DIFC Business Registrations Jump 40% as 90-Day Growth Key

The recently reported 40% increase in new business registrations reflects continued confidence in both DIFC’s and the UAE’s economic fundamentals and its position as a global hub for founders, capital, and innovation.

While this growth signals strong entrepreneurial momentum, experts note that the most consequential decisions are often made not at the point of registration, but in the first 90 days that follow.

Peter Ivantsov, Founder & Managing Partner of GCG Structuring comments:

“The 40% rise in registrations is a strong indicator of founder confidence and sustained economic dynamism. It reflects a business environment that continues to attract ambition and capital.

However, registration is simply the starting point. What entrepreneurs do in the first 90 days of setup often defines what happens in the next three years.

In that early window, founders are making foundational decisions around equity allocation, vesting structures, governance architecture, capital strategy, regulatory positioning, and commercial contracting frameworks. These are not administrative details; they are structural choices that determine scalability, investor readiness, and operational resilience.

Many of the challenges companies face in years two and three, such as fundraising, regional expansion, or strategic transactions, can be traced to the structure of the business at inception. Informal equity splits, unclear decision rights, or poorly designed capitalisation models may not create immediate friction, but they tend to surface under growth pressure.

We are increasingly seeing sophisticated founders treat setup as a strategic design phase. They are embedding governance discipline early, clearly defining shareholder alignment, anticipating future funding rounds, and ensuring regulatory clarity from the outset.

Speed to market remains important. But sustainable growth requires structural intention. Institutional readiness cannot be retrofitted efficiently at Series A or pre-exit; it must be considered at formation.

The real differentiator over the first three years will not be how quickly a company was registered, but how deliberately it was built in its first three months.”