Bayt.com, the leading job portal in the Arab world, is launching a new and very interesting initiative called Intilaq, that aims to fund, mentor and support aspiring entrepreneurs with early-stage technology startups.
Intilaq is interested in funding and supporting startups based in the Arab world, or who are interested in relocating to the region, that drive regional internet adoption, usage and functionality.
Intilaq is not an incubation program, nor a competition, what they’ll be doing is evaluating ideas and people on an on-going basis, looking for the right fit, and funding chosen projects in exchange for equity in the company. Depending on how much progress the entrepreneurs have made, the funding could be at a seed round or at a follow-up round.
There is also no defined amount with which they are seeding the fund, choosing to remain flexible and acting on a case by case basis.
Intilaq is interested in hearing from both technology geeks, who have technical talent and a great innovative idea looking to start a company, as well as business people, who have great business aptitude (e.g., operations, sales, marketing, business development, finance) and who want to work with technical people to build a great company.
By doing this, Bayt is looking to invest some of the experience and money it has gained over the years, building their own success, into new startups in return for equity, or the benefit of a strategic acquisition, or even to just help grow regional Internet usage and winning by growing the online employment market for Bayt.com.
Besides funding, experience and mentorship; Bayt also offers to help with invaluable industry contacts from around the region, and even workspace in some cases whether at their offices in Dubai Internet City or one of their other offices around the Arab world.
The Intilaq team is made up of Rabea Ataya, the CEO of Bayt.com, and Dan Stuart, the Head of Strategic Initiatives at Bayt.com; both as managing partners, with Dan running the day-to-day operations.
# Intilaq
Thats really good news for all the startups ……
Interesting move but the details are a little bit fuzzy: incubator, not incubator… seed capital or growth stage…?
I like what Ycombinator is doing and I think there's a place in the Middle east for this kind of clear, simple and efficient model.
Good Luck
I think it's definitely very interesting news. It's the first time we see an Arab internet company launching a venture capital arm. I mean, you've got some people like Jeeran for example, who have opened their doors to incubate some startups, but this is a first in the Arab world, and it'll be interesting to see how it works out and how many startups it will be able to help.
From what I understood; it's not an incubator, it's an investment arm, which just might temporarily help by providing office space if needed. And I think they'll be mainly playing a role in the early stages, whether seed or early follow-up.
I too like the YCombinator model a lot, and hope to see someone reproducing that here in the Arab world.
very promising initiative
I'm hoping it will be too, and in all cases everyone will learn a lot from this.
I also wonder if we'll see any other Arab internet companies take such a move too.
very promising initiative
I'm hoping it will be too, and in all cases everyone will learn a lot from this.
I also wonder if we'll see any other Arab internet companies take such a move too.