The greatness of a business is not always determined by the sheer amount of funding it gets. The greatness of a business is but the idea makes it possible even if there is a downturn in funding. One of the most successful startup billionaires and the founder of Broadcast.com Mark Cuban quotes, “Sweat equity is the best Startup Capital”.
Middle East is remained a rich breeding ground for new startups from health and fitness solutions, to travel and transportation services with the potential to change the way of living forever. Here is a list of 8 top trending startups that have made their mark in 2016 with the most innovative solutions in every area of commerce & eCommerce throughout UAE.
Careem
Although Careem began its operations in 2012, its witty IT innovation and shrewd marketing strategies helped it to take the radio cab industry by storm. It’s similar to Uber in several circles and features a chauffeur driven service of radio cabs powered by beautifully developed app. The app itself is the key to their success. It allows the fare and the driver to connect and track the location through Google maps precisely to the point where they meet. The customer can pay the service through cash as well as credit card and review their receipts online. It’s a highly calculated service with tons of positive reviews from customers. With its success in Dubai, Careem has also set foot in Pakistan offering its services in major cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.
Founder - Mudassir Sheikha
Mumzworld
Before founding Mumzworld, Mona Ataya had already built a successful job board that became the leading job hunting sites in the Middle East. Having worked as the brand manager for Johnson & Johnson, Mona Ataya found the inspiration to create a mother, baby and child products retail store in 2011. With its vigorous online marketing and commendable customer support, the company has taken the no.1 spot as the best baby and child site in the Middle East. The company aims to achieve $100 million in revenues by 2018.
Founder - Mona Ataya
PitStopArabia
PitStopArabia offers all the popular brands at super competitive prices. With a fast growing network of over a 100 installer locations across the UAE, PitStopArabia also offers the option of coming to your location to install. Being a pioneer in online tyre sales, PitStopArabia have already served over 5,000 customers in their short existence.
Founder - Aadil Ishfaq
Deliveroo
Originally a London based startup, Deliveroo is mobile app designed to order food with the ease of just a few taps. It has now grown in 12 countries and recently set foot in the Middle-East. With its user-friendly application and fast delivery process, Deliveroo has certainly set its benchmark in the food delivery industry and user reviews can vouch for it. Dubai is the hub of economic activity and houses a staggering 7000 restaurants that need their food to be delivered. If you are an epicure of food, but bound to your busy schedule of deskwork, then Deliveroo is one app that your smartphone must have.
Founder William Shu and Greg Orlowski
Fetchr
It’s a delivery app that uses the phone as the address. Yes, the idea behind this startup is delivery anywhere and anytime. Whether it’s a cash deposit, a box of chocolates, or a file of documents, fetchr will send it to the person right where he/she is standing. This startup has already raised $11 million and plans to expand its operation further on the map. With no postal address required, your package gets safely delivered to the receiver. With its new service ‘NOW’, fetchr will pick the user’s package within 45 minutes and deliver it anywhere with the fastest means possible.
Founder - Idriss Al Rifai and Joy Ajlouny
HolidayMe
The founders of HolidayMe keenly observed the increasing trend of outbound travel from the Middle East and came up with the Idea to introduce travel planning services from a garage in Dubai. As things got into motion, Pratap helped with the IT sector by setting up a domain and creating a website with the help of his 10 years experience in renowned travel companies such as HotelTravel.com and Thomas Cook Group. The other co-founder Bhalla helped with the finance and investors setting up offices in Dubai, Pune and Gurgaon in India. Now the company houses more than 120 employees from these 3 offices and has become one of the leading travel websites in UAE.
Founder - Geet Bhalla and Digvijay Pratap
Visage
Visage is an online platform that bridges talent with the employer through a smooth and unsophisticated process. Being a giant marketplace for jobs, Visage offers a reliable service for applying and creating jobs unlike shifty fee oriented websites and agencies that charge hefty amounts from both sides. Visage has created a global community of recruiters and job seekers to connect and find mutual grounds to work with each other without being involved with the middleman. It’s a crowdsourcing and recruiting service that gives the ability to get hired or find your resource within a matter of days.
Founder- Chris Bergman
