MiSK Foundation, the nonprofit organization founded by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, has announced the launch of its homegrown startup accelerator dubbed MiSK Growth Accelerator.
Founding partners of this new initiative include Seedstars and VC firm Vision Ventures.
Osama AlRaee, Director at MiSK Entrepreneurship, reacted to the new development on an optimistic note saying the Growth Accelerator will play a vital role in further improving the startup ecosystem in Saudi Arabia and the broader region. He added that the new accelerator program will be of great help for later-stage startups focused on boosting their growth-rate.
MiSK Growth Accelerator’s first priority was to find about a dozen promising tech and innovation startups from all across MENA for its first cohort. More than 450 startups applied, of which 11 were shortlisted. Some of them include:
- Munjz: An on-demand online marketplace for home services
- Shezlong: A platform for mental health patients.
- Geeks: An on-demand IT services provider.
- Shroo7: An ed-tech startup providing educational content for university students
- MyU: A mobile app that enables educators to seamlessly connect with students and their family.
- Mntrni: An online platform that aggregates consultancy services for businesses.
- Taskty: An app-based home services aggregator.
- POSRocket: A cloud-based POS provider.
The 11 startups will now receive all the resources they need to efficiently scale and hit the next level of growth.
Commenting on the program’s goal, Chief Investment Officer at Seedstars, Charlie Graham-Brown, stated: “With over 450 applications, we filtered down to 11 startups each with the key ingredients we need for the program: a quality team, product/market fit and a high growth opportunity. We aim to have all the teams adopt a growth process and a data-driven culture of experimentation. Growth doesn’t come easily and the program will equip the teams with techniques and knowledge to crack this challenge.”
