Arabnet Arabnet

Flat6Labs celebrates seven years of accelerating entrepreneurship in the MENA region. Launched in Cairo in 2011 by the founders of Sawari Ventures, Flat6Labs has since expanded to Jeddah, Abu Dhabi, Tunis, Beirut and Bahrain and manages four seed funds across the MENA Region with a total value accumulating to $50M.

“Today marks the 7th anniversary of the launch of the first-ever Flat6Labs cycle in Cairo. I am thrilled for the exciting times ahead of us as we embark on the next chapter of Flat6Labs’ journey by building and activating one of the strongest entrepreneurial platforms in the region that inspires, invests, connects and supports entrepreneurs,” said Ramez El-Serafy, CEO of Flat6Labs.

Since 2011, Flat6Labs portfolio companies have thus far raised $15M in follow-on funding and directly and indirectly helped create more than 1,200 jobs. With four established seed funds in Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon and Bahrain, Flat6Labs has over 20 institutional investors including The International Finance Corporation (IFC), Tunisian American Enterprise Fund (TAEF), twofour54, and BLOM Bank.

It has also received more than 15,000 startup applications from across the MENA region and beyond. The regional Flat6Labs network encompasses 180+ portfolio companies, 400+ local and international mentors and coaches and 100+ corporate, governmental and ecosystem partners.

During its seventh year of existence, Flat6Labs launched its sixth accelerator in Bahrain (March 7) and hosted five Demo Days in Cairo (May 14), Tunis (July 5), Beirut (February 21 and September 13) and Bahrain (October 3), graduating 33 tech-enabled startups that offer innovative products in spaces ranging from FinTech, gaming and solar energy to digital health, augmented reality education and real estate.

Three Flat6Labs portfolio companies, Collectionair (Abu Dhabi), Instabug (Cairo) and Washmen (Abu Dhabi), were listed on Forbes Middle East’s ‘Top 100 Startups In The Middle East – 2018’ and Flat6Labs was ranked sixth on the list of ‘The 50 Most Active Investors In The Arab World.’

Flat6Labs Beirut alumni startup Buildink, which offers construction firms a scalable and mobile-friendly robot concrete 3D printer and signature concrete mixture, won the first edition of TechCrunch’s Startup Battlefield MENA. Buildink took home $25,000 (equity-free) in cash and won a trip to Disrupt San Francisco 2019.

Flat6Labs Bahrain, Beirut, and Cairo have opened applications for their upcoming cycles. Bahrain-based startups can apply for the 2^nd cycle of Flat6Labs Bahrain before the 18^th of October. The applications for the 3^rd cycle of Flat6Labs Beirut are now open until the 15^th of October.  Flat6Labs Cairo is now in its 12^th cycle and applications are open for Egyptian startups.