EVENT
Draper Aladdin Startup Competition at Biban
For the first time ever in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Draper Associates and Aladdinb2b, with the collaboration of Public Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Monshaat brings you the Draper Aladdin Startup Competition at Biban.
Biban, Saudi Arabia’s biggest SME and Entrepreneurship event, in collaboration with AladdinB2B is running five days of high-level competition and the entry is totally FREE!!
Date: 9th to 13th of March at Riyadh Front Exhibitions and Convention Centre.
Draper-Aladdin Startup Competition will be held during Biban as one of the most exciting features of the show. During the first 4 days of the show, investors will score and shortlist the 500+ startups after pitching on stage.
The Grand finale will happen on the 13th March, the last day of the show between 10 -15 finalists who will be competing on the stage in front of the highly qualified panel of the judges competing for an award reaching up to USD 500,000 worth of investment.
So don’t miss the networking opportunities with investors and the access to bespoke meetings booking platform, powered by Draper VC & AladdinB2B, to meet with investors face to face at Biban. For details please contact our team.
MEET THE 1ST SESSION
JUDGES
Hans Henrik Christensen
Vice President, Investor. Corporate Venture Capital Specialist
Fredrik Bentlinger
VP at Scale Capital
Is an experienced investor, entrepreneur and gamechanger. With over 20 years as an executive within global tech and managed services companies Mr. Bentlinger brings great experience to the companies he advises. Always looking at opportunities though a strategic, but pragmatic lens, empowering people and change. Based in Dubai, Mr. Bentlinger currently serve as partner at Scale Capital venture funds focused on investments in early-stage tech companies
Walid Tarabih
Founder and CEO at Platx
A former Digital Transformation Advisor at the UAE’s Prime Minister’s Office. A Technology and Digital Transformation Expert with hands-on experience in Public and Private sectors, with federal employment background and extensive expertise in Digital Transformation, Blockchain, A.I and Data Science. Digital transformation is no longer a buzzword but a necessity. And this is where Walid and the team can make a big difference when dealing with governments and organizations. His main focus as an Entrepreneur is to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds by using technology to increase human’s ability rather than limiting it.
MEET THE 2ND SESSION
JUDGES
Navas Ebin
Managing Director at Mars Growth Capital
Erwin Arifin
VP of Investment at Kejora Capital
Danish Rizvi
COO at SASCO Holdings Ltd
Investing in exceptional opportunities in private equity and venture capital. Solving big business problems with the potential to disrupt and lead large global markets. Successful in implementing dynamic investment structures and business expansions increasing profitability, safeguarding market position and diversification. Holds a track record in change-intensive environments, leveraging strategic problem-solving and partnership-building skills to drive sustainable improvements and critical transformations.
Versatile background in the Private Equity, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Acquisitions and Mergers, Venture Capital, Commercial Banking, Risk Management, Strategic Planning, and Supply Chain management and having launched, managed and assisted many projects.
MEET THE 3RD SESSION
JUDGES
Georgi Katanov
Managing Director at SCM Advisors (UK) Ltd.
Is a highly qualified international expert with significant experience in investment banking. Professional experience covers work in various foreign companies: PricewaterhouseCoopers, McKinsey&Company, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital LLC. He worked in the equity and debt capital markets, provided M&A advisory services, was engaged in trading and brokerage activities, and conducted financial and analytical research. The experience of working as a director of SCM Advisors (UK) Limited is associated with constant risk management, support for mergers and acquisitions projects, and constant search for balances in investing. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
David Prais
Chairman at Greater London Investment Fund
Given a long history of working at a senior level in many business sectors, David has developed a varied skill set that would complement the plans for Saudi Arabia to develop its tech startup ecosystem. Working with many entrepreneurs and decision-makers worldwide has given him invaluable insight into what is needed to create and nurture an ecosystem for entrepreneurs, investors and other stakeholders.
Accelerator Development – set up and ran two successful accelerators which nurtured over 60 small businesses in 7 years.
Startup Ecosystem Development – developed the foundations of the tech startup ecosystems in the UK (Silicon Roundabout) and Palestine.
