Four start-ups share $100,000 Supernova Challenge at AI Everything

Four start-ups shared the $100,000 on offer in the Supernova Challenge, the world’s third largest start-up pitch fund at this year’s AI Everything.

A total of 20  start-ups were shortlisted out of more 60 submissions from more than 20 countries, including the UAE, and each took the stage to pitch their disruptive ideas to a jury of AI leaders at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Participating start-ups entering the challenge came from across 15 different sectors as diverse as technology, healthcare, finance, energy, utilities, arts, media, agriculture and forestry, as well as logistics and supply chain, showcasing anything from AI-powered risk analysis tools for SMEs, cancer diagnosis tools and innovations to improve the lives of people of determination.

Lebanese start-up Augmental came in first place, taking home a total prize money of $50,000.

“We are an education technology targeting middle to high school students where course materials are adapted to each student learning capabilities,” said Paul Barakat Diab, co-founder of Augmental Education.

“We are super excited that we won the first place. The prize money will definitely have a significant impact on growing our business and making education more personalised and accessible.”

Coming in second place was Nabta Health from the United Arab Emirates, which won a total of $25,000.

Sophie Smith, co-founder and CEO of Nabta Health, said, “Nabta Health is healthcare platform that seeks to empower more than 500 million women across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, Nabta integrates virtual care such as mobile technologies, smart medical devices and tests, as well as machine learning into traditional care pathways.”

Third and fourth place with $15,000 and $10,000 respectively went to local start-up Amal Glass and Statys form the UK.

Amal Glass produces a wearable device that enables blind and visually impaired people to live independently, whilst Statys delivers SME risk analysis as a service that provides automated risk assessments to financial institutions and FinTech firms.

Mohammed Islam, co-founder and CEO of Amal Glass, said, “The event is amazing and it’s opening doors for us to see new technologies in the region. At the same time, it also helps us to use a wide variety of technologies to enhance our business. The Supernova Challenge was really tough, but it was worth it in the end and we are really glad that we have made third place.”

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