RiseUp Acquires StarterHub, Two Months After Acquiring Menabytes

By  |  October 11, 2019

RiseUp, an Egyptian platform known to organize one of the leading entrepreneurship events in the MENA region, has acquired StarterHub, an online startup community and networking platform for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Starter-hub is an Egypt-based community that started off as a Facebook group for entrepreneurs to connect and get access to opportunities and resources. The acquisition which comes just two months after the acquisition of tech publication Menabytes will now see StarterHub rebrand to RiseUp Connect.

Amr Hussein who founded StarterHub in 2019 will lead RiseUp Connect and will serve as Startup Community Manager for RiseUp. RiseUp Connect will operate as a fully fledged platform, coming up with initiatives and providing engaging and significant content to drive community impact.

With this new step, RiseUp Connect members will be able to get more exposure in the ecosystem. They will also get access to more business resources and events that might potentially comes with benefits like mentorship sessions or discounts and offers.

“Partnering up with RiseUp will open many paths for StarterHub to become the largest consortium of fast growth founders communities originating from the Mena region, and will broaden our horizons through establishing more connections in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. As StarterHub founder I’m so excited to join the RiseUp journey to help and empower local entrepreneurs through offering a wide range of relevant resources and giving them more exposure, perks, and business events,” said Hussein, founder of StarterHub.

Photo courtesy: Masrawy

This second acquisition this year by RiseUp aligns with its goals of availing a variety of worldwide resources to startups. RiseUp is also working with partners to help startups find relevant opportunities. Beyond the RiseUp Summit, RiseUp is also expanding its offering to include a year round calendar of events and products including workshops, hackathons and startup exhibitions.

“We are excited about joining forces with StarterHub. The reason behind our collaboration lies in the common values and vision shared by both entities, which is supporting entrepreneurs in Mena with relevant resources, events, mentorship programmes and more. We’re proud to have RiseUp Connect platform that will provide a chance for everyone to get closer to the entrepreneurship community, accurately identify their needs and effectively close any gaps in the ecosystem,” said AbdelHamid Shararaa, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of RiseUp. 

“Entrepreneurs are always looking for that engaging community both virtually and physically. With this acquisition we will be able to complement the great virtual with much more content, training and meetups giving the audiences much more needed resources to thrive their business. They will now become part of the RiseUp community giving them access to all the resources that we have,” he added.

Feature photo courtesy: Wamda

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