Incorporation • ADGM

ADGM Foundation

ADGM foundations provides cost-effective solutions for a range of financial planning challenges and offer great flexibility for a variety of purposes including wealth management, tax planning, asset preservation, family estate planning and business succession.

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Journey

Process of forming an ADGM Foundation

01

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Scoping

A questionnaire is used to determine scope of work

02

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Proposal

We then send out a proposal covering all details including pricing

03

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KYC

KYC forms are sent the client to be filled out in order to proceed

04

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Engagement

Letter of engagement will be drafted by Clara and sent to the client via Docusign to be signed.

05

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Incorporation questionnaire

Online questionnaire to collect final information

06

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Signing

Documents sent for e-signature

07

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Submission

Incorporation application submitted to ADGM via their portal

08

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Registration

Documents are sent to the client for their record

From holding companies to foundations, Clara’s got you covered in ADGM.

ADGM Foundation

Components of an ADGM Foundation

A Foundation has an independent legal identity, separate from the founder. This allows a Foundation to enter into contracts or hold assets in its name.

   

Founder

Establishes foundation and contributes assets to the foundation.

Guardian

Founder may appoint a guardian during their lifetime, but one must be appointed following founder’s death. Oversees the foundation council.

Beneficiary

An individual or legal entity who is nominated to benefit from the foundation assets.

Foundation council

Manages and administers the assets of the foundation according to charter, by-laws and regulations. Minimum of two councillors required.

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Resources & Insights

Stories, updates and resources

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Starting a company is hard enough, but managing legal processes shouldn’t be. With Clara’s dedicated accelerator onboarding solution, companies can get the support and infrastructure they need to efficiently and professionally complete their legal due diligence and finalize an investment.

amal-dokhan Amal Dokhan General Partner MENA, 500 Global
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Clara is a one-stop shop for everything equity related. All our data is safe and securely stored and accurately recorded. And our investors love having direct access. It has saved us countless hours and kept our cap table mistake free.

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We spend a lot of time educating founders on basic legal concepts: what they need to do for us to invest in them. Clara automates these functions. As Clara’s first institutional investor, we knew intuitively from inception, this company will be a game changer.

vijay-tirathrai Vijay Tirathrai Managing Director, Techstars

You can’t beat Clara’s ESOP functionality. It allows us to grant options to our team in a few clicks while automatically updating our cap table. Truly next level.

michael-hunter Michael Hunter Co-Founder & CEO, Holo
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shane-shin Shane Shin Founding Partner, Shorooq
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US cap table solutions aren’t tailored to the differentiated needs of international startups. Clara is the only cap table provider we found that had emerging market startups in mind. Add to that all the other things you can do on the Clara platform, from building your ESOP to data room management, and switching was a no brainer.

omar-rifai Omar Rifai Co-founder, GrubTech
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From company formation to maintaining the cap-table, by using Clara founders can digitally form their companies in a range of jurisdictions, create and manage their cap-tables and generate legal documents. Clara is quickly becoming an integral part of the startup software stack.

daniel-dos-reis Daniel Dos Reis Investment Director, Wamda Capital

Clara is a must-have for founders. Not only does it provide all the legal tools you need in a single platform, using Clara also signals to investors that you are a serious startup.

Mazen AlDarrab Founder & CGO, Zid
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IP Assignments, what? I didn’t even know they existed before Clara. For startups, setting up governance, corporate structures, data rooms and fundraising are all hard to get right. Clara’s legalOS is premium. It pays for itself.

zohare-haider Zohare Haider Co-Founder & CEO, Jalebi

Binance uses Clara to incorporate and manage ADGM entities. The team at Clara are extremely efficient and go the extra mile to ensure we always have a smooth experience and meet our deadlines. Top-notch service!

Vishal Sacheendran Head of Strategy and Operations, Binance

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Equity owners

Trusted by more than 10,000 equity owners.

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Countries

Our customers operate from more than 45 different countries.

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Savings on fees

Our customers on average save more than 80% on their annual legal and admin fees.

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

We have put together some commonly asked questions 

Are there any minimum capital requirements?

No. An ADGM Non-Financial company does not have a minimum share capital requirement.

Will my ADGM company need to lease an office?

Operating companies must have an office space on Al Maryah Island before ADGM will issue their commercial licence. The minimum office space requirement for an operating company is one allocated desk space. Here
​are a number of providers for office space.

Can I incorporate the ADGM company with multiple classes of shares and / or customized Articles of Association?

Yes, you can. You will need to provide Clara with the customized Articles of Association for filing at the time of incorporation. A declaration will need to be signed by the incorporating shareholders that these have been prepared in accordance with the ADGM Regulations.

Can I open a bank account for an ADGM company?

Yes. After the company is incorporated and the commercial license is issued, you may begin the process of opening a bank account. Clara Formations can provide you with a list of banks and their contacts, but will not assist you with the opening of a bank account.

Are there ongoing obligations for an ADGM company?

Yes. Most changes to a company (e.g. director and shareholder changes) trigger an obligation to file the change within 14 days. Annually, the company must file its commercial licence and data protection renewal, an annual confirmation statement, financial accounts and economic substance filings.

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