CO-LOCATED EVENTS

THE WORLD'S LARGEST EVENT FOR STARTUPS AND INVESTORS

Name: EXPAND NORTH STAR
Start: 2023-10-15
End: 2023-10-18
Location: Dubai Harbour

CONNECTING THE STARTUP ECOSYSTEM

Uniting founders, VCs, tech leaders, and ecosystem enablers for the world’s largest event for startups and investors

After the sell-out success of North Star 2022 we’re expanding to the iconic Dubai Harbour for Expand North Star 2023, 15-18 October 2023, hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy.

Across four days Expand North Star will present some of the world’s best startups from over 100 countries, welcome 1000 VCs to raise funds and scout for their portfolio, and deliver unprecedented content program debating the big stories of 2023 including funding winter or flash storm & tsunami of generative Ai startups, and 50+ unicorn founders on stage give their opinions.

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EXPLORE OUR CO-LOCATED SHOWS

Uniting founders, VCs, tech leaders, and ecosystem enablers for the world’s largest event for startups and investors

After the sell-out success of North Star 2022 we’re expanding to the iconic Dubai Harbour for Expand North Star 2023, 15-18 October 2023, hosted by the Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy.

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Where Finance & Technology Create Limitless Opportunities

An unrivaled meeting place for global fintech leaders will see the financial industry’s biggest tech-revolutions in the fields of paytech, insurtech, regtech, wealth & asset management and digital banking.

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The world's 2nd largest crypto hub & gathering

Over four days at the Future Blockchain Summit, industry leaders will leverage countless networking opportunities, gain insights from a power-packed agenda and pitch for growth funding in the Supernova Challenge.

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Experience tomorrow’s disruptive marketing technologies today

The only marketing + creative technology trade show in the MENA region that gathers the most prolific, imaginative and disruptive tech forces that are reinventing the marketing, communications and CX benchmarks globally.

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Global Startup Exhibitors

Investors

Speakers

Stages

Exhibiting Countries

EXPAND NORTH STAR OUTGROWS DWTC AND MOVES TO THE PRESTIGIOUS NEW VENUE, DUBAI HARBOUR

Hosted by Dubai Chamber of Digital Economy and set to take place from 15-18 October 2023 at the Dubai Harbour, Expand North Star shall present a new creative format to extend its engagements with the startup community.

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Dubai is the ideal city for the startup world to gather.

After a record-breaking year saw the MENA VC ecosystem cross the $3Bn mark in 2022, unlocking a new funding record for the region and increases in direct government investment.

Expand North Star brings the world together to connect the most ambitious and forward thinking startups with some of the most experienced and knowledgeable global investors.

Helping your brand reach a global audience:

56,100 visitors from the MIDDLE EAST, or 33%
35,700 visitors from AFRICA, or 21%
34,000 visitors from ASIA, or 20%
30,600 visitors from EUROPE, or 18%
13,600 visitors from the AMERICAS, or 8%

WHAT HAPPENS AT NORTH STAR?

We put the spotlight on the best in the region. Find out more here on Africa and Asia

FAST 100 SERIES

Topics covering technology in the creative space including art, fashion, music and more..Read more...

CREATIVE ECONOMY

We dove deep into new technologies and heard from rising start-up hubs. Check out the 2022 agenda

SPOTLIGHT STAGE

Startups to the rescue. Solving global challenges through open innovation...Scouting the best mobility and creative economy startupsRead more...

INNOVATION CUPS

VCs, fund of funds, angel investors and CVCs shared insights on resilient portfolio management & strong investment forecasts for emerging economy startups

VENTURES TRACK

The party don’t stop, North Star participants were able to join networking sessions, attend partner events and chill out in the backyard. Stay tuned for the 2023 schedule

NORTH STAR BY NIGHT

FLASHBACK TO 2022...

Pre-matched funding meetings between startups and VC's

Buyer meetings between startups and corporates & governments

+

North Star startups raised funds with investors they met at the event

Startups won $2m USD in cash prizes in challenges & pitch competitions

Startups have setup offices in UAE as a result of Expand North Star

DEFINING THE LANDSCAPE

Expand North Star is proud to co-locate with industry defining events Fintech Surge, Future Blockchain summit & Marketing Mania, while being inspired by the World's largest and best rated tech event, GITEX Global.

This is the flagship platform for startups to shine as well as grow through interactive Q&As, mentorship, product showcase, meetings, pitch competitions and conference sessions.

Take a look at the record-breaking event by numbers.

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HALL OF FAME AT GITEX & NORTH STAR

World’s most impactful VC’s, Unicorns, Founders altering the tech landscape, and Tech Leaders from future-focused corporates

SEAN GARNIER

Footballer
Freestyle Football World Champion
France

EUGENE KASPERSKY

Co-Founder & CEO
Kaspersky
USA,Russia

THOM THUM

Expert Beat-boxer

Australia

OG ARABIAN PRINCE

Founding member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group
N.W.A
USA

DIVYA GOKULNATH

Co- Founder
BYJU'S
India

SIR TIM BERNERS LEE

Creator
World Wide Web
UK

JOE FOSTER

Founder
Reebok
UK

SCOTT PAGE

CEO
Think:EXP Saxophonist, Pink Floyd
USA

ARIK SHTILMAN

Co-Founder & CEO
Rapyd
Israel

YASHISH DAHIYA

CEO & Co-Founder
PolicyBazaar
India

JONGYOON KIM

CEO
Yanolja
South Korea

DAVID COHEN

Co-Founder and Chairman
Techstars
USA

ERIC YUAN

Founder
Zoom
USA

Meet 2022 Speakers

A SNAPSHOT OF THE NORTH STAR ECOSYSTEM

INSPIRING WORDS FROM THE COMMUNITY

It’s been amazing to be at NorthStar. In the past few years, it’s really amazing to see the changes in the quality of the startups, the creators, seeing more women creating the startups and what an incredibly well-run event.

David Cohen
Techstars
Founder, USA

We had an incredible experience meeting a large audience of investors. We’re thrilled that we secured funding with investors we met at the event.

Nakul Garg
Crowdinvest
Co-Founder At Crowdinvest, USA

It was amazing, so many startups and investors from around the world came together. Dubai is buzzing and this place is out of the world!

Zhong Xu
Deliverect
Founder, USA

The electricity in the air is great, people are fabulous, I enjoyed speaking, I enjoyed the crowd; it’s full of fun, lots of new ideas that you should definitely come and check it out.

Divya Gokulnath
Byju’s
Co-Founder, India

I met a Founder at the GITEX event that is building a business that represented a gap in our portfolio. Since then, my fund has added a lot of post-investment value to the startup. We concluded the investment in December.

Janade Du Plessis
Launch Africa Ventures
Managing Partner, South Africa

Our participation in North Star resulted in us signing new business and partnerships with GITEX GLOBAL exhibitors across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and even as far afield as the Maldives. We realized how important the Middle East and Africa are, and look forward to setting up our regional office in the UAE.