H.H. Sheikh Hamdan meets founder of Telegram Pavel Durov

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, has met with Pavel Durov, Founder and CEO of Telegram.

Telegram, a Dubai-based company, is one of the world’s leading cloud-based instant messaging and VoIP services.

The company is now valued at more than AED73 billion ($20 billion), and has more than 570 million users, out of which 100 million were acquired in January alone.

Sheikh Hamdan commented on the success by highlighting the emirate’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem that has enabled a host of technology start-ups to script global success stories.

"Dubai’s ability to provide a productive growth-oriented environment for technology start-ups is validated by the fact that some [of] the world’s most exciting and successful digital companies like Telegram have chosen to run their ventures out of the emirate. We continue to welcome great talent and ideas to Dubai which offers a nurturing ecosystem for their development," he added.

Other global entrepreneurial successes that have emerged out of Dubai over the last few years include Careem, acquired by Uber; Souq.com, the first unicorn company in the Middle East, acquired by Amazon; Media.Net, one of the world’s largest ad tech companies; Anghami, an Arabic music streaming platform; and Wrappup, the developer of an AI-based productivity app, acquired by US tech firm Voicera.

I met @durov, founder of @telegram, which is a host of technology ventures based out of Dubai that has made a mark globally. pic.twitter.com/jlweMnGObr

— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) February 6, 2021