About TURN8
TURN8, an accelerator and incubator program founded in 2013, is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. With a presence in 10 countries, it has supported around 29 startups in sectors like Enterprise Applications, Consumer. As of Aug 2026, TURN8 has witnessed 1 portfolio exit. Most notable companies in
its portfolio include Paack, What3words and Visage. The program is backed by a team of 8 people who primarily support Seed startups based in United Arab Emirates. Its latest investment was a $800K Seed round in Democrance on Oct 22, 2017, which also saw participation from Jabbar and Eos Venture Partners.
Key Metrics
Founded Year
2013
Location
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Portfolio Companies
Sectors of Investment
Stages of Investment
Seed
Locations of Investment
TURN8's List of Top Investments
TURN8 has a portfolio of 29 companies. Their most notable investments are in Visage and The List.Their portfolio spans across United Arab Emirates, United States, United Kingdom and 7 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, Consumer, High Tech and 17 other sectors, across stages such as Seed stage. Here is the list of top investments by TURN8:
1. Paack
Provider of last-mile e-commerce delivery solutions. It enables businesses to provide their clients with scheduled, on-demand, next-day, and same-day deliveries based on their convenience. It caters to retailers and e-stores, as well as cold chain companies for the delivery of perishable goods. Its clients include Joone, MANGO, Decathlon, and others.
Key facts about Paack
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Barcelona (Spain)
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $383M
- Employee Count: 1,171 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Bregal Sagemount, SoftBank Vision Fund and 25 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Oct 05, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. What3words
Developer of a system assigning unique identifiers to small areas. This technology divides the surface into squares, assigning a distinct combination of three words to each segment. These identifiers provide a method for communicating precise coordinates for navigation and logistics. The system functions through a digital interface that allows users to identify, share, and store specific points. It operates independently of traditional street addressing conventions and remains functional without an active network connection. The technology integrates into various software applications to facilitate location identification for transport and delivery purposes.
Key facts about What3words
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series C
- Total Funding till date: $231M
- Employee Count: 177 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Intel, Allen & Company and 210 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series C, Jul 10, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Visage
Visage is a crowdsourcing platform for sourcing talent. It leverages the independent recruiter's network to provide a shortlist of relevant candidates to organizations for their job postings. Recruiters can refer to the details of the candidates and are paid for every CV matching the criteria. They have a crowdsourcing plan for $250 per job ad and a recruiting plan for critical positions at $990 per shortlist.
Key facts about Visage
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: Austin (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $10.7M
- Employee Count: 121 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Globivest, Alchemist Accelerator and 12 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 18, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Crowd Analyzer offers an Arabic-language focussed social monitoring platform to analyze posts on social media sites and tell businesses who the people are and how they feel in order to better target their marketing campaigns. The company's solution includes Crowd Analyzer Dashboard, Command Center, and Offline Media Monitoring. The solution uses proprietary algorithms, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and natural language processing to select the most trending topics in people’s conversations by analyzing hashtags, phrases, and words. Some of the clients include Emaar, Danone, Land Rover, Abu Dhabi Media, etc.
Key facts about Crowd Analyzer
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $5.09M
- Employee Count: 44 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: Wamda Capital, Arzan Venture Capital and 7 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Nov 26, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Democrance
Platform offering solutions for insurers and insurance brokers. It offers project management and financial technology solutions. It works with insurers, mobile operators and other industries to offer insurance and protection to the multiple uninsured populations in the region.
Key facts about Democrance
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $800K
- Employee Count: 22 as on Jul 31, 2026
- Investors: 1818 Venture Capital, Microsoft Accelerator and 10 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Oct 24, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
TURN8's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
TURN8 has invested in 29 companies over the last 12 years, with an average of 0 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Democrance.TURN8's Investments by Stage
TURN8 has made 9 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $223K.TURN8's Investments by Sector
TURN8 has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Consumer, Enterprise Applications, FinTech, Retail and Aerospace, Maritime and Defense. Notably, it has invested in 26 Tech companies, 18 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 17 Software companies and at least 14 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Consumer | 4 |
Enterprise Applications | 3 |
FinTech | 2 |
Retail | 2 |
Aerospace, Maritime and Defense | 1 |
Others | 8 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
TURN8's Investments by Geography
TURN8 has made most investments in United Arab Emirates (3), followed by Singapore where it has made 2 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United Arab Emirates | 3 |
Singapore | 2 |
United States | 2 |
Lebanon | 1 |
Spain | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
TURN8's recent investments
TURN8 has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by TURN8:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 22, 2017 | United Arab Emirates | Seed | 2872 | [+3] | |
Dec 08, 2016 | Spain | Seed | 4943 | - | |
2016 | United States | Seed | 4646 | - | |
May 03, 2016 | Singapore | Seed | 5632 | ||
Apr 12, 2016 | United States | Seed | 5880 | - |
Acquired companies in TURN8's Portfolio
1 company from TURN8's portfolio has been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Melltoo in Aug 2022 by Cartlow for $*****.Here are TURN8's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Aug 15, 2022 | Apr 01, 2015 | Seed | 6285 |
Team profile of TURN8
TURN8 has a team of 8 members including 4 Partners and 1 Principal located in United Arab Emirates, United States and 2 more locations. TURN8's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in TURN8:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Denver | - | ||
Partner | United Arab Emirates | - | ||
Partner | Barcelona | - | ||
Partner | Dubai | - | ||
Principal | Singapore | - |
Co-investors of TURN8
Over the past 12 years, 40 investors have co-invested in TURN8's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before TURN8: Collab LumenLab and Seeqnce have invested in rounds before TURN8. There is 1 company where Collab LumenLab has invested before TURN8 and 1 company where Seeqnce has invested before TURN8.
- Top Co-investors of TURN8: 8 investors entered a company along with TURN8. These include investors like Jabbar (1 company).
- Invested after TURN8: A total of 30 investors have invested in TURN8's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include First Analysis (1 company) and Urban Innovations (1 company).
Recent News related to TURN8
•
Dubai e-commerce website The List raises $1.7m in seed fundingArabian Business•Mar 15, 2018•The List, The List, The List, TURN8
•
Democrance Secures USD 800,000 In FundingAM Unicorns•Oct 22, 2017•Democrance, Jabbar, Eos Venture Partners, TURN8 and 2 others
