Startup News – Page 7 – StartUpArabia

Restaurant Review Service Qaym Releases New Version

March 24, 2009March 24, 2009 MMM 4 Comments

Qaym, the Arab website for user generated restaurant and coffee shop reviews, that was previously reviewed here, recently celebrated the launch of it’s new redesigned interface and additional features.

Qaym is an online project through which users rate and review restaurants and coffee shops, in addition to uploading pictures of them and their food items, discussing their positives and negatives and posting relevant information about them.

Each restaurant has its own page that contains information about it (including location, branches, type of offered food, etc.) and reviews of the people who visited it and tried its food, which can range from enthusiastic delight to obvious disappointment. There’s a gauge in each page showing the average user rating of the restaurant.

The new version includes a re-branding for the service, introducing a new logo, and a new more simplistic and organized design for the homepage, as well as some other design tweaks for the inside pages.

An important new feature that has been introduced is the ability to pinpoint the location of a restaurant and its different branches on a map; to make it easier for people to find them. This is done through the integration of Google Maps.

Other than that the site’s rating system has been enhanced and extended to allow users to rate each other’s reviews, posts and photos.

The site currently focuses on food and drink establishments, and intends to expand so that the community can rate and review any charged service or product, ultimately aiming to provide an honest, user- and consumer-driven community in which people’s real experiences are shared and published so that they can be the basis of people’s decisions to buy or use a product or service, instead of attractive advertisements and ubiquitous billboards.

Filaty Arab File Sharing Service Launches Mobile Version

March 22, 2009March 22, 2009 MMM

Filaty, the Arab direct file sharing service, which was previously reviewed here, has just launched a mobile version of its service, making it possible for users to upload and share files directly from their mobile phones and devices.

By introducing this service, Filaty hopes to make it easier for people to use the service from anywhere, helping to grow usage of the service and extend their user base.

Users can upload photos and files of up to 100MB through a light, quick interface; and have the link sent to their email address or the email addresses of the friends they want to share with.

The mobile version is available at: http://m.filaty.com (filaty.mobi and filaty.com/mobile work as well.)

On another note, Filaty is now also one of the upload options available in Mrrha, the file mirroring service, previously reviewed here.

Ayna Launches Free Mobile Mapping Service For The Arab World

March 17, 2009March 17, 2009 MMM 6 Comments

After launching their online mapping service last year, Ayna has gone on and launched the first locally produced Arabic and English mobile mapping service as promised.

The application, unveiled this month, uses GPS technology on the latest-generation mobile phones to give directions and maps to points of interest from the user’s location.

According to Mazen Halawi, the corporate sales manager for Ayna Corporation, it contains detailed information about all major Arab cities and capitals, with numerous points of interest which are searchable, and that will be updated regularly.
It works in a similar way to Google Maps but has the added advantage of routing, or step-by-step directions to a destination, something unavailable for the Middle East through Google Maps.

The service is available for all types of phones except the iPhone and can be downloaded in two formats, for keypad and touch-screen phones, free from the Ayna website.
Users can also send directions to their favourite spots to friends through SMS.

Ayna is also presenting this as a value-added medium for advertisers who seek local advertisements, like banks, restaurants, points of sale, and others.

The application will soon add satellite images, which will allow users to view areas in maps, satellite and a hybrid view.

According to numbers released by the company, the application has been downloaded 12,800 times in its first week.

Ayna launched its online version of its mapping service in November and has more than 50,000 points of interest logged into its Arabic maps so far.

# Ayna Mobile Maps

H2O New Media Secures First Round of Funding From Equinox International

March 3, 2009March 3, 2009 MMM

H2O New Media, the technology company focused on Enterprise Social Media applications in Dubai, has confirmed its first round of funding from Equinox International. A deal between H2O New Media and Equinox International was signed following months of negotiations as the two companies weighed inflation and market stability.

The size of the investment hasn’t been made public, but it has been described as a significant one, and H2O New Media is looking at the investment as an opportunity for growth and expansion of its operation within the MENA and APAC regions.

H2O New Media was established in 2007, as one of the leading social media software companies in the Middle East which focuses on developing niche communities within vertical industry sectors.

The company plans to further advance into key markets across the MENA region, with immediate plans to open new offices in Oman, and then an APAC office based in the Philippines.

“We have been following H2O New Media for a while and I am pleased that we have managed to come to agreeable terms and have secured a stake in the future of the company. The team has very strong background of building companies to 100M dollar plus valuations and H2O New Media has the credibility and potential to achieve this position in the market. They have been working continuously over the past 2 years to develop a number of niche portal applications that will really shake up the MEA online market whilst still providing value for businesses and consumers alike. We prefer to keep the details of our capital investment confidential but I would say it is a sizable commitment on our part and we are determined to assist H2O New Media in its positioning as a leading MENA player within the online & mobile data sectors” said Osama Qadan – Principal Partner, Equinox International.

“Although market conditions have been deteriorating and discouraging our company seems to have bucked the trend by focusing on innovation. We are fortunate to secure funding from a partner who is set to become an integral part in our expansion plans across the MENA region. Having representation in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as well as a significant telecommunications footprint made Equinox International our preferred investor and an ideal business partner who will work with us to rapidly scale our operations and translate our products into Arabic for the larger markets. As we deliver product and develop partnerships with the regions mobile telecommunications providers our intention is to be aggressive in the market and compete with key players such as Yahoo and Google. H2O New Media has created a significant wave in a short period of time and we are committed to maintaining a strong regional presence and market share in this sector” said Mr. Steve Vaile, CEO, H2O New Media.

