QBIC celebrates virtual Demo Day for 14th batch

Tribune News Network Doha Under the theme “Qatar’s Fastest-Growing Startups, Your Next Smart Investment”, Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC), the larg...

Tribune News NetworkDohaUnder the theme “Qatar’s Fastest-Growing Startups, Your Next Smart Investment”, Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC), the largest and pioneering mixed-use business incubator in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region founded by Qatar Development Bank, celebrated its second Virtual Demo Day. Twelve graduating startups from QBIC’s Lean Entrepreneurship Program and Lean Accelerator Program, presented their projects before a panel of experts, angel investors, aspiring entrepreneurs and stakeholders. This cohort i.e. the 14th batch of graduates from the aforementioned programs, had received weeks of training, guidance and counseling from the different teams in the incubator. Hosted by Mahmoud Al-Mahmoud, Entrepreneurship Adviser, the Demo Day was held at the Bedaya Center, and was sponsored by the incubating partner, Ooredoo Network, and the entrepreneurship ecosystem partners, Qatar Financial Center, Doha Tech Angels, Mansour Bin Khalifa Holding Group and Snoonu. The startups that qualified and presented are: Caffeine, Cybergy, iFor Build, Smart Shuttle, Souqti, StopOver, StoryDeck, The Real State CRM, Vastry, VOP, Faserly, and Sparets. Each start-up was given a three-minute window to present their project, followed by a Q&A session with the panel of experts. Commenting on this event, Hamad bin Dashin Al-Qahtani, Director General of QBIC, said, “QBIC, and QDB of course as our founding organization, was and still is the first and largest supporter of entrepreneurship in Qatar. We strive year after year to develop our programs and incubators to accommodate the largest possible number of start-ups and SMEs to serve our vision and that of our beloved country, Qatar. We strive to achieve excellence in this area in line with our goal to achieve the diversification of the local economy and also to help Qatari companies access local, regional and international markets.”This year, QBIC has prepared a website dedicated to Demo Day, where investors, aspiring entrepreneurs and experts are able to view the list of participating startups and organize virtual meetings with the startup-owners. The site can be accessed via demoday.qbic.qa. It is worth noting that, despite the graduation of these startups, QBIC will stay in touch with them to continue providing them with advice and guidance in order to ensure the existence of a robust business ecosystem and provide a sustainable business environment for entrepreneurs in Qatar.Twelve startups present their projects to investors, experts and aspiring entrepreneurs