Incorporation • ADGM
ADGM Operating Company
Why an ADGM Operating Company?
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Journey
Process of forming an ADGM Operating Company
Proposal
01
/07
KYC
02
/07
Engagement
03
/07
Complete form
04
/07
Sign Lease
05
/07
Incorporation documents
06
/07
Submission
07
/07
From SPVs to Tech Startup licenses and foundations, Clara’s got you covered in ADGM.
ADGM Operating Company
Requirements to set up an operating company in ADGM
A proposal with pricing will be prepared based on the requirements of the company being formed.
Provide information on the company being formed, including its shareholders, directors, authorized signatory, its proposed activities, and data protection activities.
You can adopt the ADGM model Articles of Association or provide your own amended Articles and you will need to provide the location of where the financial records will
be maintained.
After completing the information and compiling the identification documents for all the stakeholders, you submit your incorporation to Clara. This will be reviewed by the Clara team and must be approved by our compliance team.
Clara issues your invoice, and payment is to be received.
A signed copy of your office lease on Al Maryah or Al Reem Island must be provided to Clara. The lease must be for a minimum of 12 months and issued in the name of the company being incorporated.
Clara will create the incorporation pack which is sent to all stakeholders for e-signature. After the incorporation documents are signed, Clara will file the incorporation application with ADGM.
The ADGM review time is typically 7–10 business days. You can track the progress on the Clara dashboard every step of the way.
Clara bundles
Save up to $795 when you bundle your formation with our platform subscription
Resources & Insights
Stories, updates and resources
Clara partners with VMS to empower Mena entrepreneurs
VMS and Clara have signed a new partnership to support MENA startups by combining Clara’s legal simplification tools with VMS’s resources and innovation network. The collaboration aims to help founders reduce risk, streamline growth, and move more confidently from idea to successful venture.
Binance uses Clara to incorporate and manage ADGM entities. The team at Clara are extremely efficient and go the extra mile to ensure we always have a smooth experience and meet our deadlines. Top-notch service!
Starting a company is hard enough, but managing legal processes shouldn’t be. With Clara’s dedicated accelerator onboarding solution, companies can get the support and infrastructure they need to efficiently and professionally complete their legal due diligence and finalize an investment.
Clara is a one-stop shop for everything equity related. All our data is safe and securely stored and accurately recorded. And our investors love having direct access. It has saved us countless hours and kept our cap table mistake free.
We spend a lot of time educating founders on basic legal concepts: what they need to do for us to invest in them. Clara automates these functions. As Clara’s first institutional investor, we knew intuitively from inception, this company will be a game changer.
You can’t beat Clara’s ESOP functionality. It allows us to grant options to our team in a few clicks while automatically updating our cap table. Truly next level.
Founders often struggle with managing their legal function due to lack of expertise and resources. And we’ve seen poor legal structures create hurdles to our investing in otherwise healthy startups. Investors like ourselves love that Clara gives founders the tools they need to establish, grow and scale their startups from day one on a best-practice basis.
US cap table solutions aren’t tailored to the differentiated needs of international startups. Clara is the only cap table provider we found that had emerging market startups in mind. Add to that all the other things you can do on the Clara platform, from building your ESOP to data room management, and switching was a no brainer.
From company formation to maintaining the cap-table, by using Clara founders can digitally form their companies in a range of jurisdictions, create and manage their cap-tables and generate legal documents. Clara is quickly becoming an integral part of the startup software stack.
Clara is a must-have for founders. Not only does it provide all the legal tools you need in a single platform, using Clara also signals to investors that you are a serious startup.
IP Assignments, what? I didn’t even know they existed before Clara. For startups, setting up governance, corporate structures, data rooms and fundraising are all hard to get right. Clara’s legalOS is premium. It pays for itself.
Clara Money
Frequently asked questions
Operational companies that are set up as private companies limited by shares do not have any minimal capital requirements. Public Companies have minimum share capital requirements.
Operating companies must have a minimum of one allocated desk space on Al Maryah or Al Reem Island. A lease, in the name of the ADGM company being formed, will need to be signed before ADGM will issue the commercial license. The number of desks or size of the office leased will limit the number of visas available to the company. You will find a number of office space providers here.
Yes, you can. You will need to provide Clara with the customized Articles of Association for filing at the time of incorporation. A declaration will need to be signed by the incorporating shareholders that these have been prepared in accordance with the ADGM Regulations.
Yes. With the introduction of corporate tax in the UAE, all entities must register with the FTA within 3 months of incorporation and complete regular filings with the FTA. Clara does not provide accounting or tax advisory services and will not be providing notifications for due dates for any filings due with the FTA.
Most changes to a company (e.g. director and shareholder changes) trigger an obligation to file the change within 14 days. Notify Clara in advance or immediately following changes. Annually, the company must file its commercial licence and data protection renewal, an annual confirmation statement and financial accounts.
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