9 companies will pitch to key investors and community supporters

Over US$5M has been invested into the Dubai program to date

Dubai, UAE: This week Techstars Dubai Accelerator in partnership with GINCO will culminate in a Demo Day, which will see companies from the inaugural Dubai class pitch their ideas to prospective investors and startup community enthusiasts at The Park Hyatt Dubai on the 17th of April 2018.

During 13 weeks of the program, the nine teams took part in more than 600 meetings, workshops and mentoring sessions within Emirates Towers startup hub Area 2071. More than 70 external mentors from Dubai and the greater Techstars network helped them refine their business strategy and provided feedback, coaching and insights, in line with Techstars mantra of #givefirst.

GINCO’s investment arm alongside Techstars provided over US$1M in direct investments to the founders as part of a multi-year US$5M commitment from GINCO Group for investments, programming, infrastructure, and staffing. In addition, each team had access to over 152 partner perks, from legal support to infrastructure credits, tier 1 enterprise support and consultation from Amazon Web Services, valued at $2.5M from Techstars global network.

The debut Dubai program boasted a stellar leadership team including Managing Director Vijay Tirathrai, previously the Global CEO and Chairman of the Entrepreneurs Organization, where he led a global network of 12,000 members whose combined revenues exceeded $500billion represented in 165 cities worldwide. Vijay was supported by Program Director Ramzy Ismail, former Managing Director at Flat6Labs Abu Dhabi and Program Manager at Techstars Connections in New York.

Four key Entrepreneurs-in-Residence acted as in-house mentors for the companies, including Carla and Brian Gardepe, long-time Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Nancy Wolff - Former Vice President of Technology at the Jumeirah Group and Carlos Domingo, a venture investor and former Chief Digital Transformation and Innovation Officer at du Telecom.

Mr. Vijay Tirathrai, managing director of the program stated, “Our first Dubai program has been a phenomenal success. As a cohort, the nine start-ups have made significant traction on all fronts; as in, the development of their prototypes, LOI's signed and funds raised from early investors. I am particularly proud of our founders, associates, and mentors that came together and helped us build a unique environment to enable our entrepreneurs to do more faster."

Mr. Gheyath Mohammed Gheyath, Chairman of GINCO Group of Companies, added “GINCO has been very pleased with not only the lineup of incredible companies but also our excellent team of mentors who have brought real value to the founders over the past three months. We are excited to kick off Demo Day and show local and regional investors what great additions these companies will be to the MENA startup community.”

The nine startups who will present at Demo Day include the following:

Felix: Software for modern insurance brokers.

Flugauto: Revolutionizing metropolitan life by providing air transportation for everyone and everything.

Klasha: An online fast fashion retailer for 20-somethings with fast delivery to West Africa.

Natufia Labs: The Nespresso for plants and herbs.

Novele: A real estate technology company that designs and develops solutions for the building in the digital age.

Nytilus: Helping the industrial workforce to see, learn and work better by leveraging AR and AI technologies.

OmniX: A trained machine vision platform enabling businesses and customers to create actionable insights from any captured moment anytime, anywhere.

Soluki: Helping to bring simple web development solutions to the Arab-speaking world.

TPS Engage: The first platform in the world to offer permanent contextual advertising features for outdoor advertising.

Demo Day will take place on Tuesday 17th of April 2018 at The Park Hyatt Dubai, starting at 1:00pm.

-Ends-

About Techstars:

Techstars helps entrepreneurs succeed through mentor-driven accelerator.  Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders connect with over 13,000 other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Startup Programs, Techstars Accelerator Programs, Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships, and the Techstars Venture Capital Fund. www.techstars.com

About GINCO:

GINCO Investments is a consolidated investment vehicle for GINCO Group, representing the Gheyath family interests in developing the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE, investing in the most exciting early stage enterprise technology companies in developed markets, and incubating exciting new hardware and software technologies and applications.

GINCO is a company of Engineers founded in 1975 by Mr. Gheyath Mohammad Gheyath. Operating out of 5 branches across the Middle East, the GINCO Group of Companies employs over 4000 staff representing 13 nationalities. GINCO is a full service general contracting firm, covering the full lifecycle of the construction process from concept to execution and supervision. GINCO works with the best known brands in the Middle East, including Dubai Municipality, Emaar, Dubai Properties, WASL, and Nakheel, among others. GINCO recently launched GINCO Investments focused on supporting and nurturing the local SME community and empowering entrepreneurs with global ambitions. www.ginco.investments

About Area 2071:

Area 2071 is a creative ecosystem to design the future that brings together government, creative individuals, businesses, and people from all walks of life. The name Area 2071 originates from the UAE Centennial Plan 2071, the naming of which signifies 100 years since the formation of the United Arab Emirates. Through its vision and objectives, UAE Centennial Plan 2071 seeks to invest primarily in the youth of the UAE and to work for the UAE to be the best nation in the world by 2071. For more information please visit http://area2071.ae/

Media Contact:

Mary Cerasa

Director of Communication | LMTD

mary@teamlmtd.com | +971 056 959 9225

© Press Release 2018