On September 6, 2018, ten startups from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain competed at The Ritz-Carlton, Bahrain, and presented their businesses in front of a high-ranked jury to win a fully-sponsored participation in this year’s Start. Up! Germany Tour in Düsseldorf, Cologne, and the Ruhr area.
The Start. Up! Germany Pitch Night was organized by the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO), partnered by Audi, Lufthansa, the Goethe-Institute Riyadh, Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation, Tamkeen and the Saudi-Bahraini startup community with the aim of finding the best startups in the in fields of Smart Cities and Mobility/Logistics.
In the Smart Cities category, KAUST-based startup Falcon Viz, together with Bahraini startup Nakheel, won the competition and a fully-sponsored, one-week startup tour to Germany including the participation at the Start.up! Germany Tour 2018 in October. Falcon Viz is focuses on 3D surveying and mapping by Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) with an autonomous integration of planes, copters, and 3D software solutions. Points being equal, the Saudi startup shared the trophy with the Bahraini startup Nakheel, which builds an Internet of Things based solution that enables the early detection of Red Palm Weevil in palm tree farms, which in turn helps farmers take action and save productive trees.
„We would like to know more about the international products and aim to enhance our local technology we are working on. It is really an honor to win such a competition, to explore the global market and global scene, where you meet and network with other startups as well meeting investors. To think global helps any startup to better their business,“ emphasized winner Anas Dahlawi of FalconViz after the pitch event.
In the second category - Mobility & Logistics - two Saudi startups won the competition and will participate to the following tour: Sprent and Hommycook. Sprent is a tech-startup that proposes to “buy, pick up and deliver” any item you would like while providing the user with live updates regarding the status and whereabouts of their order and delivers in less than one hour. Hommycook provides a digitized food ordering platform that specializes in serving and delivering affordable, fresh, and healthy home-cooked meals, all the while encouraging those with hidden culinary talents to enter the professional food and beverages industry.
"After our successful premiere at the 1st German-Saudi Startup Competition last March, our follow-up competition has shown again the great potential and the inventiveness of the young population of this region. GESALO and the German business community are fully supporting these local talents and hope that more and more young people are choosing the rewarding way of entrepreneurship," summed up Oliver Oehms, Delegate of German Industry and Commerce for Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen.
Due to the Kingdom’s rising ecosystems, startups from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will participate in the tour for the first time. Last year, 46 start-ups from 16 countries such as USA, Brazil, France, Kenya, Russia, and South Korea took part in the roadshow through Germany’s innovation hubs. In addition to pitch events and workshops within the individual categories, the startups can expect a series of meetings and matchmakings with German and international investors, public institutions and companies such as thyssenkrupp, Bayer, Vodafone, Henkel, Trivago, WILO, Evonik, KPMG and DB Schenker. More information about the tour: www.startupgermany2018.de