6 startups receive $450,000 in angel funding from Dubai's Falcon Network
Falcon Network, a group of more than 45 angel investors from emerging markets across the globe, formed in October 2018. In the 10 months since, they have now invested USD 450,000 in six impact-focused startups.
This concluded their first round of investments. The applications for the next round of investments in 2020, will begin in November 2019.
The six startups that received angel investment from Falcon Network include:
Aion Sigma
Finland-based Fintech Platform, Aion Sigma, also has sizeable presence in Africa that provides financial inclusion and empowerment of individuals.
It creates a decentralised financial identity for millions of underbanked people based on "Trust Score" developed from alternative data.
We've seen this phenomenon largely in developing countries in Egypt and many other in Africa, where a large population does not have a bank account, thereby not having access to FinTech services.
Caravan
A value-added aggregator of privately operated buses in UAE, Caravan's mission is to help employees find the best private bus for their work commute.
Given the large number of people in the UAE who hire unregulated shuttle bus services, Caravan has immense potential to bring more organisation, accountability, trust and transparency to the system.
Saaya Health
Founded in 2018 by Sarmad Ahmed, Saaya Health is a tech company providing emotional/mental health solutions to organisations and corporations.
"The Falcon Network possess the rare trifecta of what entrepreneurs like me are looking for. They are founder friendly, socially conscious, very well networked and therefore bring a professionalism to our setup.”Sarmad Ahmed, co-founder of Saaya Health
Teacherly
UK-based collaborative planning and peer to peer EdTech platform, Teacherly has a growing presence in the Middle East.
Virtual i
DIFC based InsurTech platform Virtual i provides fast, affordable and reliable risk engineering services to insurers and insured and brings visibility to insurance transactions
WorkAround
WorkAround provides a scalable data tagging and verification platform for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, delivered by skilled displaced people.
“We are delighted with the success of our first round – with over 223 start-ups submitting funding applications from 46 different countries. Out of the 13 shortlisted companies, we are delighted that Aion Sigma, Caravan, Teacherly, Virtual i Technologies, Workaround and Saaya Health have secured investment. These exciting businesses will not only benefit from the financial capital, but also strategic expertise which our angels will provide in order to accelerate their growth potential.”Dr Sayd Farook, co-founder of the Falcon Network
Current members of the Falcon Network have committed to investing a minimum of USD 50,000 by October 2020. Applications for the next round of investment will open in November 2019. It is delightful to see investors in the region becoming more conscious of the investment impact of the society and support those who are out to make a difference.
