The innovation platform announced a new EGP 30 million fund for startup ventures during the closing ceremony of Innoventures’ Startup Reactor Accelerator at Cairo Mariott, Zamalek on the 6th of December 2016.
“We’re very excited about this new fund, and more details will be announced in the coming two months,” said Hesham Wahby, CEO of Innoventures. Wahby added that they were happy to welcome 2 new partners at Innoventures, Amr Sadek and Munaf Emam.
“Amr Sadek comes from an investment banking background, and Munaf Emam will bring his experience in mentorship and training to our team in the next phase,” said Wahby, adding that, “they are really the ideal people to join our team now that we are launching this fund.”
In addition to growing their team of partners, Innoventures will also launch 2 new innovation spaces, besides their pre-existing Ideaspace in Heliopolis, to serve as hubs for young entrepreneurs. In partnership with EiTESAL and ITIDA, Innoventures will launch a co-working space in Borg El Arab, and another at Suez University, in partnership with the university and the Scientific Research Academy.
“They will be ideal environments for startups to work in, but they will also be open to the public,” said Wahby. “Anyone who is working on a new project, or has a prototype he wants to experiment with can find the space to do that there.” Innoventures is already actively encouraging entrepreneurship in Egypt through its various activities, which Wahby says will focus on securing investments in the coming phase.
Moreover, Innoventures also declared the 3 winners, chosen from a group of 10, of its Startup Reactor Accelerator’s third cycle. Cash prizes worth 10,000 Euros were given to the 3 startups.
First place went to ZeroWaste Technologies, for their project, CanBank, that encourages people to recycle cans in exchange for phone credit. The innovation secured them 5,000 Euros. The second cash prize, 3,000 Euros, went to Tripdizer, a one-stop shop website that helps travellers arrange their trip in 1 place. The third prize went to Perligos, an online gate that allows customers to solve their complaints by connecting them to the right people in the business.
“Startup Nova: Entrepreneurship Explosion” was held by Innoventures in partnership with VC4A, ABAN, Epic 101 Studios, Bayt.com, DailyNews Egypt and IDEERA. Innoventures LLC was launched in 2011 as an innovation platform to bring the wealth of original Egyptian ideas to market by providing a platform catering to today’s entrepreneurs in the region. Innoventures’ programmes have created widespread impact, and provided exposure to a vast network of mentors, investors and entrepreneurs. The company also runs idea sharing and networking programmes and provides facilities for co-working and hosting events, activities and services for entrepreneurs and innovators called Ideaspace.
VC4A is a platform for startups, dedicated to building game changing companies on the African continent and supporting the growth of Africa’s startup ecosystem. Together with Innoventures LLC, VC4A believes Startup Reactor will be a milepost in building the continent’s entrepreneurship community, expanding its international network.
Caption: Egyptian entrepreneurs at Innoventures conference
