Step Conference, a leading technology festival for emerging markets, has announced a selection of 10 startups as highlights from among 300 startups showcasing at the event from 24 different countries including India, Hong Kong, GCC, Levant, UK and US amongst others.

From finance and hospitality to clean tech and biotech, these 10 startups have raised a collective $16 million.

Ray Dargham, CEO of Step, said: “These are very exciting times for us and the UAE. Now in our 9th year, the conference has become an annual milestone in the UAE event calendar, highlighting up-and-coming startups and technologies with the potential to change their industries for the better and gathering the ecosystem for discussions on entrepreneurship, digital, fintech, and futurist tech, among others.”

“With the support of Dubai Internet City (DIC), the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) and over 15 partners including In5, ADGM, Hub71, Volkswagen, Dtec, OMD, Spotify and others, startups will have the opportunity to exhibit in the presence of top emerging markets investors including Class5Global and MSA Capital,” he added.

Ammar Al Malik, managing director of Dubai Internet City, said: “We look forward to seeing our tech startups from in5 showcase their innovations at STEP Conference 2020. This conference enables the community to network, share knowledge, exchange expertise and promote home-grown talent.”

“Dubai Internet City provides a vibrant startup ecosystem that allows entrepreneurs and innovators to connect with leading tech companies, develop and thrive. We play a pivotal role in the UAE’s economic diversification, and cementing Dubai's position as a top destination for best-in-class talent in disruptive, high-growth sectors,” Al Malik added.

in5, an enabling platform for entrepreneurs, by Tecom Group, will introduce startups at Step Conference 2020 including Carriyo, ScootQ, SmartMentor, Zoom Venues, Witsense, and Nejma. With the objective to foster homegrown entrepreneurship and innovation, in5 is home to more than 200 startups and has access to over 100 mentors within its network as well as the wider business community.

The 10 startups highlighted by Step in this growing ecosystem in 2020 have had the high performance and growth rates since their founding, and that have strong future potential to scale. What is most interesting is how these tech companies have worked in ways to disrupt or evolve traditional sectors.

1. Nerve Solutions: Nerve Solutions aims at democratizing financial technology in the region by empowering financial services companies to offer cutting edge technology to their end clients. It continues to push the envelope by providing various developer tools and APIs allowing brokers to offer tech-enabled products to their end clients.

2. TossLab (Jandi): Toss Lab, Inc. is a SaaS enterprise software company with business operating in South Korea (HQ), Taiwan, and Japan. Its flagship product, Jandi, is a group-oriented messaging platform with an integrated suite of collaboration tools that is tailor-made for workplaces in Asia.

3. Artivive: The Augmented Reality Platform For Art - This new technology allows artists to create new dimensions of art by linking classical with digital art. For museums, exhibitions, galleries, and other art institutions Artivive offers a new and innovative way for the audience to interact with exhibitions. This new world can be unlocked by any smartphone or tablet and offer an extended and emotional experience.

4. Panda VoiceOver: Panda voiceover is a professional voiceover online platform. Users can simply choose the voiceover, write the script, and the platform will automatically calculate the pricing and the delivery time.

5. WaterClub: The WaterClub is a home water supply that filters your water using a multi-stage filtration system. It is very energy efficient costing just a few pence per day to run. It helps reduce the use of more than 6 million plastic bottles.

6. eJobbing: The Uber of Services: As our lives become ever more dynamic our availability to have jobs done also requires this degree of flexibility. eJobbing is a service platform connecting individuals with talents that can help them achieve their daily chores.

7. Geek Express: Geek Express is an Ed-tech start-up offering K-12 students an immersive learning experience in Steam through online workshops, offline training, and subscription-based DIY kits.

8. Finyal Media:     Finyal Media is a podcast network producing audio stories for the Arab world. The company creates content from the region, for the region, bringing culturally relevant stories in a contemporary on-demand format to a young, content-hungry audience.

9. Arnab Mobilitty: Arnab Mobility is a UAE company offering an on-demand light electric vehicle sharing platform, built with digital technologies including IOT, AI and data analytics. Users can locate the e-scooter, ride and pay all through a mobile application.

10. Blockchain Router: The Blockchain router allows users to access decentralized Internet resources by utilising hardware and software complex which works with IPFS, Swarm, and distributed ledger technologies.

These are just 10 of the startups showcasing as part of Step 2020’s Startup Basecamp, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service