Addenda UAE Blockchain Startup 1st runner up in MIT Arab Startup Competition

On March 28, sixty-five semifinalist teams of MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition went through the second round of judging, where they had to pitch their startups, ideas, and social enterprises to a judging committee of investors and industry experts, who provided a fair and transparent evaluation for each team. Prior to that, all semi-finalists underwent two day preparatory boot camp training.

On March 29, the 29 finalists underwent one final round of judging (in front of another judging committee than the day before). At this point, the judging committee selected the 9 winners of the competition, 3 winners for each track: Startups Track, Ideas Track, and Social Entrepreneurship Track.

The conference featured three discussion panels, titled: “Role of Governments in Fostering Growth of Digital Economies”, “Building on AI in Education to Prepare Tomorrow’s Workforce”, and “The Role of Fintech in Advancing Digital Economies”. The discussion panels brought speakers and action leaders from all over the world to share the latest on data, research, and industry trends.

As for the winners, in startups track 1st Place went to Mashvisor from Palestine. 1st runner up Repzo (Jordan), 2nd runner up Furnwish (Egypt). In the ideas track 1st Place Quadra (Lebanon), while the 1st runner up ADDENDA from UAE which is using blockchain to digitize insurance sector. The 2nd runner up DLOC Biosystems (Lebanon). As for the social Entrepreneurship track 1st Place Compost Baladi (Lebanon), 1st runner up Ahmini (Tunisia), 2nd runner up CanBank (Egypt).

Commenting on the competition, Hala Fadel (Chairperson of MIT Enterprise Forum Pan Arab) said: “Our 150 semifinalists from 12 different countries, and many women among them show how entrepreneurs in our region will lead the way towards change. This year we published for the first time an impact report and our competition has contributed to the creation of 14,000 jobs in our region, contributed 415 million dollars to the Arab world’s GDP, and shifted the mindset of thousands of Arabs. We are grateful to the many partners who supported this initiative.”