Powering FinTech for All:
How KonfHub Helped the Dubai FinTech
Summit Turn Vision into a 9,000-Person
Reality
A Case Study on Dubai FinTech Summit
Introduction
Dubai Fintech Summit
Dubai has spent the past decade turning bold ideas into reality. The third edition of the Dubai FinTech Summit (DFS), held in May 2025, was designed to prove that progress at scale. Organised by the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the summit promoted the theme “FinTech for All.”
Creating an arena for more than nine thousand participants,one thousand investors, and three hundred speakers from over one hundred twenty countries required flawless execution from the first ticket click to the last captured moments. DFS chose KonfHub as its event-tech partner. The goal was clear. A seamless digital journey would show investors and innovators that Dubai can already deliver the friction-free future FinTech promises.
Dates and Venue: 12–13 May 2025, Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai
9000+ Participants
1000+ Investors
300+ Speakers
200+ Companies
120+ Countries
Speakers: ministers, founders, and policy leaders, including Marko Primorac (Croatia), Gilles Roth (Luxembourg), Timothy Adams (IIF, USA), Tony O. Elumelu (Nigeria), and Vijay Shekhar Sharma (India)
Challenge:
01
Unified Brand Experience at Scale
Thousands of registrants would land on the summit website from more than one hundred countries. The registration flow needed to feel localised, authoritative, and fast, whether the visitor was a Croatian finance minister or a Ghanaian crypto founder.
02
Data Integrity and Security
FinTech executives handle sensitive capital-raising information. Names, firms, and investment limits had to remain encrypted from ticket purchase to badge printing, while still allowing organisers to segment attendees for networking lounges and investor breakfasts.
03
Real-Time Engagement
With four plenary stages, two innovation zones, and a FinTech World Cup pitch arena, the agenda demanded live & real-time engagement with participants all without requiring much internet bandwidth or distracting from main-stage content breakfasts.
04
Walk-In and VIP Management
The summit expected a late surge of walk-ins given Dubai’s fly-in business culture. VIPs from central banks and Big-Tech sponsors also required skip-the-line protocols.
05
Post-Event Proof of Value
DIFC wanted quantifiable evidence of conversion rates, dwell times, investor-meeting counts to validate the summit’s contribution to the Dubai Economic Agenda D33.
KonfHub Solutions
A Unified Platform Designed for Scale and Simplicity
Branded, Tier-Controlled Registration
KonfHub deployed a white-label portal that mirrored the summit’s emerald-and-gold visual identity, embedded directly into dubaifintechsummit.com. Hidden ticket classes were used for speakers, sponsors, investors, and media that could be unlocked only through single-use access codes, preventing leaks of discount links. Automated access and category levels were derived by mapping different tickets such as investors, organizers, speakers etc.

Outcome:

More than five thousand early-bird tickets sold in the first six weeks, with an abandonment rate below four percent, half the industry norm for large B2B events.
Referral-Driven Growth Engine
Each confirmed registrant received a unique referral URL. A leaderboard on the public homepage updated every sixty seconds, displaying the top ten referrers. Weekly spotlight emails featured the current leader, encouraging playful competition. The tactic delivered a significant uplift in paid registrations without any additional ad spend.
Contactless Check-In and Silent Badge Printing
At Madinat Jumeirah, eleven self-service kiosks ran the KonfHub Check-in App on locked-down Android tablets. Delegates scanned QR codes from their wallet apps, triggering silent badge printing in under ten seconds, even during the 08:00 surge when four hundred guests arrived within twenty minutes. Staff at VIP lanes used handheld QR scanners paired with battery-powered printers to escort ministers directly to backstage holding rooms.

Outcome:

Ninety-two percent of participants cleared security and badge collection in under three minutes. Queue length never exceeded fifteen people.
Integrated Analytics Dashboard
Throughout the summit, organisers viewed dashboards that mapped attendee flow across exhibition zones, tracked investor-meetings booked through the app, and highlighted top-performing sessions by dwell time. Post-event, DIFC received a 60-page impact report that fed directly into the Emirate’s KPI scorecard for the D33 agenda.
Smart Attendee App and AI Matchmaking via Introbot
To enhance in-event experience, KonfHub enabled a fully personalised attendee app featuring real-time schedules, floor maps, live feedback submission, and session reminders. Integrated push notifications ensured attendees never missed high-value sessions or networking zones
Additionally, KonfHub integrated with Introbot, an AI-powered matchmaking tool. This pairing engine facilitated intelligent recommendations between founders, investors, regulators, and technology providers transforming ad-hoc networking into purpose-driven meetings.

