Nadya Eka Lestari
TechInAfrica – Growth Accelerator for MENA tech startups has launched by the MiSK Foundation. The accelerator program, in partnership with Seedstars and Vision Ventures, aims at startups that have product/market fit that is looking for scaling. This accelerator program has been running on Sunday, September 8th until December 4th.
Seedstars, an emerging market startup community and investor, together with Vision Ventures, a well-known venture capital firm across MENA, plans to co-invest up to US$100,000 in startups that had been participated and, even further, consider next round of investments up to US$ 1 million.
“We’re delighted to have kicked off the first-ever MENA batch of the Growth Accelerator. The program is filling a void in the ecosystem by working with slightly later stage startups and focusing on growth. I’m confident the knowledge and support delivered by Seedstars, Vision Ventures, and all the mentors will give a real boost to the teams,” said Osama AlRaee, Entrepreneurship Director at Misk Foundation, in an occasion.
Growth Accelerator that focuses on startups developing in their growth stage, three on-site bootcamps, and a demo day in Riyadh, is a virtual/on-site program that allows startups to connect closely with their customers while gaining advantages from regular coaching from growth experts both in-house and external.
Participated startups were selected from MENA regions, originally from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Egypt. 11 startups were chosen and continued to receive coaching on many topics such as talent management, leadership, and fundraising strategy.
In a statement, Kais Al-Essa, Founding Partner and CEO of Vision Ventures, said, “We are very excited to bring these 11 great companies from Saudi Arabia and the MENA region to the program. Each startup has a great product that we expect to see grow into a major player. They will benefit from the support from three renowned entities, MiSK Innovation, Seedstars, and Vision Ventures.”
Charlie Graham-Brown, Chief Investment Officer of Seedstars, said, “With over 450 applications, we filtered down to 11 startups each with the key ingredients we need for the program: a quality team, product/market fit and a high growth opportunity. We aim to have all the teams adopt a growth process and a data-driven culture of experimentation. Growth doesn’t come easily and the program will equip the teams with techniques and knowledge to crack this challenge.”
More updates and details on Growth Accelerator are on the official program website https://miskinnovation.org.sa/web/services/misk-growth-accelerator/
Source: Seedstars.com
