UAE: Emirates Development Bank launches AED 1 billion Emirates Growth Fund for priority-sector SMEs

Mechanism

Emirates Development Bank (EDB), the UAE federal government-owned development bank, launched the Emirates Growth Fund (EGF) on 19 May 2025 as its flagship growth-capital platform. The AED 1 billion (~USD 272 million) fund takes active minority equity stakes — no operational control, no fixed exit timeline — in revenue-generating UAE SMEs (AED 10 million+ annual revenue) across four sectors EDB designates as national priorities: manufacturing, food security, healthcare, and advanced technology. Typical investment size is AED 10-50 million in primary capital, with larger commitments possible case by case. Beyond capital, EDB frames EGF as a "strategic partner" providing governance advisory, sector expertise, and access to national platforms and networks — explicitly aimed at turning scaled-up SMEs into "national champions."

EGF sits inside EDB's wider financing role under Operation 300bn, the UAE's 2021 ten-year industrial strategy (see 2021-03-22-uae-operation-300bn-industrial-strategy), which earmarked an AED 30 billion EDB financing portfolio for industrial SMEs. EGF is the growth-equity instrument within that portfolio, distinct from EDB's debt/trade-finance products.

Downstream implications

• Adds an equity-financing channel (vs. debt/guarantee instruments

already tracked, e.g. the Saudi NDF credit facilities) to the Gulf state industrial-capital toolkit — worth watching for parallel growth-equity vehicles from other GCC development banks.

• Advanced-technology and manufacturing SME beneficiaries are

candidates for future responds_to links as EGF discloses portfolio companies.

Open questions

• No disclosed timeline or target count for portfolio companies;

fund appears open-ended/evergreen.

• Unclear whether EGF capital counts toward or is incremental to the

AED 30bn EDB financing envelope cited in Operation 300bn.