Five Things Startups Must Know Before Entering a New Market

P. K. Shrivastava has successfully launched, run, and exited multiple technology startups, and recently, as the CEO of Daleel, a financial marketplace that connects banks and financial institutions with customers, he oversaw the expansion of the Bahrain-founded fintech into the UAE. Given his experience, here are his thoughts on what businesses need to consider when branching into a different country:

When we first launched Daleel in Bahrain, we always had a vision to expand into the rest of the region. Bahrain is a fantastic ecosystem for startups – it’s cohesive, there’s excellent access to government programs to support the nascent stages of a company, and it is comparably fast to launch a product and validate its suitability.

However, it’s a relatively small market, and while we continued to grow in Bahrain, we also had to identify “where next.” Here’s my explainer on why we decided on the UAE as our next chapter – and how we ensured a successful expansion to the country as well.

1. Select Which Market You Would Like To Expand To

For a business like ours with regular customers in Bahrain, the logical adjacent expansion markets are the UAE and Saudi Arabia. We ultimately decided the UAE would be the next stop on our journey, while Saudi Arabia is certainly on our roadmap.

2. Determine What Advantages The Territory Will Have For You…

We chose to expand to the UAE for several reasons – a growing technologically-savvy population, the ease of doing business, and an open finance framework with an expedited licensing structure that is helpful for accelerating our growth as a fintech platform. The UAE also has a 90 percent expatriate population, with a constant flow of new people requiring financial products, which provides a strong market fit.

3. …And Know How Your Business Can Help Customers In The New Market

We conducted our own market research and surveys to understand whether customers would be receptive to our platform, the results of which were very encouraging. Our team also met different stakeholders in the financial ecosystem – from regulators to established financial institutions and youthful fintech startups – to understand where our products might add value and generate revenue. Naturally, we also scoped out the competition.

Daleel CEO P. K. Shrivastava. Image courtesy Daleel.

4. Choose The Right Licensing And Jurisdiction For Your Business

There’s always complexity in understanding what kind of licensing or regulations your business must adhere to. I would strongly urge companies looking to expand (particularly to the UAE) to spend time fully understanding what license is needed and whether it allows you to fully conduct the services you are intending to offer. As a startup, it’s important to understand what the phased evolution of the product will be – you may need some flexibility to adapt the types of activities that you are licensed to conduct. Being transparent with the appropriate regulator for your sector is essential too, so that you don’t fall under scrutiny or, even worse, penalties.

5. Tap Into Your Network With A Presence In The Expansion Market

We have been lucky to immediately collaborate with payments leader Visa Middle East on our launch plan. After winning a major startup competition in 2023 and receiving their backing, they also recently helped us put on our first UAE event. It helped introduce us to a range of new prospective partners and got us moving in the right direction from the moment we pushed the “launch” button. I would encourage other startups moving into new markets to do the same – see whether you have any influential partners in your network, and collaborate with them early. Certainly, our experience in the UAE is that people are incredibly welcoming and willing to support new innovative ideas.

Expanding into a new market is like preparing for a Formula 1 race on an unfamiliar circuit. Success isn’t guaranteed, but the right preparation gives you a competitive edge. Just as an F1 team studies the track, fine-tunes the car, and analyzes data to optimize performance, we did the same by researching the market, engaging key stakeholders, and crafting a strategy tailored to the UAE. And much like a world-class pit crew ensuring a seamless start, Visa gave us the perfect launchpad. Now that the lights are out, it’s full throttle ahead.

This article first appeared in the January/February issue of Inc. Arabia magazine. To read the full issue online, click here.