Series A

Pre-Seed

Unknown Series Round

Others

Seed

Europe

Rest of World

Levant

Doha

Yosouf Al-Salehi

Hayfa Al-Abdulla

Danny Ramadan

If you're ready to take your business to the next level with Qatar Science & Technology Park, we want to hear your pitch.

Investment in Startup

Get insights into Qatar Science & Technology Park—funding strategy, portfolio, and key sectors. Find accurate data at Lucidity Insights.

Qatar Science & Technology Park

QSTP is an incubator of start-up enterprises and home for technology-based companies from around the world that provides premises, services, and support programs.

Obrizum

AI/IoT

Argus Cognitive

Healthcare

Meddy

Meddy is a doctor booking platform to help patients find the best doctors in Qatar and UAE.

Amman

ViaVii

Tourism

Travel

Mobile App

ViaVii is dedicated to ushering in the era of people-to-people travels by curating hand-picked experiences and itineraries, using a user-friendly platform that connects passionate travelers with hosts worldwide, offering a diverse range of experiences tailored to individual interests and budgets.

Kanari AI

SkipCash

Fintech

SkipCash is a mobile payment app that provides consumers and merchants with a convenient and enjoyable payment experience.

Classtap

Lifestyle

Fitness

Classtap platform that provides access to multiple gyms and studios through one membership, providing variety and flexibility of workouts.

EMMA Systems, Inc

Aviation

IT Services

Airlines and Aviation

EMMA is a young and diverse team of aviation innovators and software engineers that have observed how operational management platforms, including A-CDM, have been implemented so far: rigid, incomplete, and not always providing the benefits they were meant to bring.

Airlift

Delivery Services

Being You

Eyewear

Beauty

Fashion

Bonocle

Communities

Computer

Bonocle's mission is to use technology to improve the lives of the blind population.

Construction Clinic

Construction

MICEtribe (Contactless.io)

Event Management

Events

Doctor Dial

Health Care

Medical

EMBER Medical

Faayiz

Property Management

Real Estate

Faayiz is a high growth company in Qatar. Our mission is to revolutionize the way small to medium-sized businesses grow and compete by enabling their digital transformation. We provide industry-specific, cloud-based software solutions for small and medium-sized businesses in multiple product verticals.

Hapondo

Property

Proptech

hapondo is Qatar's homegrown real-estate marketplace that connects tenants and buyers with real estate companies.

Hitch

Cars

Transportation

Loqater

Mobile Apps

Muallemi

Education

EdTech

E-Learning

Muallemi provides high impact personalised 1-to-1 learning intervention programs for k-12 that are brought to life through innovative tech.

PARTIX

Automotive

E-Commerce

Renty

Rental

SaVest

sKora

Sports

Leading as the world's first AI Sports Agent by revolutionizing the pathways of aspiring athletes globally, unlocking their full potential!

SkyStruct

Software Dev/Test

Software

SkyStruct brings Method to the Madness of Construction through a Holistic Project Management SaaS Solution for the MENA region & Beyond

Subol

Security

Consumer Goods

Product Design

Talent AI Solutions

Machine Learning

Sajdah (Thakaa Technologies)

Electronics

Therappy

Wqtah

MaktApp

SaaS

Messaging

STA Enterprises

IT Consulting

OBRIZUM, the &lsquo;profit with purpose&rsquo; company shaping the workforce of the future through its data-driven training and knowledge transfer platform, has announced $11.5m in Series A funding.

 
The round takes OBRIZUM&rsquo;s total funding to $17m, was led by Guinness Ventures with contributions from existing investors Beaubridge, Juno Capital Partners and Qatar Science &amp; Tech Holdings, and new investor Celeres Ventures.

 
Founded by a trio of PhD-trained Cambridge scientists, Doctors Chibeza Agley, Sarra Achouri and Juergen Fink, OBRIZUM exists to empower large organisations to rapidly upskill and reskill staff through adaptive learning &ndash; saving businesses time, money and future-proofing their workforce.

 
OBRIZUM Co-founder and CEO Chibeza Agley, commented: 
 
&ldquo;Given that human capital costs are almost always one of the highest outgoing expenses in any business, not having a highly trained workforce who have easy access to the information they need to upskill fast is costing enterprises hundreds of millions of dollars every year and limiting their growth&nbsp;potential.&rdquo;

 
&ldquo;We founded OBRIZUM because we knew existing systems of learning and training would not withstand the ever-expanding and rapidly changing global body of knowledge. We have since been proven right in our predictions that automation would be crucial, time would be at&nbsp;a premium, personalisation would be a requirement rather than a luxury and data would be the most precious of all commodities.&rdquo;

 
The corporate training market is expected to grow to $475Bn by 2027(1)&nbsp;as companies across all sectors recognise the continual need to keep their workforce up-to-date, relevant and productive. However, they are currently unable to create learning programmes quickly enough to match their skills development needs. OBRIZUM&rsquo;s unique platform is built upon automation, adaptability, and analytics to enable businesses to measure digital learning and assessments at scale. With remote working booming post-COVID, the digital slice of the&nbsp;corporate learning market has upsized from 14% to c.33%(2)&nbsp;and climbing, so OBRIZUM&rsquo;s Series A comes at an opportune moment to cater to this growing demand.

 
&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&mdash;&ndash;

1 Global Corporate Training Market to garner $475 billion by 2027: AMR

2 Global EdTech Report 2020, IBIS Capital &amp; Cairneagle Associates

 
Trusted by customers in the corporate, government, aerospace, and defence sectors, OBRIZUM&rsquo;s platform provides a unique way of organising content resources meaning that companies can offer fast-paced learning opportunities, on any topic, which adjust in real-time based on proven understanding.

 
Its Artificial Intelligence automatically analyses and curates multimedia content into modules dramatically reducing manual effort for human operators. In addition to automating the build or updating of the learning programme, OBRIZUM individualises user journeys through content and assessments on-the-fly enabling ultra-efficient knowledge and skill transfer. Obrizum&rsquo;s algorithms can both challenge users on concepts they are good at and strengthen them in topics they are less proficient in.

