TURN8, a new seed accelerator programme organized by DP World, held its final ‘Innov-a-thon’ startup pitching competition on June 25 in Dubai. This was the second such event held in Dubai, and one of several international events hosted by TURN8 to uncover innovative ideas for its seed accelerator programme.
The competition was held in the late evening/early morning to accommodate Ramadan.
Even at such odd hours, more than 50 people attended. After opening remarks, 25 startup teams pitched their business idea for one minute each.
The TURN8 jury panel then chose 15 teams to evolve their idea further and present a five-minute pitch at the end of the evening. Of these, four teams were pre-qualified for the TURN8 seed accelerator to be considered for final selection.
The event also included a live pitch via Skype from a team in Kiev, Ukraine, which demonstrated a gaming drone, as well as a keynote and interview with the team from startup Tech Backpack, a social media management system for journalists. Having recently graduated from the i360accelerator seed funding programme, also based in Dubai, the Tech Backpack team shared their experience of being accelerated from concept to investor-grade prototype.
Over the past several months, TURN8 has held similar events in Egypt, Turkey, Belarus and the U.S. TURN8 also accepted ideas through an online portal, as well as from DP World employees and partners. All together, more than 185 ideas were pitched and/or submitted. TURN8 is now in the final stages of choosing the 10 startup teams that will participate in its first seed accelerator session, scheduled to begin this fall in Dubai.
Yousif Al Mutawa, CIO DP World and TURN8 Director, said, “The scouting phase has been a very exciting and promising venture. We heard many excellent ideas. It has been a challenge to select the ones we want to accelerate.”
Accelerated teams will travel to Dubai for four months, where they will be supported by up to $24,000 in funding per team, training, mentorship and other necessary resources to develop a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) prototype, business plan and go-to-market strategy. When teams are ready, TURN8 will help them meet and present to potential investors.
“We want this programme to be a catalyst for the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem in the UAE,” said Al Mutawa.
