Dubai’s Meydan Free Zone, the UAE’s only fully digital Free Zone, just made starting a business significantly smarter—and more rewarding. In a new partnership with Alaan, the Middle East’s leading corporate card and expense management platform, all businesses registered with Meydan before August 31, 2025, will receive 12 months of Alaan’s premium plan free of charge—a bundle worth AED 6,000.

The deal is tailor-made for startup founders looking to launch fast, stay compliant, and manage spending without chaos. It integrates real-time financial automation directly into the business setup journey, making Meydan’s already streamlined licensing experience even more attractive to founders in the UAE and beyond.

“We’re helping every new business gain real-time financial control from day one, with no friction, no delays, and no blind spots,” said Mohammad Bin Humaidan Al Falasi, Director of Free Zone Licensing at Meydan Free Zone.

What Founders Get

With this partnership, every new Meydan Free Zone business unlocks:

• Unlimited Visa corporate cards for founders and teams
• 2% cashback on international spend, ideal for SaaS, digital ads, and online services
• Uncapped cashback for fuel, utilities, and government payments (on qualifying spend)
• Full access to Alaan’s automated expense workflows, VAT data extraction, and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, and SAP

In short, startups get a modern financial stack—no more receipt chasing, no more spreadsheet juggling.

Faster Starts, Smarter Ops

Alaan’s tools are designed to replace legacy corporate cards, manual approvals, and paper-based workflows. Instead, teams get smart virtual and physical cards, spending policies that enforce themselves, and seamless accounting integrations—perfect for growth-stage businesses that want visibility and control without added headcount.

For Meydan Free Zone, the move bolsters its “founder-first” digital setup. Its Fawri license system delivers business licenses in under 60 minutes, covering 2,500+ business activities. Add in 0% corporate tax for qualifying businesses and UAE banking facilitation, and it’s a potent package for entrepreneurs looking to launch lean and scale quickly.

“Our partnership with Meydan Free Zone brings our vision to life for thousands of new businesses who want to move faster, operate smarter, and stay compliant,” said Shubhda Hirawat, Chief of Staff at Alaan.

Regional Impact and GCC Ambitions

The timing is notable. Alaan recently expanded into Saudi Arabia, aligning with Meydan Free Zone’s GCC-wide support vision. The startup has been rolling out features that cater to regional founders—Arabic-language dashboards, tax compliance tooling, and custom workflow automations—making it an increasingly natural fit for startups in the Middle East.

This partnership also dovetails with Dubai’s broader economic strategy, which emphasizes SME empowerment, startup formation, and digital-first governance. By embedding financial infrastructure directly into the licensing experience, Meydan and Alaan are turning what used to be a post-launch headache into a pre-launch advantage.

Starting a business in the UAE just got a major financial upgrade. Meydan Free Zone and Alaan are removing operational bottlenecks and embedding compliance and spend control into the earliest stages of a startup’s life.

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