Government Policy Advisor – involved in defining government policy through delivery for many aspects of technology, education and high growth businesses.
Skilled Mentor — working on government and private sector programs mentoring many hundreds of senior business people.
Focused on job creation — I help startups move on to become successful scale-ups, creating jobs and opportunities for others in the wider community.
Fund of Funds and Fund Management — spent 20 years setting up and running many funds to assist London in becoming the highly successful entrepreneurial environment it is today.
Disrupting the status quo — From my years at Gateway Inc. and Dell Computers, where I helped make computers accessible to the masses, to being a key player in building the reputation of the Slovenian blockchain community. Throughout my career, I have used cutting edge technology to help change the world.
Irfan Gondal
Senior Partner at Promentum Equity Partners
Is a senior executive with 25 years of extensive international digital/mobile experience in exploring, developing and marketing products, services and partnerships in advisory, strategic and operational leadership roles.
Solid experience from start-ups and mature corporate organizations such as Ericsson, Nokia, Intel, 3-Mobil, STC, Ooredoo Group and GSMA in Europe and MENA. Hands-on experience with strategizing, incubating and growing mobile/digital businesses while managing C-level relationships and the buy-in process with key stakeholders. Found partner of a Copenhagen based VC firm, Promentum Equity Partners.
MEET THE 4TH SESSION
JUDGES
Waleed Khalil
Managing Partner at Den VC
Waleed is an engineer, Entrepreneur, & the Managing Partner of Den Venture Capital. Waleed invests in early stage, tech. enabled startups from emerging markets specially Africa and the Arab region.
Ghassan Aloshban
General Partner at Emkan Capital
Is a Saudi national that started his career in strategy at Aramco; working closely with senior management, the Ministry, as well as OPEC.
Ghassan also worked in consulting with Booz Allen Hamilton where he focused on renewable energy in the GCC. He then joined his Saudi based Family Office where he overlooked corporatizing a number of their portfolio companies and was responsible for establishing the Angel Investing arm of the Office.
He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Amherst college with a double major in Economics and Computer Science and continued his education at Harvard Business School where he obtained his MBA and focused on international entrepreneurship, VC economics, and business valuation.
Fida Main Al Taher
Managing Partner at Amam Ventures
Is a serial entrepreneur, impact agent, advisor and investor. Currently, Managing Partner at Amam Ventures, an impact fund that caters to startups and SMEs that are committed to diversity and inclusion.
Taher is also a co-founder and Chairperson of “Women in Business Arabia”; a virtual network with more than 45,000 members. A G100 Global Chair for Venture Capital and Innovative Finance, Board member at the MicroFund for Women; Jordan’s largest microfinance institution, and has been serving on several advisory boards of startups and NGOs empowering women & youth.
Fida is a mother of four children, an advocate for more inclusive work cultures and constantly working on the economic empowerment of women.
Hijazi Natsheh
Founder and CEO at Jeelcode
Raymond Gibbs
Chairman at Joint Working Group
Currently Chairman of the Joint Working Group on Graphene Standardisation in conjunction with the BSI and the China Standards Authority.
Recently became NED Chairman of CVD systems supplier planarTECH
Also commissioned by Manchester University to help commercialise their IP portfolio in Graphene, working with the UoM and specifically its graphene focussed operations, Graphene Enabled Systems and the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC).
MEET THE FINAL
JUDGES
Alaa Ismail
CEO & Founder at Aladdinb2b
Alaa founded his first company SalesMENA, at the age of 26, which today is the #1 B2B outsource sales solution in the MENA region. SalesMENA has played a key role in the success of international companies in the region for 10 years. Recently, Alaa partnered with Tim Draper to establish Draper-Aladdin Startup Competition, which aims to fund the winning startup with up to 500k USD.
Prince Sultan Bin Fahad Bin Salman
Executive Chairman at Eirad Group
Sultan has been the Executive Chairman of Eirad Group, a family office, for the past 13 years. Sultan made the switch from the public to the private sector after joining Eirad Group in 2008. Prior to joining officially, he spent a period of time as a trusted advisor using his experience in organizational strategy to evolve the firm’s approach and expand its reach.
