Flat6Labs Tunis Unveils Its Second Cycle Of Graduating Startups
Recently, Flat6Lab Tunis; the Tunisian leg and fifth program in the Flat6Labs regional network, graduated seven startups from the second cycle of its accelerator program for the 2018 fiscal year. This new development comes in the wake of a successful first cycle which featured the graduation of six promising Tunisian startups drawn out of various niches.
Following a successful first cycle, Flat6Labs appears poised to consolidate its position as a national cornerstone founded on the ideals of supporting entrepreneurs in Tunisia, as it maintains its pedigree with this latest batch of graduating startups.
Flat6Labs: a regional startup accelerator with a focus in the MENA region, was launched in Tunisia in partnership with Meninx Holding, the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, and the Banque Internationale Arab de Tunisie (BIAT). In the same vein, Flat6Lab Tunis; a startup seed program and early-stage fund aimed at accelerating the growth of Tunisian startups and providing a pathway to the opportunities that lay in wait in the growing Tunisian venture capital industry, was birthed in 2016, in collaboration with Le15. What has now come to be regarded as the fifth program in the regional network is looking to keep up with the mandate of fostering the growth of promising startups in the North African nation by investing in bright and passionate entrepreneurs with scalable, cutting-edge solutions.
The Flat6Labs accelerator program seeks to bring together entrepreneurs and startups that have channeled efforts toward the development of innovation-based and knowledge-driven industries, with such sectors as education, energy, transport, financial services, ICT, electronics, manufacturing solutions and green technologies being the usual suspects. By virtue of the program’s blueprint, Flat6Labs selects entrepreneurs from across Tunisia every six months to participate in its program which incorporates a combination of such essentials as seed funding, strategic mentorship, a competitive curriculum focused on knowledge gathered from the local market, one-on-one coaching, office space, and a number of other benefits and incentives in one fell swoop. All these provisions are geared toward helping the target companies incorporate in Tunisia and scale to both regional and global markets. Typically, the Flat6Labs program culminates in the hosting of a Demo Day event which affords participating startups the opportunity to bring their products, traction, and vision to the fore.
Beyond Demo Day, the Flat6Labs accelerator program seeks to support these enterprises to scale, include them in the program’s community as alumni, and offer access and connections to a network of businesses and partners. As spelt out in a press release put out by the program’s facilitators, central to its mandate is the bid to create a deep engagement with its community and mentors to whom it doles out support and encouragement to create a thriving environment for entrepreneurship in Tunisia.
Following in the footsteps of a similar event organized by the Egyptian arm of the program, Flat6Labs Cairo; a development which was reported by WeeTracker in May 2018 as having featured the graduation of ten startups in the tenth cycle of the accelerator program with each receiving up to USD 28 K in seed funding, Flat6Labs Tunis initially unveiled six startups as graduands in its first cycle in the winter of 2018. The six startups selected in the initial cycle included Dabchy; an online fashion marketplace for pre-loved clothes in the MENA region, Echo; a startup that is in the business of aeronautics design, GST; a mobile business solution and ERP for the agri-food industry, Naviacom; a platform that offers machine-to-machine connectivity solutions with focus on Fleet Management and GPS Tracking, Vynd; a online community platform that connects people with local businesses, and Wattnow; an energy-monitoring and control solution for businesses and homes.
The second batch of graduating startups which were showcased earlier this month brought together a dynamic group of entrepreneurs with innovative products and services that they are eager to develop across Tunisia and beyond. The startups that made up the second cycle were quite varied in their fields of interest which cut across such areas as healthcare, logistics, eCommerce, education, and a number of others. Among the startups in the latest cycle are:
Chantier: An online platform connecting homeowners with verified and qualified service professionals for home improvement and repair projects.
Healup: A mobile and web platform connecting doctors and patients with a patient-centered approach.
Logis: A real-estate portal, CRM, and property management software for industry professionals.
Jibly: An on-demand, multi-service delivery platform for food and immediate delivery needs.
Optimalogistic: A web and mobile marketplace for logistics services connecting truck drivers and transportation companies with customers.
Ptitchef.tn: An online marketplace enabling people to buy and sell homemade food.
Toufoula: A new-age education publisher for children mixing digital and paper content with AR technology.
As an incentive, each of the graduating startups is entitled to around USD 50 K in seed funding in exchange for 10-15 percent equity, as well as other perks and benefits.
