Seedstars Dubai 2015 Picks Finalists For Global Competition With this year's focus on the travel and the fintech sectors, the Switzerland-based startup contest held its Middle East regional event, Seedstars Dubai, at The Cribb in September.
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Over the last two years, more than 800 startups have pitched across 50 countries at the global seed-stage startup competition Seedstars World, as it seeks out promising startups in emerging markets worldwide. With this year's focus on the travel and the fintech sectors, the Switzerland-based startup contest held its Middle East regional event, Seedstars Dubai, at The Cribb in September. From a pool of 42 participating teams, 12 finalists were given six minutes to pitch their enterprises, and four minutes for a Q&A session with judges that included President and CEO of Innovation 360 Kamal Hassan, Seedstars World Regional Manager for CEE/MENA John Chehaibar, Souqalmal.com founder Ambareen Musa, and Choueiri Group Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Thiriet.
Taking the title of regional winner was AlemHealth, a cloud-based system connecting local hospitals in developing countries to doctors globally, followed by first runner-up Boxit, a platform connecting people who need extra storage space to store their items to logistic warehouses, and second runner-up Unnyhog, a fast-paced cross-platform game letting players compete in real-time from different devices. AlemHealth will now represent the UAE in February next year in the final pitching round to potentially win the US$500,000 equity prize.