 
Dr Agley added: 
 
&ldquo;We would like to thank our new and existing investors for their support in this milestone funding round for our business, as we accelerate our mission to shape the workforce of the future through adaptive learning powered by data-driven training and knowledge transfer. We also wouldn&rsquo;t be where we are today without our partnership with Capita Plc, who have enabled us to win corporate and public sector deals at an accelerated rate.&rdquo;

 
Shane Gallwey, Head of Guinness Ventures, commented: 
 
&ldquo;Obrizum&rsquo;s adaptive learning technology not only cuts training times for large enterprises but ensures better learning outcomes. The return on investment for enterprises who use their technology is startling and explains the take-up of Obrizum by household names here in Europe and the USA. At Guinness, we recognise the Obrizum management team as insightful and driven, and with a strong commercial appreciation of what is required to build a world-class business in the education technology field. We are delighted to support them on this journey.&rdquo;

 
Richard Abrahams, founding team member of PWC Raise, added: 
 
&ldquo;We were delighted to advise such an exciting business and talented management team again for their Series A. Despite more challenging market conditions, Obrizum has secured investment from investors who understand the value of their technology and the scale of the opportunity. We&rsquo;re excited to watch the progress of Obrizum as they build a category-defining business.&rdquo; 
&nbsp;

Ends

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Press enquiries:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:OBRIZUM@elementcommunications.co.uk">OBRIZUM@elementcommunications.co.uk</a>

 
About OBRIZUM:

OBRIZUM is a business-to-business digital learning technology company founded in 2015 by three PhD-trained Cambridge scientists. The multi-patented and award-winning OBRIZUM cloud platform automates the build, curation &amp; analysis of adaptive digital learning programmes for large organisations. OBRIZUM&rsquo;s bespoke artificial intelligence technology enables companies to make more efficient use of content resources and to measure and accelerate learning, so that they can move as fast as their markets and be ready to embrace the Future of Work.

OBRIZUM raises $11.5M Series A to shape the workforce of the future by rapidly upskilling and reskilling staff

QSTP reconfirms its trust in EMMA Systems with this new investment round to support its global expansion.

 
&nbsp;

Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), the leading hub for technology development in Qatar, has recently increased its investment in EMMA Systems, the aviation technology company that helps airports improve operational efficiency.

After deploying the first version of EMMA at one of the &lsquo;World&rsquo;s Best Airports&rsquo; (as recognized by Skytrax at the 2021 World Airport Awards), EMMA received QSTP&rsquo;s Product Development Fund to continue research and development of the product. Since then, the company has grown significantly and has expanded over the globe. Given EMMA&rsquo;s potential and its current success, QSTP (a part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development, and Innovation) has decided to further invest into the organization through its Tech Venture Fund.

QSTP&rsquo;s Tech Venture Fund provides seed funding and follow-on capital to promising startups with a solid leadership and a high potential for global growth. &ldquo;By actively identifying and catering to specific needs of startups, QSTP fosters a highly supportive and vibrant environment that advances technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship in Qatar,&rdquo; stated Yosouf Al-Salehi, Executive Director at QSTP. &ldquo;EMMA is a great example of a business that has both leveraged, and benefited from, the value chain that QSTP offers as part of the wider Qatar Foundation research, development, and innovation ecosystem. QSTP is excited to be part of EMMA&rsquo;s journey as it powers into the next phase of development following QSTP&rsquo;s investment in the company through our strategic Tech Venture Fund.&rdquo;

EMMA provides airport operators a unique, real-time view of operations, visualizing data and monitoring key systems at airports. EMMA&rsquo;s operation management platform features airport collaborative decision making (A-CDM) which allows airport stakeholders to make timely &amp; informed decisions. With its flexible integration bridge, the platform can be adapted to any airport&rsquo;s operating procedures. EMMA complies with EUROCONTROL&rsquo;s A-CDM objectives and is designed to improve the overall efficiency of airport operations by optimizing the use of resources. The platform also improves the predictability of airport operations using artificial intelligence.

EMMA has recently expanded into Europe by signing a collaboration agreement with Brussels South Charleroi Airport. &ldquo;QSTP&rsquo;s continued confidence in EMMA is a testament to the fruition of our team&rsquo;s dedicated effort,&rdquo; stated Wisam Costandi, CEO and co-founder of EMMA Systems. &ldquo;We are extremely grateful for the support and the vote of confidence we have received from QSTP. The EMMA team is committed to growing and expanding the brand further.&rdquo;

&nbsp;

About Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park 
Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development, and Innovation (QF RDI), is a free zone, accelerator and incubator for tech-product development in Qatar. The Park fosters an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar that works to accelerate the commercialization of market-ready technologies to realize Qatar&rsquo;s national diversification drive.

QSTP&rsquo;s focus ranges across four overarching themes, comprising energy, environment, health sciences and information &amp; communication technologies (ICT), in line with the Qatar National Research Strategy announced in 2012.

Located in Qatar Foundation&#39;s Education City, QSTP has access to the vital resources of a cluster of leading research universities. Members of QSTP&rsquo;s Free Zone include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), international corporations and research institutions. They are collectively committed to investing in new technology development programs, creating intellectual property, enhancing technology management skills and developing innovative products.

QSTP supports QF RDI&rsquo;s economic and human development objectives for Qatar and is increasingly recognized as an international hub for applied research, innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship.

&nbsp;

About EMMA Systems 
EMMA Systems helps airports make their operations efficient &amp; predictable by optimizing resource use and increasing operational transparency through its AI platform. In 2018, a team of aviation and technology experts joined forces to develop this software in order to help airports improve operational efficiency and optimize the use of resources. EMMA System&rsquo;s platform facilitates the implementation of EUROCONTROL&rsquo;s A-CDM requirements and increases the predictability of operational events by learning the operational patterns of airports through its AI technology. Stakeholders can easily adopt the solution and tailor it to their specific business requirements &amp; operating procedures.

