Category: Startups

Al Ahli Holding Group (AAHG) has partnered with Sony Professional Solutions MEA on the development of the media sector and community within NOMAD.

A purpose-built ecosystem set to launch this year, which will offer a platform of opportunities and resources for entrepreneurs and the creative community to grow their ideas and innovate.

Under the agreement, Sony Professional Solutions MEA, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, will collaborate on a range of services including providing equipment, joint development of programmes, events, accelerators, and workshops, as well as market access opportunities for the NOMAD member community.

In addition to that, key Sony members will be a part of NOMAD’s advisory board that will be instrumental in shaping a new wave of talent through the project.

What’s in it for creators?

The strategic partnership will create opportunities for content creators, film-makers, artists freelancers and musicians, and Sony Professional Solutions MEA will apply its industry-leading expertise to advise and mentor NOMAD members, while also sharing its know-how on the technology and production side to help facilitate content creation.

“What we are witnessing now is a great shift towards creativity in business practice. We are steering away from being merely consumers of technology in the region towards assuming the role of innovation. Hence the significance of this partnership, which is not only designed to service the creative industry only, but to also service small and medium enterprises at large with which creativity comes in hand in hand.” said Mohammed Khammas, CEO of AAHG & NOMAD.

He also added: “I cannot think of any other platform such as NOMAD that provides this innovative approach into content creation and utilisation of technology. This partnership with Sony is really important for the value it brings to the regional and global market.”

NOMAD will leverage both AAHG and Sony Professional Solutions MEA’s significant global experience and knowledge to position itself as a world-class entrepreneurial ecosystem that will enhance Dubai and the UAE’s position as a focal point for global innovation for entrepreneurs and startups from an array of disciplines from around the world; including the media, culinary arts, design, gaming, and technology sectors.

Through its industry partners and programming solutions, NOMAD members will have access to a community platform and network of mentors, investors and markets to scale their ventures.

Rob Sherman, Managing Director at Sony Professional Solutions MEA, said: “This partnership with NOMAD is significant, as it provides a holistic overview on how to support talent in the region. We as Sony provide the tools, and NOMAD comes in with the infrastructure that provide the ideal platform for people to use this technology.

He then added: “It is very important to build and nurture this platform locally to enable the storytellers to have a place and environment to work in. We are interested in retaining talent here in the region, and provide the right space and tools for local and regional storytellers.”

The one-million square foot NOMAD build will be located within The Echo Plex near Dubai Outlet Mall, and will be developed over two years, with the first phase launching in 2019. In this phase, co-working spaces and production studio resources will be built, along with a pilot co-housing community in which members can live to save costs. The second phase will launch in 2020 and will encompass larger community development and the rollout of more advanced facilities.

“When we first announced NOMAD in May 2018, our goal was to build the right infrastructure that fosters collaboration across all sectors within the creative community in the region. Our mandate remains to bring forth global best practices and partnerships that will position NOMAD as a world-class creative hub with unrivalled business and financial support infrastructure,” said Mohammed Khammas, CEO of AAHG & NOMAD.

Flat6Labs Cairo, the leading Startup Accelerator in Egypt, now offers startups joining its 12th Accelerator Cycle launching in January 2019 a minimum of EGP 500,000 to a maximum of EGP 750,000 in cash funding. The all cash advance will help cover the startups’ early expenses and to define their product and grow their market.

Additionally, each startup will enter a customized Flat6Labs Cairo intensive four-month acceleration curriculum. Upon completion, each startup will be offered up to EGP 2 million in post-acceleration follow-on funding to match external investors.

Flat6Labs Cairo partners with the selected startups entering the acceleration program in exchange for 10% equity.

Flat6Labs Cairo startups that meet predefined criteria by a designated social impact committee are also nominated to receive grant funding of up to $25,000 each, and support for teams joining the program from outside Cairo will also be offered in the form of a monthly stipend of EGP 5K per team per month for the duration of the program.

This is with the support of StartEgypt, a startup initiative funded by the UK government, supported by the IFC and powered by Flat6Labs to inspire, incubate and support Egyptian entrepreneurs and social impact enterprises.

“Being in close contact and on the ground with innovative Egyptian entrepreneurs, catering for their different needs and understanding what their varying challenges are has always been what Flat6Labs Cairo is all about” said Ramez El-Serafy CEO of Flat6Labs.

