Shortlisted: 10 Startups To Look Out For At STEP Conference 2018 Here's a few of our picks worth watching at STEP (and beyond) this year.

STEP Conference 2018, which would be held on March 28-29, 2018 at Dubai Internet City, is back once again to gather the ecosystem for discussions on entrepreneurship, digital, fintech, and futurish tech, among others. Featuring panel discussions, startup competitions and networking opportunities, its STEP Startup Basecamp would be showcasing over 250 startups across ICT, e-commerce, fintech, AI, and more. Here's a few of our picks worth watching at STEP (and beyond) this year.

1. Eat Clean ME

With more than 500 choices around Dubai, UAE-based startup Eat Clean ME aims to simplify healthy eating by curating healthy options handpicked by a team of nutritionists to easily order online. Users can customize search options by selecting nutritional preferences to access a list of restaurants.

2. Etherty

Utilizing blockchain technology and smart contracts, Etherty aims to be a one-stop solution for global real estate properties and help people in buying, selling, investing and trading in the real estate sector through their crowd sale and trading platform. Etherty tokens or custom tokens for various projects would be used on the platform.

3. Tap

Launched in Kuwait in 2012, Tap Payments was started when its founders noticed the inefficiency of selling things online, with online transactions often taking a lengthy setup. The online payment service provider aims to simplify the process of online payment acceptance and collection for businesses. Consumers can also use the goTap app to pay upcoming payments such as mobile bill payments and internet and TV bills in an easy and secure way.

4. Genr8

The winner of the Hult Prize Intra Competition 2018, Genr8 aims to promote clean energy neutrality and digitize the renewable energy sector using blockchain tech to the structure and operation of the power industry. A P2P energy exchange platform, the startup wants to decentralize and distribute energy power and reduce costs.

5. WNNA

Founded in 2016 in Bahrain, WNNA is an AI-driven search platform utilizing the web to assist and provide users with personalized recommendations and monetizable actions. The platform is an intuitive-based engine recommending activities such as listening to music, watching movies, eating food, visiting attractions and more.

6. ekar

Licensed by the RTA, UAE-based startup ekar is a pay-as-you-go hourly car rental. Users can reserve a car online or via app for instant use or pre-booking, with various ekar cars stationed across the city's metro stations.

7. Yodawy

Egypt-based platform Yodawy is a consumer-facing healthcare management platform. The early-stage startup is focusing on pharmacy management by enabling users to order medications through its user-friendly app. The nearest pharmacy fulfills the order, and the platform also aims to facilitate digital pre-approvals from insurers.

8. letswork

The startup curates a community of co-working spaces across Dubai by partnering with hotels and restaurants to create spaces for its members to work anywhere. With locations in Downtown, D3, Deira, DIFC, Marina and more, members can sign up for daily, weekly or monthly packages and enjoy unlimited coffee, wi-fi, bookable meeting rooms, 20% F&B discount, access to community events and more.

9. RafiQ

RafiQ is a virtual assistant which allows your phone to understand Arabic voice commands, supporting various Arabic dialects. For now, it's only available through Android and recognizes Egyptian accent, though it can do various tasks of such as making phone calls, setting alarms, translating text from Arabic to English, booking a Careem, searching for products in Souq and more. Next up, they're planning to include tasks such as booking a doctor, ordering food and booking flight and hotel reservation.

10. Amal Glass

Using AI, Amal Glass is a smart device combining 25 assistive devices for people with visual impairment in one single device. Easy to use and at an affordable price, the smart device also has an application store to download and update apps. Some of the apps included are currency recognition, reading texts, defining the environment, in addition to more applications.

Related: Shortlisted: 10 Startups To Look Out For At STEP Conference 2017