Speed, one of IM Capital’s portfolio companies, and Seedstars have announced that the Speed team was acqui-hired by Seedstars and all Speed startups became Seedstars Alumni in September 2020.

This move guarantees continuity for the Lebanese entrepreneurs and for the broader activities that Speed was undertaking in the MENA region.

Despite the socio-economic crisis in Lebanon, Seedstars believes in the know-how of Lebanese talents and wants to leverage those skills to expand its presence in the region. The complementary synergies between Speed and Seedstars allow the collaboration to bring more entrepreneurial support and initiatives that will not only be available to the local startup community in Lebanon but also to the rest of the MENA region.

Speed, a Beirut-based startup accelerator that started in 2015, invested $30K in cash and $30K in kind services in top-tier tech startups in the MENA region. The aim was to foster a collaborative effort between prominent regional investors and leading Lebanese entrepreneurship organizations. Speed’s main mission was to boost the Lebanese ecosystem by investing in high potential technology startups at the idea and seed stage.

Having built and ran acceleration programs over 5 years with 42 startups in their portfolio, Speed established a good working model that can grow beyond Lebanon. As such, the partnership with Seedstars enables them to extend their operations to the rest of the MENA region using Seedstars’ structure and resources.

Seedstars is a Swiss-based investment holding group with a mission to impact people’s lives in emerging markets through technology and entrepreneurship. Among Seedstars’ initiatives is the FT x SDG Challenge, the largest startup competition in emerging markets, present in 95 ecosystems across five regions that are Africa, Asia, CEE, MENA, and LATAM.

In an effort to grow their impact in MENA, Seedstars saw value in working with the Speed team and their network over the region. Through the talent, expertise, and seniority that the Speed team offers, Seedstars is obtaining the support needed to become more active in the MENA region’s startup ecosystem.

"The startup ecosystem in MENA is brimming with opportunity. We're thrilled to join forces with Speed to double our efforts to support the region's entrepreneurs. We are excited to reach and help scale more startups moving forward through our combined network and initiatives. Every year, the Beirut edition of the Seedstars World Competition happened in partnership with Speed. As always, we were pleased with the turn out of the startups we managed to source and supported together," says Pierre-Alain Masson, Seedstars Co-Founder.

The collaboration between Speed and Seedstars ensures making more opportunities available for local startups to scale and gain resources. The partnership also provides support to Speed’s portfolio of startups by connecting them to the Seedstars’ international mentors and investors, and by bringing them new opportunities in other markets.

“Working closely with the local entrepreneurial community of Lebanon, we’re excited to collaborate with Seedstars to strengthen our local impact and extend it even further to a regional scale. Together, we believe we can bring an even bigger value to startups in MENA as we merge our expertise and resources,” shares Sami Abou Saab, CEO of Speed.

Both Speed & Seedstars have committed to exploring opportunities for collaboration focused on the development and implementation of entrepreneurial and startup ecosystem support activities in MENA. The partnership has involved the identification of relevant opportunities for startup collaboration in the region

Source: Speed Accelerator press release