Dubai – Sharikat Mubasher: The UAE Artificial Intelligence Office and Mastercard selected six AI startups to advance to the next stage of the inaugural Mastercard Lighthouse UAE program, supporting their growth and development of scalable enterprise solutions.
The selected startups are Loyyal, NewForm Technologies, NodeShift, Polynome, Valura.AI and zypl.ai. They will participate in a four-month mentorship program led by global experts, with opportunities to collaborate with financial institutions, investors, and strategic business partners, according to a recent press release from Mastercard.
The startups were chosen from 14 finalists following an evaluation focused on innovation, team capabilities, business models, scalability and global growth potential.
The cohort spans a range of applications, including AI-powered loyalty, agentic AI for financial institutions, secure access to AI models, multilingual automation, synthetic-data-based risk management and AI-powered investment management.
Abdelrahman Al Mahmoud, Director at the Artificial Intelligence Office, said initiatives such as Mastercard Lighthouse UAE help high-potential companies refine their solutions, accelerate growth and scale internationally.
The program was launched in May 2026 under Mastercard’s Center for Advanced AI and Cyber Technology in Dubai, with support from ecosystem partners including Hub71, Global Ventures, Further Ventures and Shorooq.
The four-month program will conclude with a Demo Day, where the startups will present their solutions to investors and industry leaders.
