Seedstars World, the largest seed-stage startup competition for emerging markets and fast-growing startup scenes, brought its Bangladesh round to a successful close during Seedstars Dhaka. The event took place on Saturday 8th at GP house where eight selected startups presented their companies in front of the local jury panel.
The local winner, Parking Koi, is a Parking sharing platform that has unlocked the hidden parking space in Dhaka by connecting parking seekers to parking owners, was named “Best Startup in Bangladesh for its innovative sustainable solution."
As a part of the prize, Parking Koi will be participating at the Seedstars Summit, which takes place in Switzerland, in April 2019. It is a weeklong training program, with the opportunity to meet the 65+ winners from other fast-growing economies, as well as investors and mentors from around the world. The final day of the Summit is dedicated to pitching in front of an audience of more than 1000 attendees, with the possibility of winning up to USD 1 million in equity investment and other prizes.
The eight startups pitched in front of a prestigious jury, including Tina Jabeen, Investment Advisor at ICT Ministry, Wali-ul-Maroof Matin, Co-Founder at Maslin Capital, Kazi Hassan, Chief Strategy & Transformation Officer at Grameenphone, Solaiman Alam, Head of Digital at Grameenphone, Anita Ghazi Rahman, Advisor at Better Stories, Tareq Al Muntasir, Co-Founder at Socian, and Giovanni Corradini, Regional Associate at Seedstars.
The local Ambassador of Seedstars World, Tanvir Sourov, Founder of Socian, organized the event with Seedstars World’s local partners ICT Ministry, Startup Bangladesh, Maslin Capital, Grameenphone, Better Stories, Bongo and the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.
"It has been my pleasure to be the Ambassador of Seedstars in Bangladesh for the last two years and I am enjoying my journey to the fullest. Especially since this year, we have got some amazing startups among the finalists whom I believe will bring disruption to the world!", shared Sourov.
Further support was provided by The Legal Circle, AIESEC, Career Café, and BIID. The event attracted interest from over 150 startups, and around 150 attendees.
Zantrik, with its automotive system to enable vehicle owners getting reliable service, and building platform and business for service providers, came second and Banglameds, a platform providing the largest collection of medicines in the market. Providing express 1-3 hr delivery all over Dhaka city, grabbed the last spot in the top 3.
In addition, iFarmer, a startup connecting farmers looking for funding to grow their farms with investors looking to invest in livestock and agriculture, took home the “Social Impact Award”, granted by the Embassy of Switzerland in Bangladesh.
The other startups invited to pitch were:
Continuing on its world tour of fast-growing startup scenes in emerging markets, Seedstars World’s next stop is Jakarta on September 21st to select the best startup in Indonesia. Seedstars World is looking for smart startups that solve regional issues and/or develop profitable products for the global market. Startups are invited to apply here
Seedstars is a Swiss-based group with the mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN. Seedstars connects stakeholders, builds companies from scratch with public and private partners and invests in high-growth startups within these ecosystems. Seedstars aims at fostering impact investing and impact entrepreneurship over the world.
