New Delhi, Sept. 8 -- Early-stage Indian startups are heading to the Middle East as their first international port of call, as countries in the region move away from their dependency on oil and diversify their economies.

Founders across the ecosystem are finding that the region's appetite for new technology-from cybersecurity to cloud computing-is picking up, burnishing the attractiveness of the market. Companies like Protectt, Kluisz.ai, Doqfy, Ringg.ai and others are looking to enter the Middle East first, before setting sail to larger markets like the US.

"We will be focusing on the Indian and Middle East markets first. They're very large and fast-growing markets," Abhinav Sinha, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of privat...