What a great day for the Lebanese startup ecosystem at GITEX Future Stars 2018 and for Speed@BDD!

Speed alumni Spike was crowned the winner of the Supernova Challenge and received $100K in cash. After applying alongside more than 200 startups to the competition and pitching today during the finals with 3 other Lebanese startups (MAJ Solution, Sympaticus, and Generics), Ziad, the founder of Spike, won over the crowd and the jury and walked away with the big title. Ziad had also received the 1st prize in the Healthcare innovation challenge and a spot in King’s College Dubai incubation program.

The Supernova competition winners also included Smart ESA‘s MAJ Solution who was awarded the best female led startup title and $10K in cash. Earlier on in the event, Slidr, who had been accelerated at the UK Lebanon Tech Hub, had received the chance to pitch in Accenture DIFC’s Fintech Investors day and access to Accenture’s network of partners.

We are extremely proud of the achievements of all of the Lebanese founders that participated in the delegation and are keen to continuously support the Lebanese ecosystem and help putting it on the global entrepreneurship map!

About the Lebanese Startup Delegation to GITEX Future Stars 2018

Building on last year’s momentum at GITEX Future Stars, the Speed@BDD team decided to replicate the effort this year and lead again the Lebanese Startup Delegation to GITEX Future Stars 2018. After receiving a sponsorship for a Lebanese Pavilion from the Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) and the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon (CCIABML) and with the support from the Lebanese Prime Minister’s office, Speed@BDD gathered 15 Lebanese-founded startups and led the Lebanese Startup Delegation to GITEX Future Stars 2018 for the second year in a row. The 15 startups are:

• Augmental is an educational technology application initially targeting 12 to 18 years old students where course material is adapted to each students learning abilities using Artificial intelligence and Augmented Reality.
• Beambot is a smart addition that allows businesses to control their warehouse lighting and cut their electricity bill by up to 50%.
• BlocRecs is a blockchain-powered platform that helps employers instantly validate the university degrees of job candidates. By automating the process of degree verification often handled by HR and universities’ registrars, BlocRecs helps users save a significant amount of time and money while eliminating any chance of degree fraud.
• Crowd Powered makes it easy for businesses and residential communities to access solar power. Our automated design allows consumers to design a solar power system that fits their needs, entirely online and with minimal input (e.g. location and monthly electrical consumption for businesses).
• GENERICS are premium, custom-made, wired earphones designed & developed to solve for poor fitting, uncomfortable earphones. Our proprietary custom making process combines science & art. With a video of your ears using your smartphone camera through our App, we leverage image processing, 3D Printers & advanced materials manipulated by skilled artisans to produce custom biocompatible tips.
• Hello Harold is a Classified Ads assistant that helps buyers and sellers choose a fair deal and optimise their second hand transactions. Thanks to our tailored artificial intelligence our solution provide you with the most accurate market data and predictions corresponding to your need. Hello Harold is currently a messenger bot focusing on the second-hand cars vertical.
• MAJ Solution digitizes construction industry (industry 4.0) and augments construction management by digitalizing workflows enabling predictive maintenance, preventive actions, better asset initialization and higher productivity. The platform creates integrated workflows and rules that streamline project flows without behavioral changes on the part of involved players.
• Mint Basil Market is a one-stop shop for all your healthy natural products ranging from food, natural cosmetics and eco-friendly household cleaning products, delivered to your door for free. We curate content around our products with influencers and experts in health and wellness so our customers can make informed purchasing decisions.
• Personafier is a subscription based content intelligence platform that gives you a real time insights on your target audience using hand picked sample of real people profiles.
• Slidr is a dynamic pricing technology that allows customers to buy products/services at prices always lower than retail while generating additional sales and margins for the retailers. Slidr has initiated its operation developing its own platform in the UK and is now looking to license its technology to third party e-commerce websites
• Smarke designs and develops cloud-connected access products that transform traditional locks into smart locks, granting the user remote unlocking and the power to share access with others. Smarke has recently launched Dropke, a smart mailbox, that earned a lot of good feedback at TechCrunch Disrupt 2018 in San Francisco.
• Spike monitors the patient’s daily behavior and jumps in with reminders and tips when needed about insulin, food, activity, etc.. In addition to that, Spike stores the patient’s data for further analysis and/or sharing with doctors and caregivers. Spike also provides a medicine adherence network and a real time dashboard for doctors.
• Switch2VU is a virtual tour platform for real estate brokers and developers, offering analytical data and customer behavior.
• Sympaticus offers an exciting new method of delivering Mental health treatment Therapy using an online platform. Sympaticus’ mobile app offers a facilitated self-help program for treating anxiety and depression through a personalized 12 weeks self-learning pathway facilitated by therapist intervention using video and text on our therapy-as-a-service platform.
• TeensWhoCode is an ed-tech startup based in Lebanon that allows schools in MENA to teach computer science through an adaptive learning platform. All students are part of an online and offline community where they can find mentors and internship opportunities in tech startups. Once a year, students can join a 4-week summer camp in a nearby city.