“With up to EGP 750,000 in cash funding, up to EGP 2 million in follow-on funding, grant funding of up to $25,000 to eligible startups with the support of StartEgypt, alongside a solid acceleration program and a stellar and experienced local team, Flat6Labs Cairo is now proud to offer an even more attractive package than before for visionary Egyptian entrepreneurs looking to scale their businesses in Egypt and MENA” added El-Serafy.

Flat6Labs Cairo’s program team is accredited and licensed for Central European Design Standards & Global ISO guidelines for Innovation Management Systems, allowing teams to empower a deeper handling of business cases to truly compete amongst the most innovative startups in the region and further extended their networks and expand globally.

Flat6Labs Cairo is funded by the Flat6Labs Accelerator Company (FAC). With a fund size of EGP 100m.

FAC is investing in up to 100 early-stage startups and 300+ entrepreneurs, during its 5 years investment period, FAC alongside its notable investors- the International Finance Corporation, MSME Development Agency, Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, and Egypt Ventures; aim to have a rapid impact on value creation and passionate entrepreneurs, and their support is what has made Flat6Labs Cairo’s activities and operations possible.

Flat6Labs Cairo has received more than 4,000 startup applications to date. 80+ investments have been made over 11 cycles, with 200+ entrepreneurs trained and supported by the program. The local Flat6Labs Cairo network encompasses 300+ local and international mentors and coaches and 100+ corporate, governmental and ecosystem partners.

Flat6Labs Cairo portfolio companies have thus far raised EGP 55M in follow-on funding and directly and indirectly helped create more than 500 high-impact jobs.

​​HolidayMe​, the Middle East’s leading Online Travel Agency, has raised $16m in Series C funding from Gobi Partners, Algebra Ventures, Accel Partners, and Global Ventures.

Launched in December 2014, HolidayMe offers on-the-fly customized travel solutions to travelers across the Middle East, aiming to solve specific pain points in the region, such as an inefficient booking process and a lack of dedicated platforms for Muslim-friendly holiday packages and hotels.

The company provides a dynamic packaging solution that enables users to lower costs by building their own package, including flights, hotels, activities, and transport services.

“At Holidayme, we have continued to provide our customers with next-generation technology and user experience for their travel booking requirements. We are focused on providing a niche product carved towards the travel requirements of 1.8 Billion Muslims globally,” said Geet Bhalla, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of HolidayMe.

Over the past few years, HolidayMe has experienced phenomenal growth in the Middle East. It has grown substantially in terms of scale and operations, with a GMV growth rate of 127% YoY, and a transactions growth rate of 163% YoY.

“HolidayMe has developed a leadership position in the large and fast-growing Muslim travel online market. The team has the vision, domain experience, and capabilities to become the global leader in that market,” said Tarek Assaad, Algebra Ventures’ Managing Partner. “We are delighted to join our co-investors, who are global leaders in venture investing, in supporting HolidayMe to achieve that goal”.

​POSRocket​, the cloud based point of sale platform has released the beta version of its developer portal and marketplace, to be the first application program interface (API) platform in the MENA region.

The developer portal which called “Launchpad” allows developers to build and integrate their apps on top of POSRocket’s cloud-based point-of-sale platform.

From within their dashboard at POSRocket, merchants will have access to Market Space, which offers a ​myriad of applications that are already integrated with their POS.

LaunchPad enables developers to build apps for everything from operation automation (accounting, HR), to bridging (payments, logistics), and to customer acquisition and retention (loyalty, promotions, online ordering, e-commerce) that merchants can access.

Developers and integrators can register with the BETA release of Launchpad API via ​this link.

Developers and third-party solutions will be able to build their apps on the platform, and release them – fully integrated – on the POSRocket Marketplace.

Each app will have its own rating and reviews from other business owners, in an App Store model.

Founded in 2016 by Zaid Farekh and Zeid Husban, POSRocket is a cloud-based point of sale platform headquartered in Jordan. It has expanded to form operations in Egypt and Kuwait and has grown its customer base across the MENA region.

CEO Zeid Husban said, “We’ve built our business to serve merchants as a platform rather than a service. We’re thrilled to be leading the way to becoming the first merchant-centric, value driven ecosystem in the region enabling merchants to maximize their benefits and returns on investment”.

Husban’s previous business ifood.jo could not leverage an integration with the point of sale, later becoming an inspiration for an open platform.

“Looking back at the ifood experience, cashiers had to receive our orders over bulky printers and punch them in,” says Husban, referring to the costly, error prone and non-streamlined process, “It was a losing game, we could not integrate with a single POS.”