Yamli’s Habib Haddad On World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders 2009 List

February 25, 2009February 25, 2009 MMM 15 Comments

The World Economic Forum has announced the Young Global Leaders (YGL) 2009. The honour, bestowed each year by the Forum, recognizes and acknowledges between 200 and 300 outstanding young leaders from around the world for their professional accomplishments, commitment to society and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.

The Forum has nominated Young Global Leaders from 71 countries, including business leaders, as well as leaders from government, academia, non-profit organizations, media and society. The new class represents all regions: East Asia (54), Europe (58), the Middle East and North Africa (12), North America (45), South Asia (24), sub-Saharan Africa (20) and Latin America (17). For a list of YGLs honoured in 2009, click here.

On this list we find one of our very own: Habib Haddad, co-founder of Yamli. Habib is behind the original idea behind Yamli, and today drives Yamli’s vision of empowering the Arabic language and users on the web. His responsibilities span from product strategy and design to business development.

Habib often speaks about early stage development and entrepreneurship, and has spoken at venues such as the Harvard Business School, Boston College and the American University of Beirut. He currently sits on the advisory board of Meedan, a non-profit startup that aims to enable cross-cultural dialogs online.

Commenting on the nomination, Habib said: “I am honored to be selected as a Young Global Leader and I am eager to engage with the YGL community. I have always been passionate about entrepreneurship and hope that along with fellow YGLs, we will be able to help foster entrepreneurship activities in the Middle East and North Africa. I am also excited to continue to promote the Arabic web, which I believe has a bright future lying ahead.”

Drawn from a pool of almost 5,000 candidates, the Young Global Leaders 2009 were chosen by a selection committee, chaired by H.M. Queen Rania Al Abdullah of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, comprising 31 eminent international media leaders.

The 2009 honourees will become part of the broader Forum of Young Global Leaders that currently comprises 480 outstanding individuals. The YGLs convene at biannual summits, as well as Forum events and meetings throughout the year, and collaborate on initiatives to tackle some of the key challenges of our generation.

Big congratulations to Habib Haddad for this honour; it’s very well deserved.

ShooFeeTV Launches Newly Designed Bilingual Version

February 24, 2009February 24, 2009 MMM

ShooFeeTV, the free online Arabic television guide, is officially launching a new bilingual version of their website a bit later today, at a launch party held in their Amman offices.

The new version comes in both Arabic and English, with a new more simplistic design, as well as a more powerful search engine, allowing users to find whatever they’re looking for faster.

Among the other new features and additions that were introduced with this new version are:

– The possibility to search either by theme or by type through the 100,000 database entries and the listings detailing the times and programming for the Arab world’s most popular satellite channels. (“Drama”, “Comedy” or television series, films, sports events and other types.)

– The introduction of tagging and tag clouds to better organize the content and help users find what they’re looking for.

– The use of optimized high-quality, high-resolution images on the home page.

Content Syndicate Announces Investment By IV Holdings

February 18, 2009February 18, 2009 MMM 2 Comments

Content Syndicate has officially announced that it has received strategic investment from Interactive Ventures Holding Company (“IV Holdings”), a leading venture capital firm, focused on internet and interactive companies, and based out of Amman, Jordan.

The funding will be used to support Content Syndicate’s rapid growth and development of its content services platform.

“In its private beta alone, Content Syndicate, with its unique and disruptive business model, as well as its dynamic management track record, impressed us. More importantly, the strong validation the company has received from major customers and publishers, combined with our investment strategy focused on the development of content syndication in our region, made Content Syndicate a great fit. Very few early-stage companies have this kind of amazing traction and robust business model,” said Fawaz H. Zu’bi, Chairman of IV Holdings.

Content Syndicate’s patent-pending platform helps publishers to commission, buy, sell, syndicate content in more than 200 languages. With no entry-level costs, coupled with its ‘pay for performance’ model, Content Syndicate helps publishers to monetize their content further and minimizing the inefficiency, thereby generating additional revenues and cutting costs. The company intends to extend its service to support other media – audio, video and mobile content in 2009.

Cyber Gear Launches DIYads For Self Serve Advertising

February 17, 2009February 17, 2009 MMM 4 Comments

Cyber Gear, a UAE based web design and online marketing firm, has just launched DIYadsonline.com, a new “do it yourself” online ad creation, placement and performance analysis service for the Middle East.

The service is targeted at advertisers who are on a budget, and need to cheaply put together an online display ad, and get it out there as quickly and easily as possible. At DIYadsonline.com prices start at US$ 99/month for up to 5,000 banner impressions.

Currently, online campaigns created through the service can be run on DubaiCityGuide.com, another service by Cyber Gear, with the company aiming to add new sites to the DIYads publishers network in the coming weeks.

Sharad Agarwal, CEO of Cyber Gear, said in the company’s press release that “Self serve display ads are the ‘killer app’ of Web advertising. We have developed a proprietary real time ad customization tool and intuitive web-based interface that deploys XML Feed to create more engaging display ads using Flash technology. The new tool will enable advertisers select from a number of ad targeting factors such as geographic, demographic and various user interest categories.”

The new service comes at a time when many companies are cutting down their advertising budgets, and many people are expecting a bigger push towards online advertising; so it should be interesting to see how well it does.

I wouldn’t expect the system to create some really awesome or ultra creative banner ads, but it still could be enough for someone making an entrance to online advertising, with a limited budget, and wanting to test the waters.