 
&nbsp;

Contacts 
EMMA Systems 
Jean Luc Devisscher, Marketing and Partnerships Manager 
(+32) 473 788 055, jl.devisscher@emma.aero 
1013 Centre Road, Suite 403-B, 
Wilmington, DE 19805

EMMA Systems Receives Investment from QSTP Tech Venture Fund

<ul>
	<li>Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) has invested in US-based&nbsp;Kanari AI&#39;s $475,000 in pre-Seed funding round.</li>
	<li>Founded in 2020 by Ryan Carmichael, Giri Nagaraja and Ahmed Ali, Kanari AI provides dialectal speech technology solutions, which tackles four main pain points of speech technologies in the Arab world: poor accuracy, deployment concerns, lack of customisation, and complicated integration.</li>
	<li>&ldquo;One of our biggest advantages is our AI team; they are leaders in speech recognition and pioneering research in dialectal Arabic. The opportunity for speech technology is everywhere, and we are just getting started!&rdquo; said Ryan Carmichael, CEO and co-founder of Kanari AI.&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Press release:

The Mena-focused AI solutions startup Kanari AI has successfully raised $475,000 in its latest funding round. The pre-Seed funding included the participation of prominent tech and early-stage investors Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) and Alchemist Accelerator.

Founded in 2020, Kanari AI provides dialectal speech technology solutions, with an initial focus on Dialectal Arabic. Their speech recognition solutions are currently being used for transcription, captioning, subtitling, analytics, media monitoring, accessibility, and security purposes.

This pre-Seed funding round comes as a refresher for the early-stage funding dynamic in Mena after observing a slump in the number of transactions sized below $500,000. As recorded in our MENA H1 2021 Venture Investment Report, rounds sized below $500,000 have witnessed a consecutive dip in the share of total transactions from 71 per cent in FY 2017 to only 41 per cent in H1 2021. This could be attributed to the dip in accelerated deals in Mena over the first half of the year or could be driven by a capital allocation in later-stage deals, where funding rounds by Kitopi and LyveGlobal inflated overall funding in Food &amp; Beverage and Delivery &amp; Logistics industries.

The experienced team of global professionals consisting of Ryan Carmichael (CEO), Giri Nagaraja (CTO), and Dr. Ahmed Ali (Chief Scientist), mapped out the gaps and the opportunities for speech and voice technologies in Mena. Through their integrated solutions, Kanari AI addresses four main pain points of speech technologies in the Arab world: Poor accuracy, deployment concerns, lack of customisation, and complicated integration. CEO and co-founder Ryan Carmichael commented: &ldquo;How many people in the region still cannot be understood by technology? Too many. One of our biggest advantages is our AI team. They are leaders in speech recognition and pioneering research in dialectal Arabic. The opportunity for speech technology is everywhere, and we are just getting started!&rdquo;

The Qatar-based accelerator and incubator QSTP is positioned as a strategic investor, especially with an extensive portfolio in investing in Mena-focused and tech solution-driven startups including Qatar-based IoT startup Subol and e-learning platform Qertas. Their recent funding will help Kanari AI onboard new clients and expand its offering further. Dr. Danny Ramadan, investment director at QSTP concluded: &ldquo;The combination of an experienced team, pioneering technology, and a market of over 400 million Arabic speakers, was compelling enough for us to back Kanari AI. Kanari AI has shown the potential of AI to transform the way in which we protect and promote cultural heritage, in this case through Arabic language technologies. We have confidence in Kanari AI&rsquo;s potential to become the leader in Arabic speech recognition and advance the adoption of speech technology in the region.&rdquo;

Qatar Science and Technology Park invests in Kanari AI

<ul>
	<li>Qatar-based fintech platform SkipCash, has raised a $2 million (QAR 7 million) seed round from a group of private local investors. The startup previously received an award of QAR 700,000 back in July 2020 from Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP).</li>
	<li>The startup plans to use the investment to expand its data infrastructure across Qatar.</li>
	<li>Founded in 2018 by Mohammed Abdulaziz AlDelaimi, SkipCash allows users to keep track of their bills and spending. It enables them to add their credit card to the app, monitor spending via virtual expense reports, and organise their receipts. The startup caters to different user types, including children.</li>
	<li>SkipCash is licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and regulated by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB).</li>
</ul>

&nbsp;Press release

Qatar&#39;s mobile payment company, SkipCash, announced closing QAR 7 million (USD 1.92mn) seed round funding from private Qatari investors. SkipCash is on track to become the most used mobile payment application in the peninsula.

The funding secured represents the second round of investments SkipCash received, following an awarded product development fund of QAR 700,000 in July 2020 from Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), in recognition of its offerings that addresses a key market need in the local economy.

The new capital will be deployed to expand SkipCash&#39;s data infrastructure and services across Qatar. Since its launch in 2018, the fintech startup has proven its position within the local fintech sector as a licensed firm by the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and regulated by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB).

&quot;We are providing a service that is lacking in the local market, one that will enable and support the digital transformation underway. We are extremely excited to be welcoming a number of highly strategic local investors as we scale our operations. The opportunities to collaborate and grow together are significant, and we are now in a strong position to continue to build and scale in the local market&quot;, said&nbsp; Mohammed Abdulaziz AlDelaimi, Founder &amp; Managing Director of SkipCash.

SkipCash is a mobile payment app that provides consumers and merchants with a convenient and enjoyable payment experience. Using QR codes, the app facilitates secure digital payment by eliminating cash, physical cards, and point-of-sale (POS) devices.

Users can securely add their credit card to the app, monitor their spending via visual spending reports, organise their payment receipts, and enable virtual accounts for their children and other family members. It also gives them access to vouchers and coupons from different merchants.

