Dubai Startup Reality Show The Equity Room Successfully Wraps Pilot Run

Dubai-based companies, Gulf Events and Stride Plus Events have come together to host The Equity Room, a startup reality show that took place at Madinat Theatre, Madinat Jumeirah on Wednesday, November 21.

The event featured 20 startup founders from various sectors such as education, technology, fintech, blockchain, e-commerce, and healthtech pitching their businesses on stage for funding with amounts ranging from 100,000 to over a million US dollars. They stood in front an exclusive audience of investors, angel investors, venture capitalists, businessmen and women as well as entrepreneurship students.

“Such concepts are in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and are the reason why the startup industry is flourishing in Dubai.  I was impressed with the audience and their immediate responses to the startups were an intriguing concept. And though I understand that the stage can make entrepreneurs nervous, an entrepreneur should not just come up with good ideas but know how to sell them,” said Arif Saiyad, founder and CEO of ASA Ventures, and a participating investor.

Other big names that served as judges were Raza Jaffar, managing director of Enshaa Holdings Ltd.; Achal Ghai, group managing director of Legacy Emirates Group; Anvita Varshney, co-founder of Dubai Angel Investors; Ganesh Iyer, managing partner of FLC Group; Adriana Usvat, managing partner of FLC Group; Rajiv Dalmia, founder and chairman of Data Direct Group; Ajmal Sharafuddin, co-founder and co-CEO of Clutchi Capital; Kashif Khan, deputy CEO of Abwab Capital; and Vijay Tirathrai, managing director of Techstars Dubai.

“Throughout the event, I realized how much the UAE startup community has to offer. I was glad to see numerous female entrepreneurs as well as numerous young entrepreneurs, passionate about addressing various market gaps and aiming to solve them. Although UAE has a developed startup industry within the GCC region, it still lags behind compared to the rest of the world. Therefore, initiatives such as The Equity Room allow the UAE to catch up and provide exposure to the startup community,” said Anvita Varshney, co-founder of Dubai Angel Investors.

Among the various startups that pitched, six of them successfully secured an investor, and by the end of the event, The Equity Room had raised fund of  approximately over 700,000 US dollars.

Kashif Khan, deputy CEO of Abwab Capital commented, “Dubai has the best infrastructure and ecosystem to produce entrepreneurs and convert those entrepreneurial ideas into serious businesses that can create thousands of jobs. The Equity Room was one of the best initiatives taken by the organizers, Gulf Events and Stride Plus Events, which gave a platform to young and talented entrepreneurs to present their ideas and connect them with the investors.”