“Man is essentially ignorant, and becomes learned through acquiring knowledge..”
Ibn Khaldun.
Auspicious startups in the Arab world are increasing as demonstrated by the number of businesses selected by the Y Combinator Program in 2022.
Do companies like Airbnb, Reddit, Twitch, Dropbox, or Coinbase ring the bell? These businesses were once a startup. What do they have in common? They were selected for the Y Combinator Program.
Since 2005, they have been empowering startups to bloom around the world. And it looks like startups from the MENA region have been taking a chance in recent years. Since 2012, only a few startups, or none at all, have been selected for the program. But things are changing for Arab businesses for good.
As an example, 2022 has seen 9 innovative solutions from the Arab world taking advantage of this program to boost their startups. See who is involved and what they are doing!
Startups selected in the YC program in 2022
From financial solutions to education and marketplaces, many Arab entrepreneurs are making a difference with outstanding solutions. Have a look at these promising startups.
1. Drahim
- Founders: Sultan Alkhayal, and Yasser Alshurihi
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- City: Riyadh
- Industry: Fintech, Analytics, Investing
- Batch: Summer 2021
Drahim is a financial solution for people living in Saudi Arabia, Bahrein, and United Arab Emirates. You can manage all of your bank transactions in one place. It comes with many perks such as easy planning and budgeting, cash flow overview, and bank integration so you don’t have to log in to every bank account to check on the financial information.
What sets this application apart is the AI engine that advises users on low-risk auto-investing stock plans. These plans are suggested based on daily transactions from points of sales, money transfers, and receivables.
By the way, its name means money. It comes from the Greek word ‘Drachma’, a currency used from the Archaic period until the euro came in place. Drahim is the way that word is pronounced in Arab. Given the relevance that coin had in Greek, Drahim’s founders thought that name would fit into what they are offering to their customers.
2. Levers
- Founders: Abdullah Alkharashi, Ammar Alkhouli, and Motasim Zawawi
- Founded In: 2022
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- City: Jeddah
- Industry: FInops, Fintech, Enterprise
- Batch: Summer 2021
Levers is a dedicated accounting service that supports startups and SMEs with anything related to financial management and reports. Instead of having scattered financial files, they offer an application that centralises all the information in one place.
In short, they provide tools that automate all the bookkeeping processes. Once bank accounts and other financial apps are integrated, Levers can create financial reports both for making decisions and compliance.
However, a dedicated bookkeeper will be always available to assist or clear any doubt that may surge from the financial reports. Ultimately, Levers stand behind growing business with their bookkeeping services so they can save time and avoid error-prone tasks. Hence, its name.
3. Erad
- Founders: Salem Abu-Hammour, Youssef Said, and Faris Yaghmour
- Founded In: 2022
- Country: Saudi Arabia
- City: Riyadh
- Industry: Fintech
- Batch: Summer 2021
Erad is an impressive option for startups based in the MENA region looking for non-dilutive funds. Once sales, marketing, and bank platforms are connected, they can tailor personalised investment offers based on the business data.
As it is, it represents a great opportunity to boost small business growth without giving away equity. The funding process is very simple. With the data provided, the business owners will get funding offers after 48 hours. The service is free until users pick one of the fund offers.
From that point on, they will only have to pay a fixed fee over the amount funded. Users won’t have to wait for weeks or months for the funds approved as they are released just after they choose one of the fund plans. This program comes with several benefits, but it is worth noting that this financing process is Shariah-compliant.
4. Amal Invest
- Founders: Yazin Alirhayim
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: Bahrain
- City: Manama
- Industry: Fintech, Investing, Retail
- Batch: Winter 2022
Amal Invest is an investing app built by Muslims for Muslims. The app scans the market for stocks, and even funds, to filter the halal ones. This helps the modern Muslim to expand their investment options beyond mere gold or cash.
Yazin ALirhayim understood that many Muslims tend to avoid investing in stocks or funds because checking which one of them follows the Shariah takes a lot of time. Thanks to technology, this investing app can automatise that process to give peace of mind to Muslim investors.
Besides that, what does it make this app shine? Users won’t pay a percentage-based fee over their investments. Instead, they pay a fixed monthly fee to get a Fund Purifier service, perform unlimited halal trades, model portfolios, make Zakat calculations, and more.
