RiseUp has completed its selection of 15 startups from seven cities across the Middle East and North Africa to pitch at Egypt's first multi-stage, regional startup pitch competition "Pitch by the Pyramids." Amjaad, Makwa, PaySky, and PayNas won RiseUp's Cairo qualifier on 8 November and will join the remaining cohort for the final pitch event at the Great Pyramids of Giza on 8 December, aligning with RiseUp Summit 2019. Meanwhile, the finalist early-stage startups from Cairo, Dubai, Tunis, Amman, Ramallah, Beirut, and Riyadh will be pitching at the event. The finalist early-stage startups that will be pitching at the event from Cairo include PaySky, a payment solutions platform from Cairo, Amjaad, an energy management IoT system provider from Cairo, Makwa, a digitised laundry pick-up and delivery service from Cairo, and PayNas, a cloud HR and payroll platform from Cairo. "Bringing all these startups to the Great Pyramids of Giza has been a dream of ours since we started RiseUp," CEO and Co-Founder of RiseUp Abdelhameed Sharara says. "The Pitch by the Pyramids programme is not only a MENA-wide pitch competition for early-stage startups, but also a value-driven experience for participating entrepreneurs" he added. Regional partners from each of the startup ecosystem hubs – Cogite Coworking space in Tunis, Wamda in Dubai, Social N' Tech in Amman and Ramallah, The Space in Riyadh and Startup Grind Beirut – organised local qualifier events for selected startups to compete, selecting the best, most innovative startups to proceed to the final event at the Pyramids. The finalists will pitch to a hand-picked audience of over 500 attendees, including local and regional Venture Capitalists and investors, as well as an extensive media presence that guarantees wide regional exposure for the up-and-coming businesses. Finalists are assigned a relevant expert mentor with experience in their industry to support their development throughout the competition, leading up to the final event in Cairo on 8 December.
