100% foreign ownership
Own your company outright. No local sponsor or partner required.
Register your business inMasdar City Free Zone
Fast, 100% foreign-owned company setup in Masdar City Free Zone.
- 100% foreign ownership - no local partner required
- 0% personal & corporate tax on qualifying income
- Licensed in days - fully online, paperless process
- One-Stop Shop: licence, visas & office in one place
0+
Companies on-site
Est. 2006
Based in Abu Dhabi
5 min
To Zayed Int'l Airport
An Abu Dhabi free zoneHome to 2,500+ companiesThe UAE's most sustainable free zone
From early-stage startups to global leaders
2,000+ organisations have chosen Masdar City Free Zone as their base in the UAE.
Why Masdar City Free Zone
Built for founders. Backed by Abu Dhabi.
A government-owned free zone gives your company a stable home, real incentives, and a setup process measured in days, not months.
0% tax on qualifying income
No personal income tax, and corporate tax exemption for qualifying free-zone activity.
Full repatriation
Move 100% of your capital and profits in and out, freely.
Zero customs duties
No import or export duties on goods moving through the free zone.
Licensed in days
A digital, paperless process you can complete remotely from anywhere.
One-Stop Shop
Licensing, visas, banking guidance and office space handled by one team.
Success stories
Companies that started here
Life Sciences
Biosphere Labs
Biosphere Labs opened at Masdar City as the GCC's first commercially scaled shared laboratory, supporting researchers, pharmaceutical companies, and startups.
A Masdar City Free Zone company
Space Tech
UAE Space Agency
The federal agency driving the UAE's space ambitions, based at Masdar City alongside the wider ecosystem shaping the country's space programme.
A Masdar City Free Zone company
Clean Energy
Masdar
The clean energy pioneer behind Masdar City's name, leading renewable energy and sustainability projects across the region and beyond.
A Masdar City Free Zone company
District Cooling
Tabreed
The region's district cooling leader on how energy-efficient cooling infrastructure supports sustainable growth across Masdar City.
A Masdar City Free Zone company
Frontier industries
Set up alongside Abu Dhabi's high-impact sectors
Masdar City is a working cluster for the industries shaping the region, yet open to commercial, consulting, trading and creative businesses of every kind.
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Life Sciences
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Space Tech
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Artificial Intelligence
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Smart & Autonomous Mobility
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Clean Energy
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AgriTech & Water
Good to know
Questions founders ask first
Anyone from around the world, subject to AML and security checks. Free-zone companies allow 100% foreign ownership with no local sponsor or partner, and you can start with a single shareholder.
Get an instant quote using our online platform based on your activity. Visas, office space and extra activities are priced on top, so your final cost depends on your setup — a specialist confirms the exact figure at consultation.
Licensing typically takes between 1 and 3 working days, depending on the licence type, your documents and whether any activity needs prior approval.
No. The application, document submission and licence issuance can be completed remotely without visiting Abu Dhabi; physical presence is only needed for the biometrics stage if you're taking a UAE residence visa.
Masdar City centres on technology, clean energy, sustainability, life sciences, AI, mobility and space — but it also accepts many other types, including consulting, media, healthcare and education. A single licence can hold multiple activities.
Yes. The company can sponsor investor and employee visas, and the quota depends on your office arrangement — a flexi-desk typically supports one to two visas, with larger offices supporting more.
There's no personal income tax in the UAE. If your company earns only qualifying free-zone income and meets the corporate tax rules, you can qualify for 0% corporate tax; standard UAE corporate tax and 5% VAT can apply to non-qualifying activity, so it's worth consulting an experienced tax professional.
Yes. Once your licence and incorporation documents are issued, you can open a corporate account — the One-Stop Shop team helps with introductions and the paperwork banks require.
Generally a passport copy (valid 6+ months), a photo, proof of address, and — if you're setting up a branch or subsidiary — the parent company's incorporation documents. Some regulated activities in areas like education, energy or research need prior approval.