Gitex Technology Week: It's startup time

Dubai - Investors, VCs, incubators and accelerators are gathering at the event to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs and startup

Global investors, venture capitalists, incubators, accelerators... name it, and they all will be at the region's premiere technology showcase, ready to unlock the potential of entrepreneurs and funding - especially for the sector considered to be the backbone of any economy.
Gitex Technology Week - along with Gitex Future Stars - begins today at the Dubai World Trade Centre, and if there's any group that's among the most excited about it, it's the startups.
With a spotlight on frontier technology that will transform corporations into global powerhouses, visitors will experience the latest in blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics and the Internet of Things at the 37th edition of the event.
Magnitt, largest online community for startups across the Mena region, also released its third-quarter report ahead of the mega event to show that 2017 has already crossed the levels of 2016 both in terms of deals and value. The report highlighted that 2017 continues to show a strong trend of growth in investments for Mena startups with deal flow in the first 9 months of 2017 of 169 deals, surpassing full year 2016 of 164 deals.
Philip Bahoshy, founder of Magnitt, said it is extremely positive to see continued investment in Mena startups.
"The summer is generally perceived as a quieter period in the region. However, we saw a flurry of announcements in September and we expect this trend to continue through to year end," he said.
With regards to overall trends, he said it is positive to see that the region has now surpassed total disclosed deals in 2017. "This highlights the increased appetite in the startup space from existing as well as new regional and international investors."
Magnitt does inform that there is still a gap to 2016's record total funding figure, Bahoshy attributes in part to Amazon's acquisition of Souq.com and the 20 per cent of 2017 deals, which have remained undisclosed. The third quarter of 2017 proves to be the strongest Q3 in recent history with 62 new deals and over $76 million of investment in Mena startups. While $254 million of investment was recorded in the first 9 months of 2017 (excluding Souq and Careem) only $28 million remained short of full year 2016 with three months still left to go.
"More and more investments will be channelled into the UAE-based startups and what we have seen is just the beginning, with global venture capitalists (VCs) eyeing share in lucrative Mena industry it only affirms Dubai as local and global hub for the churning out success stories in startup industry," Antoine Massad, chairman of AJM International and chairman of Beco Holdings, said.
Among the key sectors for startups, fintech dominates the top funded deals in third quarter of 2017 making up three of the top five investments including Paytabs ($20 million), Souqalmal ($10 million) and Beehive ($5 million). The 500 Startups have been the most active VC by number of deals following the launch of their Falcon Fund with 16 disclosed deals followed by MEVP with 10 and Turn8 with 8. The UAE continues to see the lion's share of activity claiming 50 per cent of deals, which makes up 37 per cent of total disclosed funding in the first nine months of 2017.
"Every year we receive about 900 investment opportunities, thanks to Gitex, this number increases significantly and we look forward to finding a hidden gem this year and every year," Walid Hanna, founder and CEO of MEVP, said.
Hanna, explains that startup investing is proving to be imperative for both financial and strategic investors in the UAE.
"We've already seen how companies like Anghami have disrupted the music and entertainment industry, how Careem has disrupted the taxi industry, and how Namshi has disrupted fashion retail. No industry in the UAE is immune from the effects of digital transformation, and startups are the best positioned to move fast and capitalise quickly on the changing technology landscape," he said.
Meanwhile, as startups in the region continue to reach valuations in the hundreds of millions, the UAE is becoming better at developing and importing superior engineering talent that will continue to build on new, disruptive technology trends, such as artificial intelligence, big data, augmented and virtual reality, and IoT, that will have transformative effects on every vertical of every industry.
-   sandhya@khaleejtimes.com