Outcome:

  • Over 23,000 recommendations requested
  • 11,000+ business connections forged
  • 1,190 bot-triggered requests logged through WhatsApp and in-app experiences
    • Result:
    Performance metric
    Outcome
    Partnership announcements
    50+ MoUs signed during the summit
    Knowledge sessions
    30+ DFS Dialogues delivered
    Networking events
    15+ ecosystem gatherings completed
    Badge pick-up service level
    10 seconds median print time, 3 minutes end-to-end
    Live polls and quizzes
    3,400 votes across 17 polls
    68 percent of attendees completed surveys
    Overall participant rating
    4.8 / 5 average satisfaction
    Bot recommendations
    23,000+ recommendations requested via Introbot
    Business matches formed
    11,000+ connections made through AI matchmaking
    Bot requests via WhatsApp
    1,190+ individual requests processed
    WhatsApp open rate
    95%+ open rate across 26,000 messages

    Result

    Performance Metrics & Outcome

    Partnership announcements

    50+ MoUs signed during the summit

    Knowledge sessions

    30+ DFS Dialogues delivered

    Networking events

    15+ ecosystem gatherings completed

    Badge pick-up service level

    10 seconds median print time, 3 minutes end-to-end

    Live polls and quizzes

    3,400 votes across 17 polls

    Feedback response rate

    68 percent of attendees completed surveys

    Overall participant rating

    4.8 / 5 average satisfaction

    Bot recommendations

    23,000+ recommendations requested via Introbot

    Business matches formed

    11,000+ connections made through AI matchmaking

    Bot requests via WhatsApp

    1,190+ individual requests processed

    WhatsApp open rate

    95%+ open rate across 26,000 messages

    Voices from the Summit
    “ We are committed to supporting FinTech in line with the goal of the Dubai Economic Agenda D33 to position Dubai as a top-four global financial centre by 2033. ”
    — H. H. Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, President of DIFC
    “ Through the Dubai FinTech Summit, DIFC continues to showcase the tremendous opportunities AI, FinTech and innovation companies can access when they establish in Dubai. As we relentlessly foster an environment of innovation and excellence, we are solidifying Dubai’s position as one of the world’s foremost destinations for FinTech talent and investment. ”
    — H. E. Essa Kazim, Governor, Dubai International Financial Centre
    Organisers echoed those sentiments in private debriefs, crediting KonfHub with cutting volunteer man-hours by forty percent versus 2024 and freeing the programming team to curate deeper content rather than chase operational fires.
    Conclusion:
    The Dubai FinTech Summit set an ambitious benchmark: create an inclusive, investor-rich platform that accelerates FinTech adoption across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. By combining a future-facing vision with KonfHub’s modular event-tech stack, DIFC delivered an experience that felt as seamless as the frictionless payment flows FinTech startups champion.
    • Registrations / ticketing – a white-labelled portal handled every purchase, discount code, and confirmation email while keeping the summit’s brand front and centre.
    • Check-in – self-service kiosks and QR-code scanning moved attendees from the door to the show floor in seconds, setting an efficient tone for the rest of the event.
    • Lead capture for exhibitors – QR scans at each booth fed real-time visitor data into exhibitors’ dashboards, turning casual conversations into qualified leads without manual spreadsheets.
    • Attendee app – agenda & event info in finger-tips, live-feedback links, push notifications, and floor maps kept delegates informed and on time, raising engagement across sessions and workshops.
    • AI matchmaking via Introbot integration – smart recommendations paired investors with founders and regulators with innovators, turning networking into curated, high-value meetings.
    • Deep analytics justify budget decisions – Real-time dashboards provide the proof that organizers need to share to shareholders on the amazing impact that the event was making for participants.
    With the summit earning an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 and already confirming early sponsors for 2026, DIFC’s bet on an integrated, data-driven event stack paid off. For KonfHub, the engagement reinforced its position as the go-to platform for large-scale, high-stakes technology conferences across EMEA.
    The result is clear: when thoughtfully deployed, event technology does more than manage crowds. It amplifies learning, accelerates deal-flow, and, in Dubai’s case, turns a bold economic vision into measurable, global impact