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Dr Abdulmalek Al-Jaber, Founder of Arabreneur and MENA Arabreneur Startupson Showcase at ArabNet Digital Summit in Dubai
- Invites Submissions from Emerging Entrepreneurs for Third Cycle Funding in September 2014
Arabreneur, a pan-Arab initiative that seeks to create an enabling ecosystem for young Arab entrepreneurs, today announced itssecond cycleof investments in three high-growth Palestinian start-ups.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the ArabNet Digital Summit 2014 currently underway at Atlantis – The Palm in Dubai.
The three startups that will benefit from Arabreneur’sinvestment of US$300,000 include‘Sooshef’, an online platform that allows aspiring chefs to find and customize recipes based on the ingredients they have,‘Jobreneur’, a cloud-based platform that offers talent pool in the MENA region with access toonline consultancy assignments in international markets, and ‘Imagry’, a mobile image recognition platform that enables users to search through images that are hyperlinked to the vendors’ online portals.
The selected startups pitched their businesses among seven other similar venturesat the second Arabreneur angel investor pitch event held inJerusalemin April 2014. Leading public sector officials from the region, along with local and international angel investors and severalyoung entrepreneurs from the Arab world attended the pitch event. The three companies were shortlisted based on their readiness to improve and expand their businesses into new markets.
Arabreneur hosts pitch events on a quarterly basis. The organization’s thirdcycle of investments is scheduled for September 2014 in partnership with SeedStarsWorld and StartupBootcamp.Emerging entrepreneurs from the Arab world are invited to apply for the next cycle online atwww.arabreneur.com.
Dr Abdulmalek Al-Jaber, Founder of Arabreneur and MENA Apps, said: “As one of the fastest growing online communities in the world, the Arab region is the emerging hub of entrepreneurship.At Arabreneur, we aim to engage young entrepreneurs and provide them with facilities that empower them to use their creativity and time for developing startups that support economic and social growth.We are currently in Dubai to showcase Palestinian talent and entrepreneurship to thesizeable audience participating at ArabNet and the larger Dubai investment community.”
Arabreneur launched its Palestinian acceleration program in partnership with theUnited States Agency for International Development “USAID”in mid-2013.The program offers technical assistance, logisticalsupport, assistance in penetrating regional and international markets, as well as networking opportunities with partner accelerators in North America, Europe and Australia, andexposure to new partnerships with potential clients and investors. Arabreneur has other programs in Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and the UAE.
Following the last Arabreneur pitch event in November 2013, four Palestinian startups – AidBits, Karaz, Fariqak, and Edunation – walked away with a combined US$440,000 seed investment. Since then, the four startups have significantly fast-tracked their business growth.While Edunation hassigned contracts in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Iraq and Canada to expandits market reach, AidBits was selected from among many international startups as the first Palestinian enterprise to participate in the Microsoft Ventures acceleration program. Meanwhile, Fariqak attended the Google Blackbox program in Silicon Valley.
The Arabreneur startups are currently showcasing their innovative products and services at ArabNet Digital Summit 2014.
