THE FIRST SEASIDE STARTUP SUMMIT, UAE RAS AL KHAIMAH, FEB. 8-12, 2018

08 February, 2018

First day of Seaside Startum Summit

Day 1, February 8, 2018, The very First Seaside Startup Summit UAE. Ras Al Khaimah officially started.The hard work that was done by the organizers and supporters of the Summit brought its fruits. Startups, investors, mentors, and speakers from all over the world gathered together to share ideas, exchange knowledge, invest and get investments, and of course, have a lot of fun. The first day started with participants settling in their tents and becoming familiar with the territory of the Summit. After having their first Lunch, the attendees got an opportunity to gather together near the Stage of the Summit in order to be introduced both to each other and the general rules and messages of Seaside Startup Summit UAE.Ras Al Khaimah. The message highlighted the importance being organize in a non-formal environment which contributes to more effective cooperation not only with potential partners but also within the teams themselves. Starting from the history of the Summit and its roots, to the aim of the Summit, the participants got even more familiar with the event itself. After, the startups got an opportunity to be part of three panel discussions held by the representatives of business community.

The most official part of the event was the Grand Opening Ceremony. The whole Summit got around the stage to celebrate and announce the Start of Seaside Startup Summit UAE.Ras Al Khaimah! It was a huge responsibility to organize such a big event, and the start was very promising..

The day ended with loud music and a lot of dancing which was a perfect ending to a productive Day. As promised, the participants, during the day, got an opportunity to CONNECT, LEARN, WIN, and HAVE FUN.

Second day of Seaside Startum Summit

The Day 2 of Seaside Startup Summit UAE.Ras Al Khaimah started with a meet-up at 8:30 in the morning. All the Startups along with staff members stood in lines to discuss the planning of the upcoming day. And the planning was the following: 3 sessions and 6 campfire talks. The first session of the day was conducted by Mr. Jesus Lozano on the topic of Business Validation. The next session was a panel discussion on the topic of Tech for Social Impact held by Arsen Stepanyan, Laura Toman, and Medea Nocentini.

Narek Vardanyan and the Managing Partner at Granatus Ventures which is a Strategic Partner of Seaside Startup Summit LLC, also conducted a session on Fundraising.

On the second day, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Armenia to the United Arab Emirates H.E. Mr. Gegham Gharibjanian visited Seaside Startup Summit UAE.Ras Al Khaimah. During his visit, he was introduced to the lifestyle of participants.

After the visit of His Highness Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, the participants had an opportunity become a part of 6 campfire talks held by Todd Fabacher, Dr. Mussaad Al Razouki, Laura Toman, Peter Stojanov, Khalfan Jasim Khalfan, Aleksand Bondar and Pavel Gamzovich. The Day ended with a lot of fun and loud music around the Stage of the Summit.

Third day of Seaside Startup Summit: Social and IoT+Smart City Battle

The 3th Day of Seaside Startup Summit UAE. Ras Al Khaimah was full of networking opportunities, investments, and fun activities.

As always, the day started with a meet up early in the morning. As it was expected to have a productive day, the organizers team decided to take an opportunity to motivate and prepare the Startups for an important day.

The working process started with a Session on Perfect Pitching conducted by Jesus Lozano. During the talk, the participants got an opportunity to take away some key tips on how to pitch perfectly.

As the promotion of a Startup Idea is important factor to succeed, the participants were also introduced to a subject of writing the right content through promotional mediums such as Facebook and Instagram. The workshop was held by Fares Akkad.

Another important Panel Discussion was conducted by the co-organizer of Seaside Startup Summit UAE. Ras Al Khaimah Dr. Hisham Safadi along with Fadi Alawami, Hasan Haider, Hany Hussein and Silva Ricardo. The discussion was on Smart Cities.

In the continuation of the Day 2 Brand Battles were conducted (Social Battle and IoT + Smart City battle). During each battle 5 startups have participated, only two of them won. Social Battle Jury Members were Arsen Stepanyan, Noha Hefny, Yervand.

The Second Battle was IoT+Smart City battle where the juries were Pavel Roytberg, Silva Ricardo, Hany Hussein.

In addition, there was also a Campfire Pitch organized. Granatus Ventures, 971 Capital, RAKEZ, SmartGate VC, 500 Startups took part in the pitching session. Among the pitching Startups there were entrepreneurs who already participated during Sevan Startup Summit in Armenia. Triple E, for instance, is among the list of loyal Startups who participated starting from Sevan Startup Summit 2016.

The evening time was, as always, dedicated to Campfire talks (5) held by Hayk Manassian, Vineet Budki, Arman Arakelyan, Raffy Semerdjyan, Pavel Roytberg, Vahe Ayvazyan.

As the day was full of hard work and information flow, the organizers decided to let the participants choose how they want to end the day. The day ended with music and guitar playing around the camp fire.

Fourth day of Seaside Startup Summit: Seed, AR/VR and Eco-Millennium battle

4th Day of Seaside Startup Summit UAE.Ras Al Khaimah was one of the most though days. After the morning meet up the Seed Battle for the seed stage startups started. The participants were pitching to the jury members and after the presentation the Q&A sessions were conducted. Among 26 seed stage teams there were startups operating in different fields. After the third phase of the Seed Battle the 10th workshop session on Cryon was held by Abdullah Alkurdi. The workshop was followed by panel discussion about te future of the Accelerator. The moderator Manuk Hergnyan was helding the session with Hanane Benkhallouk, Hisham Safadi, Abdul Halim Jelad, Erkki Aaltonen, Tarek Sayed and Yervand Sarskisyan. The people who have been in accelerator or even some of them launch one held an interesting and very informative discussion.

Twi brand battles were conducted in the evening. AR/VR battle which was held in innovation truck and Eco-Millennium Battle. Both battles lasted longer than expected and the decision making was harsh for the jury members.

After the dinner the participants gathered around the campfire as it was time for the CampFire Talks. Lamine Talakela, Dmitry Chumak, Yousef Hammad, Hasan Kubba, Assia Riccio and Arsen Karamyan, Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs held their talks.

Fifth Day of Seaside Startup Summit: Big Battle

Last day of the Summit was full of surprises. After the morning meet-up session the Big Battle started. 31 startups operating in different spheres but in the same stage of development were pitching their startups to the jury. Meanwhile the other half of the attendees were having a leisure time and communicating with each other. Everyone was realizing that its the last day and their last chance to get to know each other. One of the Summit participants said:
-This is the first time I’m living in tent and at first I thought that most probably I will leave after the second day, but once I came in I felt the atmosphere and realized how productive I can spend these days. I’ve made lots of friends and some of them will join our team and work on our startups after the event. Now I’m to nervous as all of us are waiting for the winners to be announced.

After the end of the Big Battle, Hakob Hakobyan, the co-founder of Seaside Startup Summit, held a big CampFire Talk. He was talking about the vision of the Summit, how this all started and how unrealistic the implementation seemed to some people. But now everyone is joining us on our way to the establishment of the new platform for the all stakeholders of the startup ecosystem.

The official closing ceremony started right after the end of the CampFire Talk. The ceremony stated by appreciation to the partners and sponsors who helped to organize the event. During the ceremony the winners of the battles were announced.

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