By the way, the Fund Purifier is a service that let users scan non-compliant funds to exclude non-halal stocks. This way, they can be sure they are investing ethically. But there is more as they can track changes just in case the chosen stocks become non-halal.
5. FinFlx
- Founders: Amr Yussif, and Matthieu Capelle
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- City: Dubai
- Industry: Fintech, B2B, SaaS
- Batch: Winter 2022
FinFlx is a collaborative platform that offers software as a service. With this tool, HR, finance and senior management can work together to manage gratuity liability. It comes with many tools that help the team forecast, manage and report everything related to pension plans.
Their services are especially focused on SMEs from the MENA region. By using their services, these SMEs can plan and fund their End of Service Gratuity liabilities for expat workers. FinFlx supports these enterprises in the whole process: from calculating gratuity payments and building a healthy balance sheet to risk management.
In short, the software runs complex calculations to show several possible scenarios to plan for any gratuity payments, secure solvency, and be compliant with EUA’s labor laws at the same time.
6. Kaso
- Founders: Manar Alkassar, and Ahmed Soliman
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- City: Dubai
- Industry: Food Tech, Supply Chain, Marketplace
- Batch: Winter 2022
Kaso is a food marketplace that connects restaurants and suppliers in the Middle East. By using the latest technology, they automatise the supply chain to reduce food waste and save time and money both for restaurants and suppliers.
For restaurant owners, the application offers them a common place to meet several suppliers and chat with them, compare prices, receive live support to avoid mistakes on orders, submit them and pay later, and get access to a vast suppliers catalog.
For suppliers, Kaso helps them boost their sales by increasing the visibility of their products, diminishing order errors, and receiving unique credit facilities. They also can track orders, improve the decision-making process with Kaso analytics tools, and update their product catalog.
7. Skillza
- Founders: Anand Bhashyam
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- City: Dubai
- Industry: Education
- Batch: Winter 2022
Skillza is an online education platform where kids can learn how to code. They also get to learn related skills such as analytical, design, and communication thinking. The main objective of these classes is to empower kids with the necessary tools to be confident in their thinking process.
The courses are for kids coming from the Middle East and North Africa ranging from 6 to 16 years old. Given the issues present in the education system and the lack of Arabic content to learn to code, Skillza shows itself as a solution.
Because trust and transparency are important, Skillza offers a free demo session. This way, both students and parents get a notion of what’s at stake. Besides, info sessions are in place to cast out any doubt and ask relevant questions.
8. Zywa
- Founders: Nuha Hashem, and Alok Kumar
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: United Arab Emirates
- City: Dubai
- Industry: Fintech, Neobank, Payments
- Batch: Winter 2022
Zywa is all about empowering teenagers from the MENA region. They offer an app where they can receive, spend and manage money. It is a great opportunity to involve them in a cashless society.
This app is specially created for teens. This means that it comes with amazing challenges to get zems and zyons (Zywa gems and coins teenagers can turn for iPhones, PlayStations, and more).
After creating an account, they get a virtual one and join the waitlist to get a physical one. It’s a great way to avoid the inconvenience of using cash or their parent’s card for payments. It goes without saying that also boosts their independence under their parents’ oversight.
9. Bloom
- Founders: Abdigani Diriye, Ahmed Ismail, Khalid Keenan, and Youcef Oudjidane
- Founded In: 2021
- Country: Sudan
- City: Khartoum
- Industry: Fintech, Neobank, Consumer, DeFi
- Batch: Winter 2022
Bloom has created a mobile banking app for students and young professionals to get access to the US dollar banking system. The app is available for anyone in Sudan, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Canada, The US, and the UK.
Just like with any payment app, users can manage their money and pay for local goods. They also can receive international transfers from 20+ countries. Users just have to download the app and get a US bank account in minutes.
Conclusion
Thanks to initiatives like the Y Combinator Program, and other factors, the MENA region has become a great environment for startups to arise. As a consequence, more and more entrepreneurs dive into the market to solve common issues taking place in the Middle East and North Africa. As it is, the future looks bright for even more startups to join the wave!