SkipCash raises $2 million seed round

<h2>Skift Take</h2>

This week, travel startups announced more than $24 million in funding. These companies help automate travel visa applications, offer installment loans for vacations, streamline corporate travel expenses, run glamping stays in Catalonia, help visitors book trip experiences in Qatar, and more.

&nbsp;Sean O&#39;Neill, Skift

&nbsp;

This week, travel startups announced more than $24 million in funding.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://www.joinsherpa.com/" target="_blank">Sherpa</a>, a travel tech startup, raised $8.5 million in venture equity funding.

Narrative Fund and True Ventures led the round. Relay Ventures, TSVC, Globalive Capital, N49P, Plug and Play Ventures, Golden Ventures, Stuart MacDonald (founder of Expedia.ca), and LP Maurice (founder and CEO of Busbud)&nbsp;also invested.

Founded by CEO Max Tremaine and Ivan Sharko, the Toronto-based company has a current focus on helping travelers cope with the complexities of crossing borders during a pandemic. The company has raised $9 million in total since its start in 2015.

&ldquo;In 2019, administering travel documents like visas cost airlines more than $1 billion, and new travel rules are making this issue more acute,&rdquo; said Tremaine. &ldquo;By presenting the right information and ensuring that travelers have what they need to cross borders, we are making a meaningful difference for trust in travel.&rdquo;

Sherpa recently signed partnerships with Expedia,&nbsp;Americans Airlines,&nbsp;TripActions, Icelandair, and&nbsp;The Travel Corporation. These companies tap the startup&rsquo;s data feeds to give travelers current information about travel restrictions at their destination. The tech also lets travelers add a visa application to their cart when buying flights, streamlining the process.

&ldquo;Until Sherpa, this has mostly been powered by analog technology and brick-and-mortar businesses,&rdquo; said Jamie Wong, partner at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.narrative.fund/" target="_blank">Narrative Fund</a>. Sherpa uses tools to pinpoint changes in travel rules and to translate jargon into checklists.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://www.flynowpaylater.com/" target="_blank">Fly Now Pay Later</a>, a financial technology firm focused on travel, raised a further $14 million in funding, bringing its Series A round total to $62 million (&pound;45 million) of equity, but mostly debt, investment.

Revenio Capital and Taurus Wealth Advisors co-led the round.

CEO Jasper Dykes founded the London-based company in late 2015. It lets travelers pay the cost of a trip in up to 12 monthly installments. Hundreds of travel companies, including Malaysian Airlines,&nbsp;Lastminute.com, Kayak,&nbsp;and the airline payments network&nbsp;Universal Air Travel Plan (UATP) for European Union merchants, offer the startup&rsquo;s mix of interest-free and interest-bearing consumer loans.

Fly Now Pay Later has been beta testing its technology in the U.S., where it will face some competition from players like&nbsp;<a href="https://www.uplift.com/" target="_blank">Uplift</a>. The UK startup has 70 team members across the UK and Europe.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://www.okticket.es/" target="_blank">Okticket</a>, a startup focusing on the digitization of travel expenses, has raised about $840,000 (&euro;700,000) in a seed round of funding.

Encomenda Smart Capital and Successful Ventures led the round.

Founded in late 2017, the Asturias, Spain-based startup has developed a recognition engine capable of extracting data from documents quickly. It has an end-to-end travel expense management process for businesses and corporations and can integrate with major company accounting systems. It claims to have more than 70,000 users at more than 3,000 companies in Spain and Portugal.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://viavii.com/" target="_blank">Viavii</a>, a booking brand for travel experiences, has raised an undisclosed sum in seed funding.

Tech Venture Fund, managed by Qatar Science and Technology Park, led the round.

ViaVii is a Jordan-based online startup that aims to help travelers book travel experiences hosted by residents of Qatar.

In a few months, ViaVii will launch a digital itinerary planner for Qatar&rsquo;s Fifa World Cup tournament in 2022. Several websites aimed at visitors to Qatar for the sporting event will include the itinerary planner, said ViaVii founder and CEO Rola Fayyad.

ViaVii points travelers to taking a cooking class, spending the night in the desert with a guided group, and or booking a heritage-themed walking tour.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://es.kampaoh.com/" target="_blank">Kampaoh</a>, a glamping startup in Seville, Spain, has raised $360,000 (&euro;300,000) in a round led by Encomenda Smart Capital.

Kampaoh has offered fully-equipped tented vacation experiences to more than 50,000 guests in scenic spots since its founding in 2016.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://oasishunters.com/" target="_blank">Oasis Hunters</a>, a travel startup helping vacationers find less-visited rural getaways, has raised $160,000 (&euro;135,000) in seed funding mostly from angel investors.

Founded in July 2020, the company participated in the AticcoLab startup accelerator. The funding will let it expand from a focus on Catalonia to across Spain.

&gt;&gt;<a href="https://www.atravo.io/" target="_blank">Atravo</a>, a tourism management platform, has obtained a $120,000 (&euro;100,000) financing through a seed capital round led by venture capital Think Bigger Capital.

Atravo, led by CEO Katrina Affleck, helps tour operators, experience and activity operators, and hotels manage their marketing campaigns and handle users&rsquo; bookings. The team emerged from the Demium Startups incubation program.

Skift Cheat Sheet: 
We define a startup as a company formed to test and build a repeatable and scalable business model. Few companies meet that definition. The rare ones that do often attract venture capital. Their funding rounds come in waves.

Seed capital&nbsp;is money used to start a business, often led by angel investors and friends or family.

Series A&nbsp;financing is typically drawn from venture capitalists. The round aims to help a startup&rsquo;s founders make sure that their product is something that customers truly want to buy.

Series B&nbsp;financing is mainly about venture capitalist firms helping a company grow faster. These fundraising rounds can assist in recruiting skilled workers and developing cost-effective marketing.

Series C&nbsp;financing is ordinarily about helping a company expand, such as through acquisitions. In addition to VCs, hedge funds, investment banks, and private equity firms often participate.

