Meet the 9 Startups from first batch of QSTP & 500 Startups’ Doha Dojo

Doha Dojo is a Series A program accelerator in Qatar. Its a collaboration between Qatar Science & Technology Park & 500 Startups. The program is re-adaptation of 500 Startups’ Distro Dojo, a growth accelerator that invests and trains startups all around the world.

Accepting less than ten startups every year, the investment program runs for three months and provides training and one-to-one mentoring to selected startups. It only accepts the regional tech-startups that have achieved a “product market fit” milestone in their startup development lifecycle and are ready to scale up their business. Started earlier this month, the program had an investor day organized for startups on May 23. Apart from the nine Doha Dojo Startups from its first batch, six startups from Qatar Foundation Research and Development’s Research-to-Startup program also pitched in front of investors. Here are the nine startups from the first batch of Doha Dojo in alphabetical order.

Eat

UAE-based Eat is an online, real-time restaurant reservation platform. The startup was founded in 2014 by Nezar Kadhem and has received $2.2 million in funding until now with the latest seed round of $1.8 million in October last year. Eat was born in Bahrain but is currently based in Dubai and has seated more than 1 million people in more than 500 restaurants across Bahrain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha. Apart from the web app for booking tables at restaurants, they have native apps for both Android & iOS to help you discover restaurants around you, see their menus and reserve tables. Restaurants can use tools by Eat to manage in-house operations, CRM, and use the platform as their digital gateway to acquire users online.

Edfa3ly

Edfa3ly is a startup that lets you shop from different US stores and website including Amazon & Ebay, and have your ordered items shipped right to your doorstep or downloaded to your device in-case of software or a publication. The Cairo-based startup was co-founded by Ahmed Mohamed, Mohamed Attya, Mohammad Hesham Shalaby in 2011 and now offers services all across GCC and Egypt. They offer users different local payment options; like Sadad which is a local payment gateway using which users can pay through their regular bank accounts in Saudi Arabia. They’ve raised $150K in disclosed funding until now.

Eventtus

Co-founded by Mai Medhat, Nihal Fares & Ahmed Sadek in 2011, Eventtus is an all-in-one engagement platform for events. It lets companies and organizers manage their events in every possible way. They can create a web page for the event, sell the tickets and even build a mobile application  for the event with agenda, speakers bios, live announcements, realtime polling and a networking platform for all attendees. The Egyptian startup has raised $175,000 in disclosed funding until now and has clients like Step Group, ArabNet, Rise Up Egypt, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority & Expo 2020.

Ghinwa

Kuwait-based Ghinwa is a mobile app that allows amateur singers to sing in karaoke and promote their talent. They can create music freely without any constraint and share it with anyone. The startup was co-founded by Mohammad AlMunaikh, Bader Al Tahous & Alfonso Fernández in 2015 and current has its app available for iOS only. They were the winners of last year’s Arab Startup Competition, organized by the MIT Economic Forum (MITEF).

Justmop

Co-founded by Ali Cagatay Ozcan & Kerem Kuyucu in 2015, Justmop is on-demand cleaning services platform. They let you book Maids & Cleaners for different types of cleaning services. All their cleaners and service providers are pre-screened and well-trained. Based in Dubai, they currently offer their services in United Arab Emirates & Qatar. You can use their website or Android or iOS applications to book the services.

Meddy

Qatar-based Meddy is a healthcare service platform. It connects doctors with patients and vice versa. Currently offeriing its services in Qatar only, the startup lets patients search and book doctors online through their website. Patients can also read reviews by other users of the platform. Co-founded in 2014 by by Haris Aghadi and Abdulla Alkhenji, Meddy has raised $79K in seed funding util now.

Mumm

Mumm is a Cairo-based startup that lets you order food cooked by people in their homes. Co-founded in 2015 by Waleed Abd El Rahman, their services are currently available in Cairo only. They have secured an undiclosed amount of investment in a round last year. The most impressive thing about the startup is that apart from having Egyptian women Cooks, they have also partnered with the non-profit Fard Foundation to recruit Syrian, Iraqi and Sudanese refugees to sell meals on the platform.

Souqalmal

Founded by Ambreen Musa, Souqalmal is a comparison website for financial and insurance products. The startup has a database of more than 3,000 products and claims to be the largest car insurance aggregator in United Arab Emirates. Currently based in Dubai, Souqalmal offers its services in United Arab Emirates & Saudi Arabia. They startup has raised more than $4.5 million until today.

Taskty

Cairo-based Taskty is a marketplace for cleaning and maintenance services where you can find individuals and agencies to help you with cleaning, maintenance and packing and moving services. The startup that was co-founded by Ahmed Galal, Ahmed Atef & Ibrahim Abdeen 2012 manages everything from payment to screening of the providers to ensure quality.