DUBAI - The Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (Dubai SME), a part of Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET), has joined forces with Chi-X Digital Assets (CXDA), a leading AI-based fintech platform that provides short-term debt products that help generate liquidity, facilitate investment, maximise economic growth, and enable SMEs to be bankable.

Backed by JC Flowers & Co, the global Private Equity firm headquartered in New York with US$7 billion in assets under management, CXDA offers market solutions enabling investors, originators, and borrowers to transact in a compliant and transparent marketplace.

The strategic partnership with Dubai SME outlines a comprehensive roadmap emphasising key elements such as financial awareness, building business capacity, and – in line with Dubai Economic Agenda (D33) – attracting global investment into the emirate through Dubai’s SME industry.

For the first time in the region, this collaboration introduces the use of AI to equip SMEs with innovative financial solutions, marking a significant milestone in the advancement of the sector. The collaboration is a further indicator of the Government’s willingness to embrace new fintech solutions, making Dubai a major innovation hub.

Abdul Baset Al Janahi, CEO of Dubai SME, said, “Dubai SME seeks to enhance and raise awareness of small and medium enterprises within the emirate, while playing a central role in business support and facilitating growth through necessary industry guidance. We fully understand the significance of nurturing the sector and the integral role SMEs hold within society and in growing the economy.

This partnership with CXDA can underpin that growth on a bigger scale by emphasising the importance of offering market solutions, improving liquidity within the SME sector, and further streamlining the industry to directly contribute to wider D33 objectives.”

Thierry Porte, Chairman and CEO of CXDA, said, “At CXDA, we believe in the massive, and yet unrealised, potential the SME sector of the economy plays. Our mission is to bring down the barriers that stand in the way of this potential and help unleash that power. We have found Dubai SME to be the leader with insightful vision, clarity of mission, and focus on success to elevate the SME sector in Dubai to the next level and contribute effectively to making the D33 agenda a reality.

The CXDA platform offers innovation, strong governance infrastructure, and an ESG friendly solution. We are confident that our partnership with Dubai SME will usher in a new era of liquidity and growth to this sector and make a lasting and tangible difference.”

Dubai strives to strengthen its status as a leading global economic force by concentrating on pivotal sectors, attracting investment, and nurturing a conducive business atmosphere. The SME sector, identified as an important contributor to the local economy, plays a prominent role in the D33 Agenda.

By fostering innovation, diversification, and sustainable expansion, the collaboration intends to help reshape and revolutionise Dubai’s economy and the SME finance landscape based on key foundational elements: The partnership will target the completion and standardisation of key information for SMEs from track records of companies and loans, creating the required information sets to enable entities to access finance.

Ensuring an intuitive user experience coupled with dedicated, proactive customer support to help quicken loan applications, the partnership will facilitate easy form completion.

Partners will utilise integration with Prime Dash’s state-of-the-art AI-Driven credit assessment tools to provide an instant outcome and evaluation of loan application.

Partners will offer unprecedented access to thorough financial analysis, including what-if scenarios, to help SMEs navigate the financial health of their business.

The partnership will also provide a platform to access a whole suite of business support tools, equipping companies with resources to navigate challenges and seize opportunities during their financial journey.