Presight picks 12 global AI firms for Abu Dhabi accelerator Cohort II

Abu Dhabi's Presight selects 12 AI companies from 376 applicants, deepening the UAE's sovereign AI ecosystem strategy.

By Disrupts Editorial Team Fri, 26 Jun 2026 - 22:22

A bright, modern control room or office features multiple rows of dark gray curved desks, numerous computer monitors, white ergonomic chairs, large arched windows, and recessed ceiling lights.

Presight, the Abu Dhabi-listed AI analytics company majority-owned by G42, has named the 12 international startups joining the second cohort of its AI Accelerator Programme. Selected from a field of 376 applicants across 62 countries, the cohort spans AI safety, climate intelligence, clinical early-warning, drone inspection, agentic infrastructure, and financial forensics, a deliberately cross-sector sweep that reflects the UAE's ambition to position itself as a hub for applied and sovereign AI, rather than a single-vertical technology cluster.

The programme's intake process is worth noting for investors benchmarking Gulf accelerator quality. The 33 companies shortlisted before final selection collectively reported over $341m in cumulative funding, more than $28m in contracted annual recurring revenue, and a combined valuation above $2.1bn. Backers represented in that shortlist pool include Samsung Ventures, AMD, Airbus Ventures, and Franklin Templeton, a mix of strategic corporate capital and institutional asset managers that signals the cohort is drawing venture-backed companies of genuine commercial maturity, not pre-revenue prototypes.

A cohort built for convergence

The 12 selected companies are geographically distributed across South Korea, Germany, the US, the UAE, the UK, Singapore, and Kazakhstan, and their products cut across multiple critical infrastructure domains. AIRMO (Germany/Luxembourg/UAE) monitors methane emissions via satellite and aerial sensing, serving energy operators and regulators. FlyNex (Germany) automates drone-based inspection of power grids and telecoms infrastructure. FortyGuard (UAE) delivers hyperlocal temperature forecasting and decision intelligence for cities and critical infrastructure. MangoBoost (South Korea/US) builds hardware-software co-designed agentic AI infrastructure aimed at more scalable and sustainable data centres. Rahd·AI (UK) converts unstructured data into operational intelligence for oil and gas shutdown and decommissioning management.

The clinical and governance applications are equally cross-sector. AITRICS (South Korea) provides in-hospital AI early-warning for patient deterioration. Transparently.AI (Singapore) uses AI to detect accounting manipulation and financial statement fraud. AIM Intelligence (South Korea) develops offensive red-teaming and runtime guardrails for enterprise and government AI systems.

Thomas Pramotedham, Chief Executive of Presight, framed the programme's strategic intent directly: "By attracting the world's top AI innovators to Abu Dhabi, our AI ecosystem grows stronger with every cohort, reinforcing the UAE's position as a home for applied and sovereign AI, where advanced technologies are not just developed but deployed and scaled."

The sovereign AI calculus

The broader macro story here is the deliberate architecture of Gulf sovereign AI strategy. Presight sits within the G42 constellation, itself one of the UAE's principal instruments for technology sovereignty. By running an accelerator that funnels international AI capability into Abu Dhabi, with access to G42 and Presight ecosystems, government ministry judges, and an advisory board that includes a Thiel Capital managing director and the founder of Singapore's K3 Ventures, the programme is less a startup support scheme and more a structured pipeline for sovereign deployment.

That pipeline matters for capital allocators tracking the Gulf's technology build-out. The cohort's sectoral spread, from greenhouse gas monitoring and data-centre efficiency to financial forensics and clinical AI, mirrors the UAE's stated national AI strategy priorities: energy transition, smart cities, healthcare, and financial services modernisation. Cohort I companies were already eligible for investment from Presight's own venture arm, and that option extends to Cohort II. For cross-sector investors, the accelerator functions as an early-stage deal-flow mechanism tied directly to a government-adjacent balance sheet, a structure increasingly common across GCC sovereign tech plays.

The Cohort II boot camp is scheduled for later this year, with a showcase event designed to connect participants to immediate commercial opportunities inside the UAE innovation ecosystem.