Kuwaiti Social Health Startup P5M Wins A Chance To Score $1 Million At Seedstars Summit in 2019

Kuwaiti P5M, a social health initiative looking to connect the three pillars of fitness (users, gyms, and trainers) to make a healthy lifestyle accessible, was named Seedstars' “Best Startup in Kuwait” for its innovative sustainable solution. The event took place on Sunday, at KFAS Auditorium, and nine selected startups were invited to showcase their companies’ potential in front of the local jury panel.

“We would like to thank SeedStars for the opportunity to share and grow our startup. With P5M, we share the same vision in encouraging our community to be consistent in their practice of a healthy lifestyle. By inspiring them and preventing any obstacles standing in the way of their next workout”, explains Anwar Alrefae, Co-founder and CEO of P5M.

As a part of the prize, P5M will be participating at the Seedstars Summit, taking place in Switzerland, in April 2019. It is a weeklong mentoring programme that grants attendees the opportunity to meet the 65+ winners from other fast growing economies, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. The final day of the Summit is specially dedicated to pitching in front of an audience of around 1,000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to $1 million in equity investment and a variety of other prizes.

The nine startups pitched in front of an distinguished jury, including Abdulaziz Al Loughani, Bashar Al-Abdulhadi, Bassam AlFeeli, and Tarek Trad.

The highlight of the event was when Dr. Benedict Gubler, Swiss Ambassador in Kuwait, arrived to give the opening statement to the event and talked about the grand opportunity that the youth have in Kuwait and the entire MENA region, an opportunity that is currently expanding and will expand further during the upcoming years, and that dedication and patience will be the keys for development.

Seedstars Kuwait City also featured Ali Abulhasan, of Tap Payments, who presented Tap into Success. Abdulaziz Al Loughani, of Faith Capital and Floward, who presented Expanding in MENA. Organization of the event was handled by the local Ambassador of Seedstars World, Haider Al-Mosawi of Sirdab Lab, in association with Seedstars World’s local partners Alghanim Industries and KFAS. Further support was provided by media partners. The event attracted interest from over fourty startups, and around 301 attendees.

My Nutribox with its “interactive bilingual healthy living expert” occupied the second spot and Fixer, with its “service which can fix any gadget in front of your eyes," grabbed the last spot in the top three. Namingly, the other startups invited to pitch were Cybersys, EasyKhair, iExchange, Letsbarista, Li3ib, Scrrap Com.

Alghanim Industries, one of the main sponsors of Seedstars Kuwait, highlighted the company’s efforts of supporting youth and empowering the entrepreneurs. “We firmly believe in the importance of investing in youth and empowering a new generation of Kuwaiti entrepreneurs. Seedstars is a great opportunity to give innovative ideas the support and opportunity they need to propel them towards the success they deserve,” said Alghanim Industries in a press statement.

Furthermore, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), one of the main sponsors of the event had stated: “It is KFAS mission to develop the human capital of Kuwait specifically in the areas of science, technology and innovation. We are investing in opportunities that encourage the youth, entrepreneurs, and small business-owners to invent and develop new products and services based on science and technology. We are very keen to grow the size of the private sector in Kuwait and we strongly believe that growing its scientific and technological capacities is the way to achieve this strategic goal. KFAS’s support of Sirdab Lab to host Seedstars Kuwait City is a reflection of our intention to assist in achieving the national goal of providing knowledge-based economy in Kuwait. We saw Seedstars Kuwait City initiative as a good platform for the local startup community since it has the potential to open new doors to  international opportunities.”

Embarking on its world tour of fast-growing startup scenes in emerging markets, Seedstars World’s next stop is Beirut at Antwork to select the best startup in Lebanon. All the local competition winners from the MENA tour will be participating at the Seedstars Regional Summit for MENA region, which will take place on the 29^th of November in Beirut, Lebanon.