Incorporation • Jurisdiction
Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)
Why choose DIFC?
The DIFC is ranked in the top 10 global financial centres and stands as a premier business and lifestyle destination
Why DIFC?
Trusted by leading companies, investors and lawyers around the world
Types of licenses
DIFC licenses
Prescribed company
Innovation license
Foundation
Unlike a trust, the founder can retain significant control through the customisation of the charter and by-laws which govern the foundation.
From prescribed companies to innovation licenses and foundations, Clara’s got you covered in the DIFC.
Benefits
Benefits of a DIFC prescribed company
There is no need for the physical presence of the founders in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at any time during the lifetime of a DIFC prescribed company. The incorporation application, renewal process and any ongoing filings are prepared and submitted digitally, and electronic signatures are accepted. The ongoing annual obligations are minimal with most companies below the threshold for requiring audited accounts. These factors represent significant cost savings and remove barriers to entry for founders.
The DIFC prescribed company gives founders ultimate flexibility within the structure of a common law framework. Founders have the option to set the share capital as low or as high as they wish without any cost implication and there are no restrictions on the number of shareholders that can be added. Model Articles of Association can be used at the time of incorporation and subsequently amended to include multiple classes of shares (voting, non-voting, preferred) allowing for shares with different voting, dividend and distribution rights.
Founders of a DIFC prescribed company benefit from significant cost saving by using the registered office address of a corporate service provider, rather than having to rent physical office space. Passports can be digitally certified on the DIFC platform at no cost to founders. Licensing fees are cheaper than most options in the region and post-incorporation filings carry minimal or no regulator fees.
DIFC is perfectly situated in the time zone intersection between the leading financial centres of London and New York in the west and Hong Kong and Singapore in the East. With supportive infrastructure and its common law framework, DIFC is a strong launchpad for founders to access capital from angel investors and VCs across the globe. DIFC prescribed companies have the flexibility to issue convertibles such as SAFEs and convertible notes. DIFC recognises and enforces important investor and governance rights.
Clara bundles
Save up to $795 when you bundle your formation with our platform subscription
Resources & Insights
Stories, updates and resources
Competing with corporate salaries | How Share Incentive Plans help attract top talent
A Share Incentive Plan (also known as a SIP or an Employee Share Option Plan or ‘ESOP’), sets aside a pool of your company’s shares that you can allocate in the future to employees, directors, advisors and consultants, incentivising them to contribute to your startup’s success and growth.
New feature | Introducing Cayman exempted companies on Clara!
Setting up a company in the Cayman Islands is quick, cost-effective, attractive to foreign investors and easy for founders to maintain. Creating an offshore company for your startup might seem daunting if you don’t know where to start, which is where Clara comes in.
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
To incorporate a DIFC Prescribed Company, you must be a Qualifying Applicant: where the DIFC Prescribed Company will be controlled by one or more Qualifying Applications; or have a Qualifying Purpose: where the DIFC Prescribed Company is established and continued for a Qualifying Purpose.
The DIFC Innovation Licence is offered to a wide ecosystem of technology enablers, catering to technology/innovation firms interested in developing or testing new, novel or innovative products. To be eligible to set up a DIFC Innovation Licence, you must be able to:
- demonstrate the proposed entity promotes innovation, has the potential to scale and can be deployed in the UAE, and
- demonstrate that your activities fall within one of the 7 licence categories.
While you do not require a UAE Resident or GCC National with an Emirates ID Card for the purpose of the company formation, depending on the bank you wish to use, your company may need to appoint a signatory in the UAE to open a bank account.
The incorporation process with DIFC involves two main stages:
- In-Principle Approval: You will be required to provide background on the purpose of the entity being established, including a clear description of the ownership structure and the UBO’s background. This stage can take approximately 7-10 business days from submission;
- Registration of the Entity: Once In-Principle Approval has been given and post receipt of our compliance approval, signed engagement letter and payment we will initiate the registration process with DIFC – the incorporation resolutions and ancillary documents will be prepared and signed. This stage can take approximately 3 – 5 business days from submission.
What are you waiting for?