Gaza's Blue Filter Wins $10,000 at IGNITE Pitch Competition

Blue Filter, a Gaza-based startup, has won first prize at the Startups on the Move Pitch Competition, hosted by Startups Without Borders, SPARK, and Google during SPARK’s 9th annual IGNITE conference in Amsterdam.

Founded by Salah El Sadi, Blue Filter aims to purify underground water from nitrates and salts using a chemical-free and environmentally-friendly system. The startup successfully decreases the percent of nitrate from 100% to 2%, and chloride from 100% to 40%.

Coming in second place was Eyiada, a Palestinian AI-powered startup which connects medical specialists to patients, winning $5,000 cash prize. Meanwhile, Dooda Solutions, a woman-led earthworm farm specialised producing premium grade vermicompost, won the People’s Choice Awards, valued at $3,000 in cash. The competition marked the conclusion of the Startup on the Move Incubation program, which is dedicated to supporting startups from the Middle East’s most challenged communities to build thriving businesses. Having launched in April 2022, the program graduated 130 startups across diverse sectors such as cleantech, edtech, VR and agritech, amongst others.

“The finals were thrilling, not only for the three winners, but also for the 10 startups who got the opportunity to network and connect with potential partners, clients, and investors from around the world,” Valentina Primo, CEO of Startups Without Borders, tells StartupScene. “For the past five months, we’ve seen incredible growth from the startups and it was a very important milestone to bring them to pitch a global stage at IGNITE. We couldn’t be happier to work alongside SPARK and Google.org to make that happen.”

The ten startups selected to pitch at SPARK Ignite Conference in Amsterdam also included DonaLeb, Nabeeh, Green Gold, SunCode, CONCAT, Hala Trips, and Sook.ps.