve cash management and financial discipline. He added that the new solution helps founders reduce costs, gain better visibility over company spending and focus on scaling their businesses.

Saeed Al Gergawi, Vice President of Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy, said the partnership reflects Dubai Founders HQ’s goal of giving entrepreneurs the right support and tools at the right time.

Mastercard said the collaboration is part of its regional programme to help small businesses become more resilient, while Pemo described the initiative as a way to put enterprise-level financial tools directly into the hands of startup founders.

The partnership is also aligned with the Dubai Economic Agenda D33, which aims to strengthen the emirate’s position as a global hub for business, entrepreneurship and the digital economy.