Spain vs United Arab Emirates: startup funding compared

Spain. Since 2 June 2025, startups in Spain raised $2.2B across 145 rounds, against $1.7B across 52 rounds in the United Arab Emirates, 1.3 times more. That is 0.3% and 0.2% of all the capital FundraiseBase tracked worldwide over the period.

145 rounds in Spain and 52 rounds in the United Arab Emirates since 2 June 2025, about 8 and 3 a month.

The median round is $3.5M in Spain and $4.5M in the United Arab Emirates, and the average round $14.9M and $32.6M. The median shows the typical round; the average is pulled up by a few very large ones.

The biggest startup rounds in Spain since 2 June 2025 are Multiverse Computing ($219M, Series B, 12 Jun 2025), PLD Space ($209M, 5 Mar 2026) and Factorial ($150M, Series D, 3 Jun 2026).

The biggest startup rounds in the United Arab Emirates since 2 June 2025 are Cadena ($275M, Series C, 10 Jun 2026), Moove ($250M, Series C, 5 Aug 2026) and Tabby ($233M, 15 Sept 2026).

In Spain, AI ($745M, 34% of the capital), Health ($391M, 18%) and Robotics & Hardware ($339M, 16%) lead. In the United Arab Emirates, AI ($684M, 40% of the capital), Fintech ($384M, 23%) and Enterprise software ($62.5M, 4%) lead.

Early-stage rounds (Pre-Seed, Seed and Series A) make up 57% of rounds in Spain and 65% in the United Arab Emirates. Spain recorded 66 Pre-Seed or Seed rounds and the United Arab Emirates 28 Pre-Seed or Seed rounds, with a median of $2.3M and $2M.

Startups in Spain raised $783M in 8 Series B or later rounds, 36% of the country's capital. In the United Arab Emirates, $696M in 6 rounds, 41% of the capital.

CDTI (9 rounds), Kfund (8 rounds, 3 led) and Kibo Ventures (6 rounds, 3 led) are the most active investors in Spain.

Plus VC (5 rounds, 2 led), Oraseya Capital (4 rounds, 1 led) and Salica Oryx Fund (3 rounds, 1 led) are the most active investors in the United Arab Emirates.

4 investors joined rounds in both countries. The most active: Picus Capital (3 in Spain, 1 in the United Arab Emirates), General Catalyst (1 in Spain, 1 in the United Arab Emirates), Peak XV Partners (1 in Spain, 1 in the United Arab Emirates) and Left Lane (1 in Spain, 1 in the United Arab Emirates).

Barcelona leads Spain with $1B across 60 rounds, ahead of Madrid ($461M). Dubai leads the United Arab Emirates with $1.1B across 35 rounds, ahead of Abu Dhabi ($302M).

In Spain, June 2025 ($568M). In the United Arab Emirates, January 2026 ($429M).

In the 90 days to 5 Nov 2026, startups in Spain raised $141M across 12 rounds and in the United Arab Emirates $262M across 7 rounds.

FundraiseBase lists startup funding rounds from public announcements: press releases, company posts and news coverage, checked and updated every day. Amounts are in US dollars. Some rounds are never announced, so the figures show what was made public, not every round. Corrections are welcome.