Cairo, Egypt - Seedstars World, the global seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, brought its Egypt round to a successful close during Seedstars Cairo. The event took place this Friday, at the brand new opened Seedspace Cairo, and 5 selected startups were invited to present their companies in front of the local jury panel.
The local winner, 7keema, the first of its kind as on-demand home nursing services in the Middle East, was selected the best startup in Egypt for its innovative sustainable solution. “When our name was announced as the first winner, our hearts tended to jump out.
This step comes to us on the right timing while we are opening a short round of funding and we are within the negotiations with angel investors and accelerator programs. Now we feel very comfortable and relaxed and are sure 100% we will get the best valuation for our startup.” explains Amr Bakr, CEO of 7keema. As a part of the prize, 7keema will be participating at the Seedstars Summit, taking place in Switzerland in April 2019. It is a weeklong training program which includes the opportunity to meet the other 65 winners from other fast growing economies, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. The final day of the Summit is dedicated to pitching in front of an audience of more than 1000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to USD 1 million in equity investment.
Odiggo, an online e-commerce and the first in the Middle-East to sell car parts online, selling over 89,000 within the first 3.5 months, came second and HitchHiker a platform that connects shippers with trusted travelers to save money and time on shipping and allows travelers to make money while traveling, grabbed the last spot in the top 3. The other startups invited to pitch were Skolera and Vapulus.
The 5 startups pitched in front of a prestigious jury, including Hanan Abdel Meguid, CEO of Kamelizer, Karim Hussein, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, Noha Shaker, Head of Digital Ventures and Strategic alliance at CIB Egypt, Meghan Warner, Regional Manager for MENA at Seedstars and Mohamed Assad, Venture Capital Associate of Averroes Ventures.
The event took place in Seedspace Cairo, the new coworking and coliving hub of Seedstars, which is the first of its kind in the MENA region. Seedstars will welcome businesses from all stages to its space, hoping to connect them to its international community with a wide range of offerings, including individual places to work, larger offices for teams and even a bedroom if they wish to stay in the city for some time.
Seedstars Cairo also featured speaker Abdelhameed Sharara, CEO and Founder of Riseup, who shared his insights on the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Egypt and a panel with Mostafa Kandil, CEO of SWVL and Amir Barsoum, CEO of Vezeeta who both discussed the process of getting funded in MENA and the challenges accompanied. Our Seedstars alumni panel included participation from Ahmed Negm, CEO of Raye7 and Mohamed Nabil, CEO of WIdeBOT, who shared the expectations of building a business in MENA and their previous experience with the Seedstars Global summit. Further support was provided by ecosystem partners, Accelerate SME and MBC AL Amal and media partners MBC Masr, Starupscene, arabnet,Menabytes, startup Magazine, Egyptinnovate and Wamda. The event attracted interest from over 100 startups, and over 150 attendees.
Continuing on its world tour of startup scenes in emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, Seedstars World’s next stop is Tunis at the Mediterranean School of Business, to select the best startup in Tunisia. Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market.
ABOUT SEEDSTARS
"They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds." - Mexican proverb
Seedstars is a Swiss based group with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Seedstars connects stakeholders, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high growth startups within these ecosystems. Through different activities, that range from startup scouting to company building and acceleration programs, the team has built the most powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, incubators, corporations and government officials from 65+ fast growing economies around the globe. Seedstars group includes Seedstars World, a worldwide startup competition, sourcing the top talent in technology and entrepreneurship in emerging markets; Seedstars Growth, a three month virtual acceleration program; Seedspace, a network of coworking and co-living spaces now in 35+ countries and Seedstars Academy, a six months intensive training for aspiring local entrepreneurs on how to build sustainable businesses. Some of Seedstars main partners are Enel (Energy), School of Management Fribourg (HEG Fribourg) & TRECC - Transforming Education in Cocoa Communities (Education), BBVA (Finance), Tag Heuer (Fempreneurship and Innovation), Merck (Health) and Continental (Mobility).
ABOUT SEEDSTARS WORLD
Seedstars World is the first global startup competition focused on emerging and fast-growing markets. For five years now, it has built a network in 65+ countries, with the teams traveling the world to source innovative startup investment opportunities. We run 80+ local competitions to identify the best seed-stage startups and host an inspirational set of disruptive tech and networking sessions. We also organise 5 regional Summits, reuniting all local winners of each region to network with speakers, investors, corporates, incubators, accelerators, governments and all other relevant stakeholders. Finally, Seedstars Summit, the competition’s final, is our exciting flagship event filled with breakout sessions, panel discussions, specialized workshops and the best minds from emerging markets, where local winners compete to be crowned Seedstars World Global Winner and win up to $1M in investment.
Press Contact:
High-resolution photos, logos, as well as press information and interview options are available on demand.
Ana Vasquez
PR & Media Representative
ana@seedstars.com