Series D,&nbsp;E and beyond&nbsp;These mainly mature businesses and the funding round may help a company prepare to go public or be acquired. A variety of types of private investors might participate.

Sherpa Raises $8.5 Million for Simpler Visas: Travel Startup Funding This Week

The Series A funding round was led by New York-based Modus Capital, along with participation from 212 Capital, Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), Kasamar Holdings, Dharmendra Ghai (Health Tech Angel), Innoway and others.

Series A funding is the first venture capital funding for successful startups and follows a startup company&#39;s seed round so they can further develop or scale up. Before this Series A, Meddy had raised USD 750,000 from 500 Startups, QSTP, and some angel investors.

Founded in 2016 in Qatar, consumer-facing platform Meddy helps patients find the doctors best suited to their needs and book appointments with them. The doctors can be searched using different filters including their specialization/sub-specialization, treatment, nationality/country of education, and the languages they speak. The platform also features reviews and ratings for the doctors listed and is available on iOS, Android and Web.

The largest doctor booking platform in Qatar &ndash; with over 120,000 monthly users &ndash; Meddy has drastically increased profitability for practicing providers in Qatar by drawing new patients to them and enhancing the patient experience. The company has facilitated more than a hundred thousand bookings to date.

<img src="https://d12eu00glpdtk2.cloudfront.net/public/images/local/Meddy-doctor-booking-platform.png" />

Meddy also provides a suite of products to clinics and their marketing teams to manage bookings, patient reviews, and analytics. It helps clinics improve their online presence and acquire new patients. The company receives several thousands of bookings per month for its consumer product and the key use of the current investment would be to increase conversions of these bookings.

Kareem Elsirafy, a partner at Modus Capital who will be joining Meddy&rsquo;s board, said &ldquo;We see Meddy as the up and coming leader in providing booking services to clinics in the GCC. The team has proven they clearly understand the needs of their customers, and the positive feedback and added value they provide have created a very strong foundation for rapid regional growth. We&rsquo;re excited to have Meddy in our portfolio and look forward to supporting them in their continued growth.&rdquo;

Abed Alkarim Khattab, COO at Meddy, said &ldquo;During the past three years, we have established ourselves as the most trusted platform for healthcare providers here in Qatar. Patients now utilize Meddy to make informed health decisions and use our different services including our weekly blogs and articles about various trending health topics.&rdquo;

Meddy works with major healthcare providers in the country including Al Ahli Hospital, Al Emadi Hospital, Royal Medical Center, Rayhan Medical Complex, Al Wehda Medical Center, West Bay Medicare, Marble Medical Center, among others, to provide patients with the widest range of doctors to choose from. Meddy has also recently launched Hakeem &ndash; a healthcare blog to provide patients in Qatar quality content on various healthcare topics.

<h2>About MEDDY</h2>

Meddy.com is a doctor booking platform that helps patients find the best doctors and book appointments with them. It allows patients to find doctors best suited for them based on a wide array of filters and reviews.

Meddy was tenth in the&nbsp;Forbes Middle East&rsquo;s 2017 &ldquo;50 Startups to Watch in the Arab World.&rdquo; They were also named 2016 Tech Startup of the Year and 2018 ICT Exporter of the Year at the Qatar IT Business Awards. Meddy is a 500 Startups portfolio company.

Qatari startup Meddy raises QR 9 million Series A Funding

Every week, ILQ features a different Qatari startup in our &lsquo;Startup of the Week&rsquo; segment. Qatar has some of the most creative, unique, and impactful startups in the region, and we cover them all across a variety of industries in Doha&mdash;from fashion and beauty to food and dining, health, education, technology, and more!

Know a startup we should feature on Startup of the Week? Email us at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:contact@iloveqatar.net" target="_blank">contact@iloveqatar.net</a>!

This week we&#39;re putting the spotlight on Airlift!&nbsp;Airlift Systems&nbsp;is a technology startup based at Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP) offering a mobile utility vehicle designed to unlock the value of autonomous systems for all.

From their headquarters in Qatar and tech hub in the Netherlands, Airlift works with enterprises to experiment with their self-driving technology which is cost-effective and agile to capture its value and augment their staff productivity.

<img alt="airlift systems qatar autonomous vehicles" src="https://d12eu00glpdtk2.cloudfront.net/public/images/local/airlift-qatar-self-driving-delivery-vehicle-qatar-foundation.jpg" />

Image credit: Airlift systems

<h2>From idea to reality</h2>

The company started in 2017 at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) and initially wanted to solve the last-mile delivery problem with aerial drones. That&#39;s where the company name came from. But after facing difficulties with permits for commercial drone testing, Airlift shifted to ground robots.

<h2>Unlocking the value of autonomous systems</h2>

According to Ahmed Mohamedali, Airlift&#39;s General Manager, the company aims to provide sustainable solutions for last-mile delivery and urban mobility.

<blockquote>Having had an e-commerce startup at the time, it was very clear that last-mile delivery is a massive bottleneck for growth. So, we went on a mission to develop a sustainable and future-proof solution for this issue. Since then and we believe it&rsquo;s our commitment to provide innovative automated mobility technologies that is fulfilling to customer&rsquo;s needs, sustainable for the environment and efficient for businesses.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Also looking at macro scale, urban mobility is inefficient. Consider last mile delivery, 25% of all cargo in European cities could be moved using cyclists. Airlift CORE can easily take up this volume and deliver parcels with autonomous navigation on bike-lanes and roadways.</blockquote>

<blockquote>Addressing cost, availability and sustainability challenges in dense urban cities. Similarly, when it comes to people transportation, 50% to 60% of passenger trips are less than 8km in the US and EU. Hence, on the road to a fully Shared Autonomous and Electric Vehicles (SAEVs) service, we&rsquo;re starting with an on-demand floating vehicle powered by autonomous repositioning and docking. Addressing parking and weather-proofing challenges of current micromobility solutions.</blockquote>

<img alt="airlift systems self driving delivery vehicle qatar" src="https://d12eu00glpdtk2.cloudfront.net/public/images/local/airlift-qatar-autonomous-vehicle.jpg" />

Image credit: Airlift Systems

<h2>Robotics, delivered</h2>

Currently, Airlift is focused on moving people and things with two variations of their vehicle called &ldquo;CORE&rdquo;. CORE for delivery and CORE for Mobility (coming out soon).

