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.