Beirut, Lebanon – 11 December, 2015: As part of their commitment to provide a conducive environment for the creation and development of Lebanese startups and SMEs, Berytech, Berytech Fund II and IM Capital took part in the BDL Accelerate 2015 International Startup Conference, that was held on the 10th and 11th of December 2015 at Forum de Beyrouth under the theme “Emerging Startup Ecosystems”.
This year, the conference gathered more than 7,000 visitors including international speakers, entrepreneurs, investors and support institutions from major and emerging entrepreneurship ecosystems.
During the conference, Berytech, Berytech Fund II and IM capital organized several activities focused on entrepreneurs’ needs from business idea to product development, funding, growth and scaling. In addition the 3 entities were one of the largest sponsors as they backed the conference’s lounge, which was one of the busiest spaces at the event showcasing their opportunities for entrepreneurs and their growing ecosystem and entities including:
- Business support
- Funding
- Matching capital and technical assistance
Maroun N. Chammas, Chairman and CEO of Berytech, commented on the occasion: “Berytech and Berytech Fund are designed to empower start-ups and SMEs through providing the tools and resources needed to realize their full potential. Our participation in BDL Accelerate, for the second consecutive year, helped us connect with these entrepreneurs, exchange information and experiences and offer them tailor-made mentoring with key industry experts”.
Over the two days of the conference, Berytech Fund II announced their investments for the year with great acclaim. More than $20 million worth of funds were committed as follows: up to $500,000 in Appdater, a real time news aggregator in the MENA region; up to $600,000 in Atbaki, a food recipe centered platform; up to $2 million in CCCC, a cloud computing and IP based telephony global provider; up to $2 million in Cinemoz, the leading Arabic video on demand platform focusing on both original and serialized content; up to $1.5 million in Element^N, an Internet of Things activation platform powered by in-house cloud technology; up to $2 million in Et3arraf, a matrimonial centric matchmaking platform for the Arab world; up to $4 million in Instabeat, the first and only goggle-mounted swim tracking wearable that has received critical approval in the US by the professional swimming community; up to $2.5 million in Loop, a global transportation as a service provider proposing an electrical scooter sharing scheme; up to $2 million in Mobinets, a mobile networks and operators company; up to $2 million in Ounousa, an online women magazine that is now amongst the top five most visited websites in MENA for its category; up to $900,000 in Slighter, a smart lighter whose goal is to help users to stop smoking; and finally up to $300,000 in YallaPlay, an online gaming application with a strong artificial intelligence component.
As part of the activities planned for the conference, Berytech organized speed mentoring sessions that paired promising entrepreneurs with top mentors for a 9-minute, one-on-one discussion, matched to address their specific business challenges. This activity resulted in more than 100 conversations, sparking initial funding conversations and planting seeds for new long-term connections.
During his keynote speech Paul Chucrallah , Managing Director of Berytech Fund II, talked about the massive impact circular 331 had on the perceptions and behaviors of people in Lebanon driving more entrepreneurs to start companies and even attracting Lebanese entrepreneurs who had set up shop outside the country.
The fund is interested in all kinds of innovative projects, futuristic opportunities and integrating technologies, covering the fields of ICT, digital content (games, music, etc.) fashion, renewable energies and industrial design.
