December 30, 2015
Manama: The Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) has partnered with 500 Startups, a leading global venture capital seed fund and startup accelerator headquartered in Silicon Valley, and Microsoft, on the first-ever PreMoney MENA investor event held at the Bahrain Four Seasons Hotel.
The conference focused on the most disruptive strategies, models and technologies for the future of venture capital. The event featured some of the world’s most forward-thinking investors and provided attendees with insight and tactics for building successful, scalable venture portfolios.
Mr. Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chief Executive of the EDB, participated in the conference, where he outlined how the EDB assists first-time investors. He also stressed on the unique opportunities the GCC offers for investment in the technology sector globally, where the six countries have a young, growing, technologically adept and affluent population demanding new applications and services. To meet this demand, Mr. Al Rumaihi pointed that Bahrain is building a strong ICT ecosystem which encourages technology focused entrepreneurship, drives forward innovation, and attracts new types of investment.
Bahrain boasts the Middle East’s most liberal and advanced ICT infrastructure and policies, creating an ideal testing-ground for innovators wanting to roll out new technology across the region. In November 2015, C5 Accelerate Limited, working with Amazon Web Services (AWS), launched the first Cloud Accelerator in the Middle East and Africa, located in Bahrain. More than 30 IT providers operate in Bahrain, including Huawei, Microsoft and Wipro. The Kingdom ranks first regionally and 27th globally in the International Telecommunication Union’s 2015 “Measuring the Information Society Report”. The Kingdom is also ranked 5th globally for mobile broadband access and 6th for use of social networks in the World Economic Forum’s Networked Readiness Index.
