venture capital arm, Techstars Ventures, with $265 million under management. “This year, Techstars will have close to 40 accelerator programs worldwide,” Tirathrai explains. “There are essentially two types of programs: corporate innovation programs whose objective is to disrupt certain industry verticals, which is done with leading corporate partners for respective industries, and city programs that tend to be generic and agnostic of any particular industry or verticals. Our Dubai accelerator is agnostic; however, we do have a slant for a smart cities theme.” Techstars is known for putting a strong emphasis on collaboration with and within the local community. In Dubai, that is further strengthened by Techstars Dubai being a founding member of Area 2071, a Dubai government initiative aimed at spearheading innovation. “It’s a great time to start a business in the Middle East, because of its young demographics being hungry for rapid change, its growing mobile penetration enabling small businesses to reach a wider audience, its readiness to adopt technology, and to disrupt traditional business models, and the reforms of the regulatory frameworks to facilitate the use of fintech, AI, blockchain applications, IoT, and so on,” Tirathrai says. “Furthermore, heightened awareness of the success of tech startups and acquisitions in the region has seen increased investors’ appetite, both by angel investors and venture capitalists.” As long-time residents of Dubai, Taline Vahanian and Edmond Husseini, co-founders of Felix, a fullservice digital insurance broker, echo the same senti-
Vijay Tirathrai, Managing Director, Techstars Dubai
ment. They are building a region-specific solution, hoping to increase customer service standards in this industry in the Middle East. Since its beta launch in September last year, Felix has enjoyed 20% monthon-month growth, while the co-founders consider their biggest successes so far to be setting up partnerships with the top eight auto insurance companies in the UAE, and crossing AED1 million in premium sales very quickly. “This region has the lowest insurance penetration in the world, and we think that it is because the distribution of insurance has been done in a very archaic way,” Husseini says. “We think that the internet is a great opportunity to change that, because it gives you reach, allows you to talk to millions of people easily, and to educate them. We are trying to change the way insurance is perceived here, and change the way it is bought. Felix is a digital insurance platform, and by having an account with Felix, you deal with us, our customer support team is at your disposal whenever you need it. You don’t need to deal with the lousy customer support of your insurance company, we fight your battles for you. You deal with us, you’re talking to the same group of people
“There are essentially two types of programs: corporate innovation programs whose objective is to disrupt certain industry verticals, which is done with leading corporate partners for respective industries, and city programs that tend to be generic and agnostic of any particular industry or verticals.”
“HEIGHTENED AWARENESS OF THE SUCCESS OF TECH STARTUPS AND ACQUISITIONS IN THE REGION HAS SEEN INCREASED INVESTORS’ APPETITE, BOTH BY ANGEL INVESTORS AND VENTURE CAPITALISTS.”
all the time, the interface is consistent, the customer experience is consistent. We worked very, very hard on that, and that’s what we’re good at. We handle all of the frustration of the back end of the insurance company, because we deal with them every day anyway. So, we know how to get stuff done with them.” When asked why they decided to enroll in the Techstars Dubai program, Husseini replies, “I think it is by far the most prestigious accelerator to have set foot in Dubai. With previous businesses I’ve been involved in, I’ve been in touch with other accelerators, but the Techstars experience is on a completely different level. It is about their pool of mentors, but also the funding$120,000 is a lot of money for a small business. That’s pretty serious, that shows commitment. Other accelerators give you $20,000 or $30,000, and take a lot more equity. Also, the overall business environment for startups here is certainly improving. We didn’t have initiatives like Area 2071 five or seven years ago when >>>
Edmond Husseini and Taline Vahanian, co-founders, Felix
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