The Startup Reactor is back for its fifth cycle, bringing tens of entrepreneurs and startup companies together in one giant space, all in order to win the opportunity of a lifetime, to finally support their dream.
For the last 4 years, Innoventures has been helping support startups through their Startup Reactor. Innoventures, launched in 2011, is an innovation platform that hopes to aid Egyptian startups to enter the market by providing a helpful and supportive platform.
They’ve returned for 2018 with a new batch of newcomers, and have already moved on to their 2nd phase, “Ignition.”
50 startups have now started on a month-long journey of intensive sessions and mentorship with selected experts from Innoventures’ mentors’ network.
The group will be able to receive administrative and marketing support when they reach the next phase, such as access to office spaces and facilities, HR, accounting, and branding.
Entrepreneurs from all over the country applied, with current participating teams coming from various industries such as healthcare, e-commerce, design, digital media, clean energy, software, hardware and manufacturing.
The reactor comes with three tracks other than its main, which is available for all industries;
- Digital Media (analytics, advertising, content platform, content creation automation, e-commerce and more)
- Design (lighting and lighting fixtures, design tools, consumer electronics, and smart furniture design)
- Computing (cloud-based networks, software, IoT, chat-bots and AI technology)
These tracks will be powered by some of this year’s partners, The Planet (Digital Media), Studio 49 (Design) and IBM (Computing). And just like last year, VC4Africa (VC4A) joins Innoventures in their goal to provide support Egyptian startups.
“Ignition is a really exciting phase of the Startup Reactor. Ignition allows us to work hand-in-hand with the entrepreneurs at their early stage of development. The energy, passion and commitment levels are so high.
These entrepreneurs will positively impact Egypt, which at the end of the day is all we want…” said Hesham Wahby, Chief Executive Officer of Innoventures.
At the end of its final phase winners will be announced, with the top 3 being given 15k Euros overall. The winner of the competition will be awarded 8k Euros, with 2nd and 3rd place taking 4k and 2k in order.
An additional 1k in Euros will be awarded to the most popular startup in the program.
Last year’s winner was Happiana, whose hope was to delete the phrase “Low Battery” through their adaptive charging solutions. Their products include a power bank that uses portable solar panels to charge devices.