Denis Opudo
The program run by Techstars Dubai Accelerator in collaboration with GINCO will get to the climax on 17th April 2018 at The Park Hyatt Dubai. The Demo Day will see startups from the inaugural Dubai class showcase their ideas to startup community lovers and prospective investors. The program has been run for a period of 13 weeks. Nine startups had a chance to participate in above 600 meetings, mentoring sessions and workshops. All these took place at the Emirates Towers startup hub Area 2017.
There were more than 70 invited mentors from Techstar network and Dubai. The mentors helped the startups to better their business strategy. They also gave them feedback, insight, and coaching according to Techstars theme of #givesfirst. GINCO’s investment side in partnership with Techstars gave more than $1 million to the program founders. This was as part of GINCO Group commitment investment worth $5 million for many years. The investment was to be used in programming, staffing, and infrastructure. Every team accessed more than 152 partner perks, infrastructure credit, and legal support. They also got a tier 1 entrepreneur support and consultation from Amazon Web Services. Techstarts global network also offered $2.5 million.
The Dubai program has a very strong working team. This includes Vijay Tirathrai who is the Managing director (MD). Tirathrai is the former Global CEO and Chairman of the Entrepreneurs Organization. During his tenure at the organization, he led a global network of 12,000 members. The members had combined revenue of more than $500 billion. The network is operational in 165 cities globally. He got support from Ramzy Ismail the Program Director. Ismael is the former MD of Flat6Labs Abu Dhabi and Program Manager at Techstars Connections in New York.
It has four important Entrepreneurs-in-Residence who operated as in-house mentors for the startups. This included Carla and Brian Gardepe. The two who have been Silicon Valley entrepreneurs for a long time. There is Nancy Wolff the Jumeirah Group’s former Vice President of Technology. Lastly, there was a business investor and former Chief Digital Transformation and Innovation Officer at du Telecom Carlos Domingo.
The Dubai program has been successful. There were significant milestones made by the cohorts and the nine startups. All the way from LOI’s signed, development of their prototype to the raised funds from early investors there was a lot to be positive of. This is according to Mr. Vijay Tirathrai. GINCO Group was one of the partners who lauded the program achievement. Mr. Gheyath Mohammed Gheyath the Group chairman channeled the achievement to the strong team mentors. The mentors worked hard with the company for a period of three months. The nine startups who will pitch at the Demo Day are as follows;
Flugauto offers metropolitan life by giving air transportation for everything and everyone. Felix startup gives software for current insurance brokers. Klasha startup is an online fast fashion retailer and it makes a fast delivery to West Africa. Novele startup is a real estate technology startup. The startup designs and develops building solutions in the digital era. Natufilia Labs startups are the Nespresso for herbs and plants. OmniX startup is a trained machine vision platform. It helps customers and businesses to come up with insights from any captured moment. Mytilus startup helps industrial workers to locate, learn and work well. It does this by leveraging AI and AR technologies. TPS Engage is the first global platform to give permanent advertising feature for outdoor advertising. Soluki startup helps to equip Arab speaking nations with simple web development solutions.
A quick look at GINCO, Area 2017 and Techstars
GINCO was founded by Mr. Gheyath Mohammed Gheyath in 1975. It was founded as a company that represented engineers. The company operates with 5 branches across the Middle East. It has employed more than 4000 staff who represents 13 nationalities. The company oversees the whole construction process from the start to completion. Moreover, it works with the outstanding brands in the Middle East. This includes Nakheel, Dubai Properties, Dubai Municipality, Emaar, and WASL. GINCO Investment is a GINCO Group’s investment channel. It works on Gheyath family aim to develop and improve the UAE’s entrepreneurship world. It invests in the most promising early-stage businesses technology startups in developed markets. Furthermore, it incubates the existing new software and hardware applications and technologies.
Techstars offers mentorship programs to entrepreneurs. Founders are able to link with more than 13,000 other entrepreneurs. They are also able to connect with mentors, experts and investors, to improve their ventures. This takes place via the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network.
Area 2017 is a creative ecosystem that works on bringing together creative individuals, businesses, government and people of every stature. The name was coiled from the UAE Centennial Plan 2071. It stands for 100 years since when UAE was formed. The plan aims at investing mainly in the youths UAE and makes the region best globally by 2071.
