Get in the Ring contest targets Moroccan startups scaling internationally
There’s no shortage of startup events in Morocco, but they generally target idea-stage projects, helping companies create business plans rather than assisting growing companies. This is understandable as Morocco’s startup scene is still developing. There may be many offshoring and web agencies, a few international e-commerce giants, some gaming, design and media studios, but there aren’t many innovative startups with proven model.
But Get In The Ring fills this niche. Far from the usual Startup Weekend, Startup Cup, Enactus competitions and everything else, Get In The Ring targets startups who are already up and running and have global ambitions.
Organized by Startup Maroc, the team behind Startup Weekend and Startup Cup Maroc, Get in the Ring is an international competition launched by the Kauffman Foundation whose objective is to get promising startups in front of international investors by way of a rather unusual concept: entrepreneurs competing in a ring.
Just like in a boxing match, an announcer pumps the crowd up, then introduces two entrepreneurs who face each other in a ring. But it’s not with an uppercut that the entrepreneurs are supposed to win this game, but by convincing the jury with strong, hard-hitting pitches.
The global Get In The Ring competition comprises three rounds: the national round (held in over 50 countries), the regional rounds (held in eight regions), and the international finale, which will take place in Rotterdam on November 21st 2014. The winning startup will receive an investment of at least a million euros.
The Moroccan national round was held on July 22 in Casablanca’s Technopark. Eight innovative Moroccan startups got in the ring:
- ScreenDy, a cloud
platform enabling anyone to develop native and customized mobile
apps, whose journey we shared here.
- TelecomAuthorities, a company monitoring the global regulations
concerning connected devices.
- Kezakoo, a social
e-learning platform for students of all ages.
- MOOR'S, a surf
gear brand which recently started exporting to Europe, Hawaii,
California, South America, and will soon export to Bali.
- Azur Systems, a
service enabling event organizers to manage all the aspects of
their events.
- MyVLE, an e-learning
provider whose intuitiveness we discussed here.
- NETpeas, a monitoring
service that detects security failures in information systems, and
which is a
pioneer of the Moroccan startup scene.
- Shorein.com, an online recruitment tool.
The jury elected ScreenDy the Moroccan champion. The startup will meet other African winners in Rwanda in September.