<blockquote>At the moment, we&rsquo;re offering our platform for enterprises that would be willing to experiment with self-driving technology which is cost effective and agile to capture its value and augment their staff productivity. Since inception, we&rsquo;ve been driven by the notion of democratizing autonomy and technology, this is realized by our cost-effective build and robot design. Ultimately, our motto is Robotics, Delivered, and by that we mean unlocking the value of autonomous systems for all industries.</blockquote>

<h2>What is CORE?</h2>

CORE is a self-driving utility vehicle that is modular by design and could be utilized in multiple use-cases. The fully electric vehicle is compact in size and ideal for operations on sidewalks and bike lanes. It&rsquo;s equipped with a full sensor suite to enable autonomous navigation. The suite consists of a novel lidar system that we developed in-house, in addition to cameras, ultrasonic sensors and RTK GPS for ultraprecision localization.

Airlift is also releasing a low latency communication system for real-time monitoring of its fleet.

<a href="https://www.iloveqatar.net/news/technology/first-self-driving-delivery-vehicle-qatar-qf-education-city" target="_blank"><img alt="Qatar's first self-driving delivery vehicle" src="https://d12eu00glpdtk2.cloudfront.net/public/images/local/airlift-systems-talabat-self-driving-delivery-vehicle-vodafone-qatar-foundation.jpg" /></a>

Image credit: Airlift Sysems

<h2>How was the response like from your customers so far?</h2>

Ahmed shares, &quot;We&rsquo;ve taken a quite ad-hoc approach when experimenting with our partners. It&rsquo;s a new technology that they need to grasp gradually, that&rsquo;s why we try to integrate seamlessly within their current operations to demonstrate the value first. Thus far, the feedback has been great, we&rsquo;re able to show the impact as well as identify room for improvement and work on maturing our technology in parallel.&quot;

<h2>What was the hardest part in the early stages of the company&rsquo;s growth? What are your achievements so far?</h2>

<blockquote>We&rsquo;re still an early-stage hardware startup, and working on hardware is capital intensive. It was always a challenge to secure the funds needed but we were blessed to have angel investors who believed in what we envision. As well as great support from QSTP- Product Development Fund and QFRDI- Innovation Coupon programs.</blockquote>

<blockquote>I&rsquo;d say our biggest achievement thus far is being able to mature our technology and earn the trust of many partners here in Qatar and in the Netherlands. We&rsquo;ll be capitalizing on this further as we scale our operations.</blockquote>

<img alt="Airlift Systems Team" src="https://d12eu00glpdtk2.cloudfront.net/public/images/local/airlift-systems-team.jpg" />

The Airlift Systems Team. Image credit: Airlift

<h2>What&rsquo;s next for Airlift Systems?</h2>

Airlift is working tirelessly to introduce and deploy more vehicles in various locations here in Qatar.

Soon more customers will be able to receive their deliveries using Airlfit&#39;s contactless automated service. The startup will be announcing these locations on its social media pages in the coming months, so stay tuned!

<h2>Airlift Systems details</h2>

<ul>
	<li>Website:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.airliftsystems.com/" target="_blank">https://www.airliftsystems.com/</a></li>
	<li>Email:&nbsp;hi@airliftysystems.com</li>
</ul>

Startup of the Week: Meet the future of delivery and mobility - Airlift's self-driving vehicle

The past couple of years have completely transformed almost every industry, and the healthcare industry has seen years&rsquo; worth of digital transformation take place in mere months, courtesy of COVID-19. Global demand for telehealth services has increased, revolutionizing the concept of how care is provided. These technologies have helped medical professionals to navigate some of the challenges presented by the pandemic, and have significantly impacted the provision of healthcare during this time.&nbsp;

Founded in late 2018, about a year before the COVID-19 pandemic started,&nbsp;<a href="https://magnitt.com/startups/embermedical-55142" target="_blank">EMBER Medical</a>, a startup that provides an all-in-one telemedicine platform, was in a unique position to address the newly formed market through its technology. Based in Qatar, the platform enables patients to connect with medical professionals and receive real-time diagnosis and treatment anywhere, at any time. &ldquo;In the MENA region, there are two doctors for every 10,000 patients so there is a real need for better accessibility, especially in emerging markets where patients in rural areas face geographical barriers to healthcare,&rdquo; says Ahmed Abdel Hakam, General Manager of EMBER Medical. &ldquo;And for physicians, 80% work alone or in SMEs with paper-based data and a high cost of acquiring new patients.&rdquo;

In 2019, a few months before the pandemic began, the venture team at&nbsp;<a href="https://magnitt.com/enablers/qatar-science-technology-park-qstp-24676?utm_source=cta&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=News">Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP)</a>, a member of Qatar Foundation, saw the potential for EMBER to radically change the way healthcare is provided in the region, and beyond. Qatar provides the perfect environment in which to nurture early-stage businesses and develop novel technologies, via access to a wide range of resources. Through its Tech Venture Fund (TVF), QSTP&rsquo;s investment in EMBER helped to develop the business as it grew and eventually scaled outside Qatar reaching 300,000 patient downloads. Deeply rooted in Qatar, the two co-founders, Dr. Mohamed Elshazely, a Weill Cornell Medical-Qatar graduate and Shadi Wahba, Iowa State University US graduate, secured a partnership with Ooredoo, the nation&rsquo;s biggest telecom provider, to allow Ooredoo&rsquo;s clients to benefit from EMBER&rsquo;s platform with flexible payment solutions, rewards, and other benefits. The company has since gained significant international exposure, with Egypt becoming its largest market.

