Saudi Arabia asserts role as MENA digital hub during ArabNet Riyadh

Riyadh – Mubasher: ArabNet Riyadh 2019 concluded on Wednesday with great success, providing an interactive platform for engagement between local and international experts and participants, with a special focus dedicated to tech startups.

The 8th edition of the largest technology gathering in Saudi Arabia was held at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center (RICEC) on 10-11 December, under the theme “Connecting the Kingdom.”

More than 6,000 attendees, 250 speakers from across the globe, 300 participating startups and 150 venture capital firms (VCs) were present at the event.

In his opening remarks, Founder and CEO of ArabNet Omar Christidis said that Saudi Arabia leading the region in terms of the size of its economy, purchasing power, and a new passionate generation that is very interested in technology.

Christidis noted that ArabNet now provides a special opportunity for tech startups in Saudi Arabia, which is becoming a hub for digital entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

The opening session hosted a number of keynote speakers, led by Prince Faisal bin Bandar; Bader Bin Mohammed Al Rajhi, Director of Al Rajhi Banking and Investment; and Bader AlShathry, Vice President and Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Alturki Holding.

The session discussed the main pillars of the Saudi Vision 2030, from the aspect of entrepreneurship, innovation and digitization.

Monshaat

Governor of the Saudi Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) Saleh Al Rasheed said that the authority aims at coping with the changes in the business environment to support entrepreneurs and innovators across all fields.

As a strategic partner to ArabNet, Monshaat is spreading the culture of entrepreneurship and creativity while supporting pioneering and talented youth.

Al Rasheed recently revealed that Monshaat aims at raising SMEs financing from 6.5% to 20%, in line with Vision 2030, noting that the 2020 budget allocated more than SAR 115 billion to financing SMEs, which reached more than 550,700 with a contribution of 28% to the Saudi GDP.

Inspire Saudi

A major track in ArabNet Riyadh 2019 that was sponsored by Monshaat, Inspire Saudi allowed leading investors from Silicon Valley in the US, UK, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Austria, Mexico, and MENA to focus on the journey tech companies and startups.

The track featured speakers like Bader Al-Zahrani, CEO of the Nomow Cultural Fund; Andrew Zalasin General Partner at Valve VC; and the founder of OZY Media, Carlos Watson.

Finverse

The Finverse track, sponsored by Banque Saudi Fransi, focused on financial technology (FinTech) and banking services in the modern age, with a number of industry leaders sharing their experience and experience with the attendees.

CIO Forum

The CIO Forum, sponsored by Mastercard, explored best practices for digital transformation across government and enterprise, featuring top CTOs and CIOs from the National Water Company, Alamar Foods, Arab National Bank, and experts from IBM, Mastercard and others.

Ad/Edge

Meanwhile, the Ad/Edge track tackled how brands, agencies, and publishers are adapting their strategies to keep up with cutting-edge technologies, consumer behaviours, and changes reshaping the industry.

In addition, the discussions on the DMS Stage focused on enabling digital players to thrive and contribute to Vision 2030. The event saw the announcement of a new collaboration between Mubasher Financial Service Group and Digital Media Services (DMS), the digital arm of Choueiri Group.

DMS was chosen as the Exclusive Media Representatives for mubasher.info, MENA’s number one platform for equity market news, data, analysis and investor tools.

Flat6Labs Regional

The event also hosted the first Flat6Labs Demo day that trained 16 startups from around the region to be ready to embark on the challenges facing tech startups and pitch their plans to 150 VCs.

New Additions

A new addition to the 8th edition of ArabNet Riyadh was the Masterclass, a half-day track of workshops focused on educational sessions on angel and individual investing, from deal sourcing to post-investment value growth and exit, looking at strategies successful angels use to minimise and manage risk, maximise likely returns, and best help new companies reach their full potential.

The event featured other dynamic initiatives, including The Academy that focused on marketing, e-commerce; as well as Pioneering Women, a platform that featured talks and mentorship sessions by successful female executives.

Arabnet also hosted entrepreneurs behind fast-growing startups to share their stories at Sawalif Riyadiya, including the Founders of Noon Academy, Mrsool, UnitX, and Qoyod, all of which have raised funding rounds in the millions of US dollars.

The event saw more than 500 one-on-one meetings between startups and investors at the Investor Lounge, sponsored by Startup Bahrain to allow for investment opportunities and support.

Announcements

Ben Wang, Senior Vice President of Global Payment Partnership at China's iPayLinks, announced the launch of the B2B wallet into the MENA market, while Mirrorr founder, Nagib Sabbagh, launch a new mass media tool that allocates monetary value in providing a figure-supported market plan for optimal ROI, based on a multi-metric rate card to empower marketing intelligence and grow business.

Competitions

The Startup Battle, sponsored by Riyad Bank, celebrated three winners from Saudi Arabia, namely Rihlaty, Oreyeon, and Ghallah. The three winning startups will get the chance to participate in ArabNet Startup Championship and compete for $20,000 cash prize and acceleration in Silicon Valley.

Winners of the Ideathon competition were also announced, with The Barber taking the first prize, while AGZA and CouriMe came in second and third places, respectively.

During the closing ceremony, Fahd Abdulaziz Abduldaem, Mesh’el Hisham, Abdulaziz Almehmadi, and Lamia Altalasi won the Ebtakr awards, receiving a total of SAR 300,000 of prizes along with incubation opportunities.

Mubasher is a media partner to ArabNet Riyadh 2019.

 

Mubasher Contribution Time: 12-Dec-2019 13:31 (GMT)
Mubasher Last Update Time: 12-Dec-2019 13:36 (GMT)