14 African startups head to MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition semi-finals

A total of 14 North African startups have been selected for the semi-finals of the 13th edition of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition.

The annual competition aims to support entrepreneurs as well as to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in the Arab region.

The competition is organised across three tracks — Ideas, Startups and Social Enterprise — with winning teams set to take home $120 000 in equity free funding.

The 13th MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition finals will be held in April

The 14 North African semi-finalists — who were announced on Tuesday (14 January) — comprise nine Egyptian, two Moroccan, two Tunisian and one Algerian startup.

The MIT Enterprise Form blog Bracket said in an article on Tuesday that the North African teams will join other semifinalists at a preparatory bootcamp that will be held between 1 and 3 March at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia.

The finals of the competition are set to take place in April.

The North African semi-finalists are:

Startups Track

Dmails (Egypt): Privacy-focused email service provider that uses Blockchain techonology

Iris Technologies (Tunisia): Agritech startup developing and integrating cutting edge hardware and software solutions that provide beehive’ tracking and monitoring technologies

Paynas (Egypt): Cairo-based cloud platform which provides banking services and a human resources and payroll service to small businesses

Singularity Computing (Algeria): Cloud-based multi-physics and multi-scale engineering simulation software company

Sysgravity (Egypt): Cybersecurity startup that specialises in endpoints analytics and data migration

Trella (Egypt): Cairo-based trucking marketplace whose B2B platform connects shippers and carriers in real-time, using data to optimise drivers’ routes and increase the volume of backloads

Ideas Track

Bots Factory (Morocco): Casablanca-based startup that builds multilingual chatbots

Historio (Tunisia): Tunis-based gaming company that’s developed Bygone, a mobile game that makes use of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies

Rafiq (Egypt): Arabic virtual assistant Android app

Social Entrepreneurship Track

Baramoda (Egypt): Agritech startup that develops bio-fertilisers from agri-waste

Entaleq (Egypt): Mobile app that enables people with disabilities to find accessible venues and services that best fit their needs

GreenWatech (Morocco): Developed a low-cost and ecological sanitation service for households and communities with no sewer infrastructure

Kashat (Egypt): Micro-lending (nano-finance) mobile application

PraxiLabs (Egypt): Edtech startup that has developed a 3D virtual science lab which aims to make it easier for student students to understand physics, chemistry and biology experiments

Featured image: Winners of the 12th edition of the MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition (MIT Enterprise Forum, Pan Arab Region via Facebook)