Meet the Misk 500 Mena Accelerator’s first 19 companies
Discover the 19 startups by clicking on the Misk profile HERE
Six weeks ago, 500 Startups and Misk Innovation launched the inaugural batch of the Misk 500 Accelerator Program in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The program brings the best of the 500 Startups flagship Silicon Valley seed accelerator program to the MENA region in partnership with Misk to provide a 4-month curriculum for pre-seed and seed stage startups looking to perfect their product-market-fit and prepare for seed-stage venture capital funding. The program began on January 27th and will conclude with an investor demo day on May 13th.
This first cohort consists of 19 innovative startups from 6 countries across the Middle East and North Africa. Representing 10 nationalities overall, an impressive 42% of the companies are homegrown talent from Saudi Arabia, while the remaining companies hail from Algeria, Egypt, Kuwait, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates.
Batch 1 sectors span across AgTech, B2B, Developer Tools, eCommerce, EdTech, FinTech, HealthTech, HRTech, Security, Transportation, Travel / Hospitality and Social / Lifestyle, with 37% of the companies having at least one female founder.
These companies are solving acute problems faced in the Kingdom, the GCC and the broader MENA region, with many having applicable solutions for emerging markets globally. Applying world class practices to the unique opportunities available in the Kingdom, these ventures aim to inspire needs-based innovation by teaching the best practices, tools and techniques to build thriving companies that ultimately create both profits and impact on society.
As part of a shared mission to build local capacity, contribute to job growth and increase skills for the next generation, Misk and 500 have organized public talks with visiting 500 Startups mentors from around the world, such as Dewaniya Tech, a series of monthly Tech Talks held at MiSK Foundation to discuss emerging technologies as a developing tool as well as building technical communities. The most recent talk last week which covered UX was delivered by Felix Desroches, an ex-founder and UX designer from California who previously worked at Google.
Previously, Nagi Salloum, who leads the accelerator and was also previously at Google, led a workshop on sales and marketing.
Be sure to tune in to Demo Day on May 13th in Riyadh to watch these companies debut on the main stage.
Are you looking to promote your demo day? Contact us at [email protected].
Here’s a full list of the inaugural batch companies
(Click on the name of the startup to visit their profile)
A company that provides end-to-end aquaponics solutions for farm owners, from installing and operating through selling the produce
Founders - Mohammed Qahwaji, Saleh Farea, Abdulrahman Dammak, Abdulaziz Alhouti
Sector - AgTech; B2B
A platform that ranks cybersecurity professionals through CTF competitions in order to get hired by companies either full-time or part-time
Founder - Moataz Salah
Sector - Security, EdTech; B2B, B2C
Enables money transfer via mobile seamless experience to help migrant workers to send money back home with #ZeroFees
Founders - Jon Edward Santillan, Denver Chua, Walfrido Perez
Sector - FinTech; B2C
The dentists' gateway to the widest range of genuine products and premium digital services
Founders - Ahmed Yahia, Saad Saleh
Sector - HealthTech, eCommerce; B2C
A useful application to share your favorite moments, books, food, fashion, products, places, music, movies and more… all organized in one place and discover the favorites of others!
Founders - Fahad Al Saud, Abdulaziz Al Saif, Dina Joumaa, Nawaf Baker
Sector - Social & Lifestyle; C2C
A SaaS platform for instant gamification and rewards management that helps websites and mobile apps improve their user engagement and optimize their conversions
Founders - Ahmed Khairy, Ahmed El Assy, Omar Al Far
Sector - Developer Tools; B2B
A chalet booking platform that helps people search, book and pay online while helping chalet owners manage and list their chalets
Founders - Latifah Altamimi, Eman Alsuwailem
Sector - Real Estate; C2C
A creator of ingeniously life hacking products, with our first product being the Tesh.Tesh portable bidet
Founders - Ragad Alsharif
Sector - eCommerce; B2C
A car subscription app that allows consumers to get a car on a monthly basis and return or exchange anytime
Founders - Eslam Hussein, Pulkit Ganjoo
Sector - eCommerce, Automotive; B2C
An e-commerce site selling intimate wear to the Saudi market, helping our customers find the best fit, size and style
Founders - Christina Ganim, Nicola Cuoco
Sector - eCommerce; B2C
An application that gives users access to all the best gyms around them, with one membership
Founders - Anwaar Adnan Alrefae, Bader AlEssa, Wael AlThuwayne
Sector - HealthTech, On-demand; B2C
A location-based ad and analytics platform that helps physical stores increase sales by creating geo-retargeted ads on platforms like Facebook and Google
Founders - Mohamed Fergany, Mustafa Raslan, Mohamed Atef
Sector - AdTech, Data; B2B, B2C
A platform for educational centers and families that helps children read more books while having fun and staying engaged
Founders - Youcef Chaib, Abdelhamid Harizi, Fabienne Harizi, Mahfoud Sidi Ali Mebarek, Hichem Saadi
Sector - EdTech; B2B, B2C
A recruitment solution for businesses in retail and service industries to boost productivity in managing their candidates and making the right hires
Founders - Mohamed T. Ibrahim, Abdulrahman A. Al-Mudiheem, Afnan Sherbeeni
Sector - HRTech; B2B
A web application protection and code security platform for developers
Founder - Eslam Salem
Sector - Security; B2D
A marketplace for car parts that helps individuals and service centers buy used or new parts faster and get it delivered anywhere in KSA
Founders - Abdullah Bin Shamlan, Ameen Mahfouz, Abdulaziz Al Ashram
Sector - Automotive, eCommerce B2B, B2C
An online ordering system through which restaurants can create their own branded ordering website and app, almost instantly
Founder - Abdullah Alsaadi
Sector - eCommerce; B2B
Car rental application in which customers can quickly and easily rent his / her favorite car at a competitive price
Founders - Abdulkader Almkinzy, Ashraf Alfeky, Khalid Joharji
Sector - On-demand, Automotive; B2C
An on-demand mobile app for pet care services and products at home
Founders - Fady Azzouny, Abdelreheem Hussien, Zeinab Al-Jazeery, Ayman Saif, Mohamed Khazbak
Sector - On-demand, HealthTech; B2C
Are you looking to promote your demo day? Contact us at [email protected].