Qatar is witnessing sharp rise in number of startups and invest-ments. Investors are showing huge interest in such startups as technology-based businesses are growing, said panelists during an online event.
Founder Institute (FI) organised a webinar entitled ‘Startup Funding in Qatar with Doha Tech Angels: How to Raise Money’ which shed light on startup funding in Qatar.
The event fea-tured talks from entrepreneurs who have successfully raised money for their businesses and investors funding companies. Dr. Luana Ozemela, Fellow Co-Director, Founder Institute and Founder and CEO of DIMA said, “FI believes startups can create real impact in society but because they lack expert feedback during the early stage they often fail. Our program is focused to help pre-seed founders and teams get traction and funding through a devoted support network and structured growth process.”
Citing a report, she said, “According to a report by KPMG on the tech startups ecosystem on how the investments have been evolving in the last four years. In Qatar the size of the investments is getting bigger, and the total amount of investments are going towards tech startups. Ahmad Al Saygh, Entre-preneur and Advisor, Bedaya Center discussed about getting licensing in Qatar.
He said, “According to the Qatari law starting a business needs a Qatari partner, there are some exemp-tions in otherwise, you can own the company 100 percent if you are not a Qatari and get funding based on certain business activities.”
Speaking about the organi-sations that can provide funding in Qatar he said, “In case of business related to sports, to get funding there is an incubation center – Qatar Sports and Tech-nology Park (QSTP), you can own company and get funding whether you are in Qatar or beyond the borders you can get incubated. Also, Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC) pro-vides seed funding and different type of seed funding for busi-nesses, but they require to have active Qatari partner.”
Sara Daniel, CEO of Doha Tech Angels, discussed about angel investing. She said “We invest in technology and tech-nology enabled businesses. We have no geographical limitations that is we can also invest outside of Qatar as well, but we are Qatar first because of our networks. We have also invested in the GCC – broader Mena network in the South Asia and have a portfolio of about ten companies to date.”
Speaking about angel investing she said, “Angel investors are early investors that back a business at an early stage. They look for three factors – Firstly, to analyse the business and the team. Also if is there is enough credibility within the team to execute the key skills needed to take the company forward. Secondly, they are looking at traction that is the business solving real problem and have solutions. Thirdly, how scalable is the business model and how interesting is the market opportunity.”
“Angel investors are investing in common stock as opposed to venture capital investors. If we look at Mena as a whole there has been a huge take off since 2020 versus 2021 which is times three as we are close to $3bn of VC investments in 2021. Venture capital is becoming more of an asset class. In Qatar we are seeing more startups coming up and more investors willing to put in more money.Awdesh Chetal, CEO, Hyper-Think Systems said, “We are trying to reinvent the local eco-system in a builder format and by understanding the realistic problems and offer the right support to startups.”
“Funding is increasing because valuations are high and there is a lot of movement of money globally in the markets. There is a lot of interest in investing in startups as the tech-nology and technology-based businesses are growing.”