Hakam continues: &ldquo;QSTP showed us that Qatar is a healthy and safe market for early-stage entrepreneurs, and can offer immense support through incubation programs and funding, but can also help in navigating the regulatory requirements for a young business. Ultimately, TVF allows you to leverage a community of mentors and investors in order to scale your business, and the team gave us the opportunity to realize our vision of expansion into new markets where there is a huge need for telehealth services.&rdquo;

Dr. Danny Ramadan, Investment Director at QSTP, said: &ldquo;TVF actively pursues both local tech-based startups with early product validation looking to scale, as well as international tech-based startups with existing touchpoints to Qatar. We find startups with a strong strategic objective that are offering groundbreaking solutions. Ultimately, we want to foster the innovation that is coming out of these teams that has the potential to deliver real impact to our societies and economies, and whose journeys also pave the way for others to follow in their footsteps.&rdquo; 
TVF is a strategic venture capital fund that supports local innovative startups and attracts international ones looking to scale in the region and beyond.&nbsp;

QSTP-Funded EMBER Medical: The regional player disrupting Healthcare

Doha, Qatar : Twelve months from now, the much-anticipated FIFA World Cup 2022&trade; will have kicked-off in Qatar. Millions of sports fans will be watching and listening to the first-ever World Cup tournament to be held in the Arab world, with supporters from around the world set to travel to Qatar to attend matches and experience the country in person.

Businesses operating in the sports sector have their sights firmly set on the tournament, and one that is specifically looking to reach new heights is sKora, a Qatar-based sportstech start-up that has recently benefited from the Tech Venture Fund (TVF) of Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI).

Soccer Agency Recommender, sKora&rsquo;s unique product offering, uses its one-of-a-kind Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to serve the vast population of aspiring professional footballers who do not have the means to afford, or access to obtain, expert athletic career advice.

The product recommends to players aiming to pursue a career in football a potential pathway that they can follow. This reduces the complexity of the processes involved in recruiting them and makes the sport more accessible, so that the next big stars of the game can be found quicker and set up to succeed.

sKora&rsquo;s distinctive AI platform also stands out from the rest of the market, as it was developed here in Qatar, as opposed to its competitors who are largely based in Europe. This gives footballers in the Arab world who are keen to make it big &ndash; perhaps in one of the major European or South American football leagues &ndash; a great springboard to launch their careers.

&ldquo;Technological advancements in football have unlocked unprecedented opportunities for growth in the sports industry,&rdquo; sKora&rsquo;s CEO, Adel Saad, said. &ldquo;The introduction of data into professional football has pushed us towards digitalizing the sports agency business through automation and machine learning processes. Using our platform, customized AI-driven pathways are recommended for each player depending on their own skill set, traits and situation, away from biased views and opinions.&rdquo;

The FIFA World Cup 2022&trade;&nbsp;is a natural milestone for the company, by which time sKora will have been able to scale and deliver a much bigger impact on the international and local football community. Until then, the start-up is looking to use the FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021&trade;,&nbsp;which kicked-off in Qatar on November 30 2021, as a catalyst to grow its user base.

&ldquo;The Arab Cup is our opportunity to put our tactics to the test,&rdquo; Saad said. &ldquo;We are leveraging the event to run a program which will, for the first time, enable local and international footballers across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to join a trial with a Qatari football club and have an opportunity to be scouted.&rdquo;

The dedicated work undertaken by the team at sKora has already borne fruit via a recent partnership with Lusail Sports Club, which aims to provide young and aspiring players with an opportunity to demonstrate their talent during a three-day program &ndash; the first of its kind in Qatar. The program will present a chance for players to compete in a professionally immersive environment while receiving training from UEFA-certified coaches.

Commenting on the support the team has received through the TVF, Saad said: &ldquo;As an incubated start-up, QSTP has been a massive support throughout our journey. After receiving the funds from TVF, we were able to recruit many aspiring and talented interns from QF partner universities, who have now become full-time employees at sKora. TVF has been instrumental in propelling our start-up forward, taking us from the angel investment stage to working in the institutional investment space. The funding is ultimately allowing us to accelerate both our product development and marketing operations.&rdquo;

Data and statistics on how the game is played, and how players and teams can gain a competitive advantage, are more important than ever in football. With enormous amounts of money in players&rsquo; transfer fees and wages often depending on those numbers, sKora is determined to play its part in the digital side of the sport.

&ldquo;With the sports technology industry estimated to be worth USD $18 billion (QAR 65.5 billion) and expected to have a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 18 percent between 2021 and 2026, sKora wants to be a key player in this particular &lsquo;game&rsquo;,&rdquo; said Saad.

&ldquo;We will initially recruit in the MENA region to optimize and identify prospective professional talent. In the future, sKora platform will create modules specifically for players, coaches, teams, and sponsors. The platform will offer all parties the most efficient method of providing athletes the best possible advice for a successful career trajectory, while simultaneously providing clubs a pool of data-backed athletes to choose from.&rdquo; Saad continued.

QSTP&rsquo;s TVF is a strategic venture capital fund designed to support local innovative start-ups and attract international ones looking to scale in the region. TVF plays a critical role in developing the innovation ecosystem in Qatar through the support it provides to start-ups, including those like sKora. The fund provides opportunities for local, regional, and global tech founders and entrepreneurs to source seed-stage funding and follow-on capital. It also seeks to lower the barriers of entry to starting a tech company in the market.

To apply and find out more about QSTP&rsquo;s TVF please visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://qstp.org.qa/tech-venture-fund/">https://qstp.org.qa/tech-venture-fund/</a>&nbsp;

To learn more about sKora and the brilliant team behind the startup, please visit:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.skoratech.com/">https://www.skoratech.com/</a>&nbsp;

-Ends-

Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park

Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI), is a Free Zone, accelerator and incubator for tech-product development in Qatar. The Park fosters an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in Qatar that works to accelerate commercialization of market-ready technologies to realize Qatar&rsquo;s national diversification drive.