Sultan is the Chairman of the Saudi Arabian Water Sports & Diving Federation, the federation that regulates water sport and diving activities in Saudi Arabia, since 2019. He plans to continue in this role, as he is deeply passionate about contributing to the future of Saudi Arabian growth in the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf. Sultan is a Board Member of many other foundations and charities, including the Kilana Foundation, which provides key support (including medication and dialysis) to those navigating kidney disease.
Rami Al-Qawasmi
Founder and CEO at Mawdoo3
Holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from University of Sussex in England, with a passion in business, technology and content, and digital media that led to create the world’s biggest Arabic content website.
Walid Tarabih
Founder and CEO Platx
A former Digital Transformation Advisor at the UAE’s Prime Minister’s Office. A Technology and Digital Transformation Expert with hands-on experience in Public and Private sectors, with federal employment background and extensive expertise in Digital Transformation, Blockchain, A.I and Data Science. Digital transformation is no longer a buzzword but a necessity. And this is where Walid and the team can make a big difference when dealing with governments and organizations. His main focus as an Entrepreneur is to bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds by using technology to increase human’s ability rather than limiting it.
Mandar Joshi
Executive Chairman at MStrategy Global
M Strategy Global
After leaving his last corporate position as Group CFO of a conglomerate spread across 17 countries, Mandar established M Strategy Global during the year 2015. Over the last 7 years, we have grown exponentially across the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and India. M Strategy Global has a senior leadership team of 20+ professionals which consists of investment bankers, financial strategists, business turnaround experts and venture capitalists.
Venture Catalysts
Mandar is a proud shareholder of Venture Catalysts, Asia’s largest integrated incubator. We are ranked as World’s 2nd most active early-stage investor. Venture Catalysts operates out of 48 partner offices in various cities and towns of India, apart from its international operations in the Americas, Middle East and South East Asia. We have established two regulated funds, viz.:
– 9 Unicorns Accelerator Fund, a 120 Million USD sector-agnostic fund investing in idea-stage start-ups
– Beams Fintech Fund, a 100 Million USD Fintech focussed fund investing in growth stage start-ups
lucky winners to reach
the final on the 13th so far
SHORT-LISTED
STARTUPS
Introducing...
The moderator
Lee S. Clark
Works with online, news media, creative and publishing organizations to maximize the impact of their visual content. He brings his perspective on imagery to the team. Experienced in working with art directors, creatives and writers to produce their vision and to use images to enhance their message.
With over ten years editing experience at the New York Daily News in the fast-paced world of New York City photojournalism, as well as monthly magazine production, book editing and online photo sales, he can work with your designers and writers to find the perfect image to meet their creative or editorial needs.
We are
Coming soon
The biggest event yet!
About Tim Draper
Tim Draper is the founder of prominent venture capital firm DFJ. He was an early investor in more than 30 unicorns including Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, SolarCity, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, Ancestry.com, Twitch, Cruise Automation, and Focus Media among others. We are proud to say, Tim is a founding investor in AladdinB2B.com Together, we have formed the Draper-Aladdin Startup Competition, a platform for innovative ideas and upcoming startups.
About Alaa Ismail
EVENT SPONSORS
Exhibitors
Entrepreneurship World Cup
The Entrepreneurship World Cup is the first and largest tournament of its kind in the world, with entrepreneurs from more than 200 countries participating. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will host the final qualifiers for the competition, the closing ceremony, and the distribution of awards, with the participation of the best 25 male and female entrepreneurs who will qualify for the finals in Riyadh within BIBAN 2023.
The expected impact of the World Cup to lead the world
Attracting pioneering innovative projects that serve the Kingdom’s directions. Stimulating local investment in the Kingdom and attracting foreign investments. – Highlighting the promising opportunities available in the Kingdom. Involving entrepreneurial projects from around the world in solving national challenges. – Enabling partners and supporting entities to achieve their goals. – Receiving more than $25,000 in incentives and services from the competition’s partners.
