500 Startups and Sanabil Investments will hold demo day on July 7th for the inaugural batch of the Sanabil 500 MENA Seed Accelerator. For the health and safety of participants and the community, the event will be streamed live for registered attendees.

Selected out of more than 500 applications, fourteen diverse startups from the MENA region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine will present their companies to an audience of accredited investors and key stakeholders. They have all successfully completed the 12-week accelerator program, which includes an investment of USD$100,000 per startup.

The tailor-made Program provides founders of pre-seed and seed-stage startups with the knowledge to help them successfully grow their business. Delivered by 500 Startups’ network of world-class mentors, the curriculum covers customer acquisition, marketing and sales, and fundraising, among other topics.

Recognizing the potential impact that companies can have on the environment, their workers and communities, companies participating in the Sanabil 500 MENA Seed Accelerator Program fill out questionnaires on the level of environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance, are provided with ESG resources, and are encouraged to work towards certain UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The startups that completed the program are: ElDokan: (Egypt), Elmetr: (Egypt), Firnas Aero: (Saudi Arabia), MammyApp: (Egypt), Mercheese: (Jordan), Modesta: (Palestine), MonkiBox: (United Arab Emirates), Sanad Cash: (Jordan), ShipCash: (Jordan), Starzly: (United Arab Emirates), Tenex: (United Arab Emirates), Zeew: (Jordan).

Applications are now open for Batch 2. Early-stage, tech-enabled startups in MENA with a working product and early traction can apply. The deadline for applications is July 15th.