The Race for the Seedstars World Competition is On: But Who Are the 18 Startups Representing MENA?

If ever you need evidence of the continuous waves of impactful innovation and entrepreneurship coming out of MENA in recent times, you needn’t look further than the 2020/2021 Seedstars World Competition. With over 5,000 initial applications, 94 tech startups from emerging markets were selected to move to the regional portion of the competition, an impressive 18 of which are from MENA.

At the November/December regionals, ten startups will receive $50k in global growth investment and will also have the opportunity to compete at the Grand Finale inApril, 2021 for a chance to win the Global Winner prize of $500k in equity investment. 

The 18 startups from MENA that are moving on to the regional stage for a shot at the $50k in global growth investment are:

-StafMedic  (Algeria) - A web application that connects private and public medical staff; doctors, paramedics and medical transport.

-AlRawi Media (Bahrain) - AlRawi aims at providing Arabic speakers with interactive audio content that is diverse, engaging and easily accessible through an app.

-Al-Mawwan (Egypt) - Almawwan is the first and biggest digital platform for construction materials in Egypt.

-Paklean (Iran) - Paklean is an online on-demand laundry and dry cleaning platform directly connecting consumers with laundries.

-Fix-it (Iraq) - The first application in Iraq that facilitates the request for maintenance services without the need to wait and waste time and effort.

-Akyas (Jordan) - Akyas aims to revolutionize the concept of the toilet in the modern world, whether it is for an emergency context or for urban sitting

-FinFirst Capital (Kuwait) - Simpler, Faster, Friendlier: that is the banking expeirence FinFirst Capital promises through the use of their super app or website that allows users to reach all banks.

-Mruna (Lebanon) - A startup that harnesses the power of nature and a suite of internet-connected devices to revolutionize the wastewater sector.

-Speetar (Libya) - Telemedicine platform linking medically marginalized patients in the Middle East & North Africa to culture/language matched medical specialists.

-Oriigami (Morocco) - Oriigami aims to provide educational support to students of all levels by connecting them to university students trained by their partners.

-Tanfees (Oman) - Delivers online therapy and matches clients according to their needs with the right counselors using their algorithms at a fixed price.

-Amal (Palestine) - Disrupts the construction industry by bridging workers with contractors, bringing transparency, trust, and culture change.

-Droobi Health Technology (Qatar) - Droobi is the world’s first suite of bilingual (Arabic & English) digital therapeutic programs, using a host of best-in-class technologies. 

-IFF (Saudi Arabia) - A local machines supplier with over 900 SKU catalogue, providing a step-by-step guide for starters on how to operate products

-Alphazed (Syria) - A gamified education platform for Arab kids that can consume any school- or country- curriculum and outputs a gamified content

-Fulfillment Bridge (Tunisia) - Cloud-based global e-commerce logistic platform offering warehousing in 4 continents, fulfillment, shipping, return management and more.

-Twin Science & Robotics (Turkey) - Twin is an edtech company developing 21st-century skills and competency among children by providing them STEAM kits and apps.

-Policyhouse (UAE) - Helps customers and SMEs compare & purchase the best, cheapest policy that covers their risk in motor, health and general insurance.

The regional stage will consist of a one-month personalised investment readiness program that will work to get these startups investment ready. The program will include webinars on key business metrics, opportunities to discuss challenges and pain points, mentoring sessions, investor meetings, and networking events. The goal is to build and develop the startups capacity for investment and scaling as well as provide them with opportunities for success.

“In this edition of the competition, we've engaged with entrepreneurs from over 18 countries in the MENA region. Meeting with this diverse range of entrepreneurs every year helps us put each ecosystem under the microscope to closely learn about it, understand its challenges, and witness its development. We are excited about the top entrepreneurs we have chosen, and we are looking forward to working closely with them. In the upcoming year, we will be increasing our activities and programs in the region to support the MENA ecosystem's development further,” commented Mira Charkawi, Seedstars MENA Regional Manager. 

Click here for more info on the competition.