Name: EXPAND NORTH STAR
Start: 2025-10-12
End: 2025-10-15
Location: Dubai Harbour

The World’s Largest
Startup and Investor Connector Event

APPLY FOR FOUNDER’S PASS Exhibit With US Join Investor Programme

THE WORLD CONNECTS. THE FUTURE SCALES

North Star brings together founders, investors, and visionaries from every corner of the world. It bridges fragmented markets, accelerates access to global capital, and unlocks collaboration between startups, governments, and corporates to fuel real-world impact and economic growth.

2025 Show Numbers

2,050

Global Startups

1,300

Investors

5,340

Pre-arranged Onsite Meetings

400

Speakers

100

Countries

PRE-REGISTER TO VISIT

WHAT’S NEW IN 2026

NEW FEATURES. NEW SCALE.

STARTUP X LABS

THE WORLD’S LARGEST EXECUTION-DRIVEN FOUNDER PROGRAMME

A 3-day academy inside ENS designed for 10,000 founders, investors, corporates and academia, compressing the entire entrepreneur journey, from idea to exit.

CONTENT NATION X

POWERING THE CREATOR ECONOMY

Content Nation X becomes the world’s first dedicated space for startups, agencies and creators building the next wave of AI-driven content innovation.

NS PLAY

INNOVATION MEETS LIFESTYLE

This new feature brings together founders building, AR/VR hardware, smart health devices and lifestyle tech designed to scale.

DIGIHEALTH–BIOTECH

REDEFINING THE FUTURE OF HUMAN HEALTH

From AI-driven diagnostics to genomics and next-generation therapeutics, this feature accelerates the world’s most advanced health innovations toward real-world impact.

ONE DAY. ONE POD. GLOBAL EXPOSURE.

THE FOUNDER’S PASS

A limited-edition pass designed for founders ready to show up, be seen, and connect — without the commitment of a full stand.

Launch your presence at Expand North Star with a dedicated startup pod for one day on the show floor. Meet investors, pitch your solution, generate leads and become part of a curated community of founders shaping the future. It’s the easiest way to step onto a global stage, fast, focused and founder-friendly.

Apply for Founder’s Pass

HOW EXPAND NORTH STAR CREATES REAL OUTCOMES?

2026 CORE THEMES

FOUNDER RESTRUCTURE

From MVP to multi-market scale and Series A–C playbooks

THE NEW CAPITAL STACK

Sovereign funds, family offices, venture debt & secondaries

COMMERCIAL DEEPTECH

From labs to market-ready AI, climate, defence & frontier tech

SCALEUP ADVANTAGE & EMERGING MARKETS

GCC, Africa, India, LATAM growth corridors

One Global Platform. A Decade of Disruption.
1,000s of Bold Voices.

For 10 years, trailblazing founders and global game-changers have taken to the
Expand North Star stages to park change and shape the future.

H.E. Omar Sultan Alolama

Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications

UAE Government

Dr. Guy Diedrich

SVP & Global Innovation Officer

CISCO

A.R. Rahman

Oscar-winning Music Composer and Producer

David Cohen

Co-Founder and Chairman

Techstars

Deep Nishar

Managing Director

General Catalyst

Deepinder Goyal

CEO

Zomato

Dr. Ghita Mezzour

Former Minister in Charge of Digital Transition & Administrative Reform

Government of Morocco

Greg Jackson

CEO

Octopus Energy

Dr. Mactar Seck

Chief of Technology & Innovation

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

H.E. Hamad Almansoori

Director General

Digital Dubai Authority

H.E. Ms. Mariam Al Mheiri

Head of the Office of International Affairs

Presidential Court, UAE

Jack Selby

Managing Director

Thiel Capital

Sir Martin Sorrell

Founder/Executive Chairman

S4 Capital

Sir Tim Berners Lee

Creator

Inventor of the World Wide Web

Vinod Khosla

Co-Founder & Investment Partner

Khosla Ventures

Gilberto Silva

Founder, Striver

Former Arsenal and Brazil National Team Football Player

H.E. Alia Abdulla Al Mazrouei

Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and SMEs

UAE Cabinet

H.E. Faisal Al Bannai

Adviser to the UAE President & Secretary General

Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC)

Dr. Christian Weedbrook

CEO

Xanadu

Dr. Dennis Hong

Professor, Director of RoMeLa

UCLA

Jason Derulo

Investor and

Award-Winning Singer & Songwriter

Manu Chopra

CEO

Karya

Neil Patel

Co-Founder

NP Digital

Peng Xiao

CEO

G42

Prashanth Prakash

Founding Partner

Accel India

Randi Zuckerberg

Former Director of Market Development

Facebook

Sean Garnier

World champion freestyle footballer

Sean o'Sullivan

Co-Founder & Managing General Partner

SOSV

Tej Lalvani

Dragon, CEO

Vitabiotics

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Founder & CEO

Paytm

VIEW SPEAKERS HALL OF FAME 2026 SPEAKERS

SUPERNOVA CHALLENGE 2.0

THE WORLD’S LARGEST STARTUP PITCH COMPETITION

Secure your pod now for a chance to pitch live—head-to-head with top global startups—right in front of elite investors. This is your moment to own the spotlight and make your breakthrough.

With a total prize fund of $214,000 up for grabs, this is your chance to secure major investment, gain global recognition, and accelerate your startup’s growth like never before.

2026 Book your stand

Investor Programme

Connecting Visionary Investors with Game-Changing Startups Across the Region

The Investor Programme cemented its position as the biggest VC gathering in the global south and the industry’s most influential platforms for deal-making and discovery.

Be where the smart money moves — only at Expand North Star

LEARN MORE

Meet the investors shaping the next generation of global tech giants

INSPIRING WORDS FROM
THE COMMUNITY

“ This win is just the start for us. We are here to raise geographical borders for healthcare research and scale up, especially in the Gulf region, which we see as a focal point for healthcare innovations. It is all about unlocking the hidden value of data. By engaging broader populations and bringing them into the data conversation, we can help therapies reach those in need faster. ”

Emil Syundyukov

CEO, Longenesis

Latvia

“ An impactful global event organized to meet leaders in tech, product and marketing. The best part was hearing about journeys of folks from different industries, where everyone wanted to help each other. I’m looking forward to being back in Dubai and inspire and grow the product community in the Middle East. ”

Mayank Yadav

DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT, REDDIT

USA

“ It’s been amazing to be at NorthStar. In the past few years, it’s really amazing to see the changes in the quality of the startups, the creators, seeing more women creating the startups and what an incredibly well-run event. ”

David Cohen

Founder, Techstars

USA

“ It was amazing, so many startups and investors from around the world came together. Dubai is buzzing and this place is out of the world!
”

Zhong Xu

Founder

Deliverect

USA

“ We had an incredible experience meeting a large audience of investors. We’re thrilled that we secured funding with investors we met at the event. ”

Nakul Garg

Co-Founder

Crowdinvest

USA

“ I met a Founder at the GITEX event that is building a business that represented a gap in our portfolio. Since then, my fund has added a lot of post-investment value to the startup. We concluded the investment in December. ”

Janade Du Plessis

Managing Partner

Launch Africa Ventures

South Africa

“ Our participation in North Star resulted in us signing new business and partnerships with GITEX GLOBAL exhibitors across the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and even as far afield as the Maldives. We realized how important the Middle East and Africa are, and look forward to setting up our regional office in the UAE. ”