QSTP&rsquo;s focus ranges across four overarching themes, comprising Energy, Environment, Health Sciences and Information &amp; Communication Technologies (ICT), in line with the Qatar National Research Strategy announced in 2012.

Located in Qatar Foundation&#39;s Education City, QSTP has access to the vital resources of a cluster of leading research universities. Members of QSTP&rsquo;s Free Zone include Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), international corporations and research institutions. They are collectively committed to investing in new technology development programs, creating intellectual property, enhancing technology management skills and developing innovative new products.

QSTP supports QF RDI&rsquo;s economic and human development objectives for Qatar and is increasingly recognized as an international hub for applied research, innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship.

For more information, please visit the QSTP website at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.qstp.org.qa/">www.qstp.org.qa</a>&nbsp;

Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI)

The Qatar Foundation Research, Development and Innovation (QF RDI) division&rsquo;s role is to play an integral part in identifying and addressing challenges and opportunities across ICT, energy, environment and healthcare, in alignment with Qatar&rsquo;s national RDI strategy and priorities. QF RDI is at the forefront of Qatar&rsquo;s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, accelerating economic development through supporting the commercialization of market-ready technologies and facilitating the creation of new high-tech products and services.

QF RDI is responsible for translating Qatar&rsquo;s national RDI strategy into specific initiatives and actions for Qatar Foundation&rsquo;s (QF) RDI entities. It also directs their efforts in relation to economic value creation, knowledge transfer and the establishment of mutually beneficial national and international RDI partnerships. To ensure these efforts deliver maximum impact, the QF Vice President for Research, Development and Innovation plans, coordinates and oversees all RDI-related activities across QF.

Qatar Foundation &ndash; Unlocking Human Potential

Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) is a non-profit organization that supports Qatar on its journey to becoming a diversified and sustainable economy. QF strives to serve the people of Qatar and beyond by providing specialized programs across its innovation-focused ecosystem of education, research and development and community development.

QF was founded in 1995 by His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Amir, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, who shared the vision to provide Qatar with quality education. Today, QF&rsquo;s world-class education system offers lifelong learning opportunities to community members as young as six months through to doctoral level, enabling graduates to thrive in a global environment and contribute to the nation&rsquo;s development.

QF is also creating a multidisciplinary innovation hub in Qatar, where homegrown researchers are working to address local and global challenges. By promoting a culture of lifelong learning and fostering social engagement through programs that embody Qatari culture, QF is committed to empowering the local community and contributing to a better world for all.

For a complete list of QF&rsquo;s initiatives and projects, please visit:&nbsp;<a href="http://www.qf.org.qa/">www.qf.org.qa</a>&nbsp; 
For any media inquiries, please contact:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:pressoffice@qf.org.qa">pressoffice@qf.org.qa</a>&nbsp;

QSTP-funded sportstech startup to identify football stars of the future

Four of Qatar&rsquo;s most tech-forward startups using new technology to create innovative digital services are the latest recipients of the Product Development Fund (PDF), which was awarded by Qatar Science &amp; Technology Park (QSTP), part of Qatar Foundation Research, Development, and Innovation (QF RDI), at a ceremony recently held at QSTP.&nbsp;&nbsp; 
The QSTP PDF is a subsidy-grant that assists and encourages Qatar-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and startups to develop innovative products or services relevant to the needs of the local market. The funding is granted for up to a year with the aim of increasing the engagement of Qatar&rsquo;s private sector SMEs and startups in product development within four priority industries. 
The newest PDF funding were received by Noora al-Marri, co-founder and project manager of Digital Pulse, who received the PDF for Gooby; Saleh Mubarak al-Mansouri, CEO and co-founder of MaktApp QSTP-LLC for Fatora.io; Moustafa Mohamed M A al-Sayrafi, co-founder of Cwallet Services, for Cwallet; and Fahad Alboinin, co-founder of ITHRAA for Information Technology, for their project Masader. 
Fatora.io, developed by MaktApp QSTP-LLC, is a secure online payment solution for large entities, SMEs, and startups that need an easy and fast method to collect payments online.&nbsp; 
Fatora offers companies a tool to create online invoices, send it to their customers, and collect payments faster and with less effort, helping to increase sales and accelerate their growth and development. They have also added an AI engine, which helps to detect fraud in online payments. 
Fintech platform, Cwallet, has a vision to become a premier financial technology (Fintech) influencer that digitally empowers and enables individuals in the region. Promoting a cashless society and financial inclusion, Cwallet uses Fintech to provide services and solutions to low-income and unbanked migrant workers, domestic helpers and blue-collar workers that allow them to access financial services currently unavailable to them.&nbsp; 
Gooby, founded in 2019 by Raghad Akram, Noora al-Marri, and Taimaa Janat, is geared towards helping startups or SMEs gain access to quality and cost-effective freelance services, making it easier for their clients to connect with freelancers around the globe. Gooby also helps provide access to niche users who require on-site services and to users who require both online and on-site services.&nbsp; 
Masader is a multilingual Internet platform aimed at providing reliable sources and references to help researchers, educational institutions, and individuals directly access materials from key knowledge resources. Masader is a unique tool created with an advanced search engine.&nbsp; 
Assessed by QSTP and QF RDI experts for their business viability and opportunity, the four PDF beneficiaries have each come up with innovative digital solutions to meet a range of market needs. Each business will receive up to QR1.2mn to fund up to 50% of the cost of their product or service proposal.&nbsp; 
Aysha al-Hammadi, director of Product Development and Grant Management Fund at QSTP, said: &ldquo;Our Product Development Fund is one of the ways QSTP accelerates the development of new high-tech products and services which in turn has a cascading effect on the local market and an overall positive economic impact.&rdquo; 
Targeting Qatar-based startups working in the priority industries of energy, environment, healthcare, and ICT, the PDF has funded almost 23 SMEs and startups since its launch in 2016, supporting the development of new, tech-rich products, or accelerating the development of existing products or services.

Four local startups get funding from QSTP

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