Startup Minute

Listen to Andre Abi Awad, founder of Entreprenergy, the largest community of entrepreneurs and business professionals in the Arab World connecting thousands of decision makers from different industries, including non-tech, with various opportunities.

Over the past 11 years, he visited 20 countries as a motivational speaker and trainer, empowering aspiring entrepreneurs to start their business using the Lean Methodology, proven business models, and validation techniques, in addition to training and consulting for companies to grow and scale their business locally and internationally.

Learn more and join the conversation at startupminute.co/thepodcast

Searchie, Arabnet's Startup Battle Dubai winner, raised $2M to continue changing the face of recruitment and the way companies retain and develop their talent ; Mashkor, a new app that is now trending in Kuwait and transforming the way local shopping and local courier happens in the region ; Toronto-based direct-to-consumer fine jewelry startup Mejuri, founded by a Jordanian entrepreneur, has raised $23 million in Series B led by New Enterprise Associates, one of the leading and oldest American VC firm ; Ex-Careem GM has raised seed funding for his Saudi-based Sary, an on-demand wholesale grocery platform, to disrupt wholesale market ; Samsung's vertical Sero TV brings Insta Stories to a big screen!! Samsung has unveiled "The Sero," a 43-inch quantum-dot QLED TV with an attention-grabbing gimmick. It can be flipped around 90 degrees, letting you watch Instagram, Snap and other smartphone videos in their native vertical configurations ; The latest trailer for Men in Black: International is almost exclusively moments of Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson goofing around with sci-fi tech. And to keep the movie from (somehow) getting too serious, it seems that a tiny alien voiced by Kumail Nanjiani will be following them around pretty much the entire journey. The film comes out on June 14th.

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Bahrain’s Inagrab raises investment for Dalooni, a mobile platform that connects businesses with independent sales agents ; Affectiva, an Emotion AI startup founded by American-Egyptian entrepreneur, raises $26 million ; In cooperation with the Kuwait Economic Society, "COFE App will go global", says Zev Siegl, Starbucks Co-founder at the launch of COFE 3.0 (COFE App is an online coffee-centric marketplace mobile application conceptualized in Kuwait and developed in Silicon Valley to connect coffee house chains and specialty coffee roasters with coffee lovers through a seamless, easy and efficient user-interface) ; Tired of doing laundry? Meet LaundryMan, an on-demand app providing the finest hassle-free and affordable laundry and dry-cleaning service in Dubai ; Seeders - IM Capital Co-Invest in Handiss, a web platform that connects construction & consulting companies with quality freelance engineers and architects, at competitive prices, in a timely manner, while facilitating secure payment between parties ; Zain Bahrain continues to support local startups as it relaunches its initiative "5ameesna Zain" which has provided a solid platform for small businesses to increase their customer reach by providing them with opportunities to showcase their products to new audiences ; Supernatural Arabs: Trailer of Middle East's first-ever Netflix series is here.

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Are you looking for an easy access to different opportunities around the world including scholarships, conferences, exchange programs, and internships?

Watch "Apps of our Lives" episode 2 to learn about this free and open-access platform which empowers today’s youth to achieve their educational and career goals.

Featured App: Youth Opportunities

Youth Opportunities is the largest opportunity discovery platform for youth across the world. Millions of youth have trusted Youth Opportunities as the most effective platform to find latest opportunities for free and avail important educational contents for continued self-development.

Share it with your friends and let us know what you think in the comments & what to talk about next time in order to find more apps that can simplify our lives.

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Food delivery startup LUNCH:ON has secured a total of $5.5m in funding after adding a further $2.5m in the final closing of its Series A round ; Egyptian AI startup, MerQ, has closed its seed funding round to develop its products, mainly Sally, a chatbot through Facebook that introduces Egyptians to all credit card systems within the country ; Saudi-based mobile-only fresh fruits and vegetables ecommerce platform Haseel has raised an undisclosed sum of investment but it is safe to assume that it’s a seven-figure USD considering the investors involved ; Dubai-based eyewear e-commerce startup in the Middle East, eyewa has successfully closed a $7.5 million (approximately AED20 million) Series A funding round in order to further expand its operations ; Shedul, the Dubai-born booking platform for salons and spas backed by MEVP since its inception has successfully raised a $20M Series B funding round, valuing the company at $105 million ; Uber's potential IPO is expected to be one of the 10 largest in US history ; PointCheckout, an online payment method for reward points and miles, has closed a seed round of $600K to allow users to pay with their reward points and miles online at over 1,000 leading online merchants across the MENA region ; The final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy finally has a name (previously only known as “Star Wars Episode IX”): “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will be released on December 20, 2019.

Watch the full episode and join the conversation at startupminute.co. 

Mobile apps have fundamentally transformed nearly every aspect of our lives. From banking on the go to ordering groceries online and communicating with others, there is literally an app for everything.

Watch the full Apps of our Lives series and join the conversation at startupminute.co.

The prominent human rights' lawyer Amal Alamuddin Clooney was just appointed UK Special Envoy For Media Freedom ; His Majesty King Abdullah meets a group of young Jordanian entrepreneurs ; Microsoft confirms you really, really don’t need to ‘safely remove’ USB flash drives anymore ; ArabyAds secures USD 6.5 Million in funding from Equitrust, the investment arm of Choueiri Group ; Algerian edtech startup Quizzito won the pitch competition at first edition of STEP Saudi ; Oliv, the UAE-based careers platform connecting employers with young talent, has closed $2 million Series A funding round ; Batman’s greatest nemesis “Joker” hits theaters October 4, check out the official trailer! 

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The first FuckUp Night Beirut in 2019 is here!

As part of the global movement and event series brand, Fuckup Nights that shares stories of professional failure; FNF Lebanon and Syria organized FuckUp Nights Beirut Vol. VIII at Foundersbei on March 29th.

Watch the full episode and join the conversation at startupminute.co.

As part of the global movement and event series brand, Fuckup Nights that shares stories of professional failure; FNF Lebanon and Syria organized FuckUp Nights Beirut Vol. VIII at Foundersbei on March 29th.

Watch the full episode and join the conversation at startupminute.co.

SHE CAN 2019 turns the focus on failures in entrepreneurship to empower Egypt's female entrepreneurs ; Egyptian e-sports company GBarena raises seed funding ; Refugees with innovative ideas in Canada can now apply to the Jumpstart Program ; Gmail turns 15, gets Smart Compose improvements and email scheduling ; Fodel raises $2.6 million in pre-Series A ; Impossible Foods and Burger King are launching an Impossible Whopper ; Nadine Labaki will be the first ever Arab president of the Un Certain Regard jury at Cannes!

Watch the full episode and join the conversation at startupminute.co.