StartUp Bahrain, the leading platform for startups in the Kingdom of Bahrain, recently hosted the eighth edition of the eagerly anticipated StartUp Bahrain Pitch series. This event was organized in collaboration with key industry stakeholders, including the Ministry of Industry & Commerce, the Labour Fund (Tamkeen), the Bahrain Economic Development Board, and Bahrain Development Bank (BDB). This event also comes as a special edition of the series in partnership with the Supreme Council for Women and took place at Riyadat Mall. The event featured a keynote speech by the General Partner of 500 Global, Amal Dokhan, who shared her personal experience on challenges she faced as an entrepreneur, the risks and opportunities to grow in that field.

This edition of the event highlighted five Bahraini startups presenting their innovative business ideas to a distinguished panel of judges featuring local and regional experts, including: Fajer Alpachachi, General Manager at Hope Ventures, Vijay Tirathrai, Managing Director of Riyadh Techstars, Eman Shakoor, Founder & CEO of Blossom Accelerator, and Amal Dokhan, General Partner at 500 Global.

The five startups went through an intensive fundraising and pitching bootcamp, titled ‘Raise: Art of Fundraising’, carried out by industry experts ahead of qualifying to pitch in this event. Among the participating startups were Arsedh, a platform for smart, contactless digital alternative of paper receipts allowing business owners and shoppers to attain their proof of sales by having digital receipts directly transferred from Point of Sales systems to smart phones; Imprint Production (Ba9ma), a local Bahraini production company that focuses on Bahraini filmmaking and art; Sellou, a social media app with a unique focus on location to connect consumers to places, products and people; IBuildNow, an online local multi-vendor marketplace set to digitalize the construction industry completely, and lastly Siin, a B2C marketplace that aims to revolutionize e-commerce for buyers and sellers through live video.

Following a lineup of highly engaging pitches, the panel of judges conducted a thorough evaluation of each startup’s potential and ideas. Ultimately, Siin, founded by Hesham Al Saati, was announced as the first-place winner.

“StartUp Bahrain Pitch was a pivotal stage for spotlighting our startup, and we couldn’t be more grateful to all the stakeholders that poured their resources and tools into providing us with such support,” said Hesham Al Saati. “ Our heartfelt appreciation extends to the Ministry of Industry & Commerce, Tamkeen, the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Bahrain Development Bank, the esteemed judging panel, and, of course, StartUp Bahrain, for granting us an incredible opportunity.” It is worth mentioning that Siin is establishing the Gulf’s premier live shopping marketplace, combining the excitement of live video with the ease of online shopping. Siin’s mission is to make live shopping easy, safe, and fun, and is planning to launch in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in January 2024.

If you’re interested to learn more about StartUp Bahrain and how you can be involved, follow @startupbahrain on social media, and get in touch to learn more.