POSRocket deploys products to facilitate and automate all aspects of managing the business, beginning from the point of sale and throughout the merchant value chain.

“Our secure public API allows third party developers to leverage POSRocket’s deep experience in managing workflows on the merchant side. The app developer does not have to worry about all the complexities. You can quickly bring out innovative new applications producing value for the merchants and their customers,” says POSRocket VP of Engineering, Michael Motta.

Looking at the future, Business Development Director, Wadi Hawi affirms the major role the company will play in accelerating the retail-tech ecosystem in MENA, “We are the point of sale platform of the region. To build impact, we need to go beyond the point of sale, and to provide a platform for those who are adding more value through their innovations”.

Dawar app is a new initiative that aims to solve Egypt’s garbage dilemma with the help of technology. The app enables you to take a picture of the waste, upload it to the app and the team would then have it removed.

Dawar App is available for download on the App Store and Google Play.

“The App is currently beta testing in Maadi and soon to expand.” said Amr Fathi, the app developer in a comment on Facebook.

How it works?

Download the app and take a picture of the waste, the app automatically takes your GPS and sends it to the responsible parties from collection companies and Ministry of Environment.

1. Take a picture of the street garbage using Dawar.
2. Garbage will be removed by the waste collection company. 
3. A picture of the same place, with the garbage removed, will be sent to you confirming that the job is done. 
4. You may rate the job and share the success story. 

Went viral on social media

A Facebook post by Yasmina Yasser went viral. Dawar app is one of Environ ADAPT. services, a waste management solutions company. The app idea collaborates with the Ministry of Environment of Egypt and GIZ.

Young social impact startup TheSocialMedwork, which works to solve access to medicines across the world, has signed new funding and the first of new high profile ‘ambassadors.’

Social Impact Ventures has agreed to fund the fast-growing healthcare startup further. TheSocialMedwork was already angel-funded by acclaimed Silicon Valley healthcare investor-activist Esther Dyson for approximately  $2.9 million. Social Impact Ventures agreed upon an additional $1.7 million in funding.

Social Impact Ventures, the largest Dutch social impact venture capital fund, empowers entrepreneurs to solve pressing social or environmental challenges. At its helm is Willemijn Verloop, former founder and chief executive of War Child.

“It takes game-changers who see things differently to create social movements. Our mandate is to seek out those who can put their idealism to work. Sjaak and the team at TheSocialMedwork showed us that they have the drive, passion, and ability to open up the best medicine for everyone and make a real change on a global scale.” says Verloop. “This investment in TheSocialMedwork is a meeting of hearts and minds.”

Willemijn Verloop will join TheSocialMedwork’s new Supervisory Board. Verloop will be joined on the board by Neelie Kroes, former EU Commissioner, highly regarded politician, and a key figure in the Dutch start-up ecosystem. Kroes made a name campaigning for fairness in international business practices. In 2008 dished out record fines of 1.8 billion euros (at the time) for cartel pricing as EU Commissioner for Competition. “Healthcare has lost sight of the people it serves. TheSocialMedwork is solving an understated problem, one which was consistently recognized by the EU Council: the unacceptable gap in the availability of medicines.”

TheSocialMedwork, founded in 2015 by Sjaak Vink, makes the latest approved medicines accessible to patients and doctors in countries where medicines are not (yet) available (with a focus on life-threatening and debilitating illnesses). Vink has the vision to build a unified global health platform where medicines are accessible and affordable for everyone.

Helping patients access unavailable medicines is just the first step in building a new universal health platform that applies new thinking, new opportunities, and new technology to solve the world’s healthcare issues.

“We are excited Neelie and Willemijn join us in our mission at the same time that we achieve deliveries of these kinds of medicines to patients and doctors in over 70 countries. We were unaware there is such a high need in so many countries and are honored to play a small role in helping every patient and doctor. With the new funds from Social Impact Ventures, we intend to professionalize our systems further, recruit new staff, and enable our service to help more patients and doctors. For me, we are responsible for not only helping people right now but also help to create a sustainable future alternative that serves everyone.” said Founder and CEO Sjaak Vink.

TheSocialMedwork helps people access medicines currently available in the Middle East but approved by foreign health regulatory authorities, such as the U.S. FDA and EMA. Using existing legal structures for ‘named patient’ imports, the medical startup, which is fully licensed and regulated by the Ministry of Health in The Netherlands, delivers to patients across the GCC. Over 20% of TheSocialMedwork’s business is from helping people in the Middle East, and the demand for medicines via the platform is growing rapidly.