Startups Securing Funding at GITEX 2022

This year, GITEX saw a whole bunch of different VC funding events. In this article we highlight the three most amazing pitches the GITEX press office told Durov’s Code.

The Supernova Challenge, part of North Star, the biggest VC funding event in the MENA region, that took place in the framework of GITEX 2022, has attracted over 600 applications from game-changing startups from over 41 countries, who battled it out for the region’s biggest prize and the coveted North Star Dubai Supernova Champion title.

26 finalists from countries including Brazil, Bahrain, USA, Romania South Korea, Canada, Latvia, France, Vietnam, Nigeria, Kenya and Oman pitched in front of a judging panel of global icons and tech influencers, including David Cohen (co-founder of Techstars), Mike Butcher (Editor-at-large at Techcrunch), Karim Konsowa (Associate, Dubai Future District Fund) etc.

The Dutch startup Desolenator, that develops solar powered water purification technology, was announced the winner of the Supernova Challenge at North Star, securing the top prize of $100,000. Alexei Levene, co-founder of Desolenator, accepted the grand prize money of $100,000, saying:

This award highlights how Dubai, and the UAE are taking a leadership position on the most intractable sustainability issues facing the world. We are delighted to win the North Star Supernova challenge and this prize money will contribute towards our work to tackle the global water crisis around the world.

The winner of the Top MENA Start-up Award was Galactech from Oman, an entertainment e-sports company.

Alonmgside GITEX 2022, another startup pitch took place - the Oman Technology Fund Pitch Battle, sponsored by Oman Technology Fund and the ITHCA Group. For the first time in history, nine Omani startups were selected from a shortlist of 30 finalists to win a total of up to $1 million in investments following their successful pitch to a panel of experts.

Online service provider Nashid, watercraft company Seavo and tele-therapy platform SgharToon received investment cheques for $150,000 each. The rest of the participants got $50,000 each.

Another startup event was the "Move the World" Innovation Cup, sponsored by AHOY. Tree winners were selected by a jury of local, regional and international experts, investors and entrepreneurs to share credit worth $175,000. The Trailblazers’ Award was presented to CLROBUR from South Korea, the Future Innovators Award was won by Visual Camp also from South Korea and the Most Promising Start-up Team Award was presented to Biel Digital Glasses from Spain.