Egyptian Chatbot Startup Elves Raises $2 Million Seed Investment

RiseUp Summit, the leading event for MENA region entrepreneurs, kicked off with major news announcements. Elves, Egypt's first ‘Human Siri’ that connects people to real assistants, announced the successful closing of its seed round at more than $2 million, now the largest seed in the region’s history. Participating investors included Emaar Industries & Investments, The Dubai Angels, the Kauffman Fellows Syndicate, and several others from the region and the United States.

“We’re excited to get this funding from Emaar and the rest of our investors. Their investment –coupled with rapid adoption and our plans around marketing and product development– is a strong endorsement of our vision,” said Ahmed Kassem, Partner and CBO of Elves, who led the seed round.

The Abraaj Group also announced the launch of Bakery, a growth market early stage investment and ecosystem building platform. Bakery will provide entrepreneurs with an ability to build scalable solutions and gain access to its platform of global resources and local support, leading to a toolkit for operational excellence.

Sarah Heck, a senior leader from global technology company Stripe officially opened up Stripe Atlas to founders in the RiseUp community. Stripe Atlas is an invite-only service, but as of today, entrepreneurs attending the RiseUp Summit can gain immediate access. Stripe Atlas is the easiest way for entrepreneurs--anywhere in the world--to establish an internet business. From incorporation to legal and banking infrastructure, Stripe Atlas equips founders with essential tools and resources to start new ventures on a solid foundation. Entrepreneurs across the MENA region have already used the service to scale internationally.

“Starting a company is a complex and daunting process for first-time founders -- but it doesn’t have to be. With Stripe Atlas, our aim is to open source the expertise of starting and running an internet business, offering one consolidated place to manage every aspect of starting up. By removing barriers for more founders across MENA, we hope to help accelerate their businesses on the global stage,” she said. 

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