Intaj discussion session reviews Deal-flow Marketplace Platform

AMMAN — The Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan (Intaj), in partnership with the Startups Council of Jordan and in cooperation with the Jordan Entrepreneurship Fund, on Sunday held a discussion session to review the Deal-flow Marketplace Platform (DMP).

As part of the activities of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW2021), the virtual session was moderated by Intaj Business Development Manager Zain Asfour who highlighted that the goal of Intaj is to connect entrepreneurs and investors in Jordan while providing digital tools and training on starting and operating businesses. 

Asfour stressed the importance of this platform in supporting the local environment for entrepreneurs in regard to creation and development by providing financing, training and mentoring services that will ultimately help identify and support promising startups.

General Manager of the Jordan Entrepreneurship Fund Laith Qasim reviewed the main platform features, including its registration feature, which helps companies, entrepreneurs, VCs, incubators, accelerators, service providers, coaches and mentors build their profiles on the platform.

He stressed that registration on the platform will be simple and unified for each type of stakeholder.

Ziad Masri, a consultant in Hemaya Tech, an incubator affiliated with Intaj, said that Intaj published a map of startup companies in Jordan in February 2021 with the aim of including all startup companies in the Kingdom, whether registered or not, announcing the inclusion of about 95 per cent of the companies in this map.

He revealed registering the data of 363 startup companies in the map, indicating that 26 per cent of startups in Jordan work in the field of e-commerce, 12 per cent in the field of educational technology, 8 per cent in innovation and design, 6 per cent in financial technology, 5 per cent in health technology.

Around 5 per cent of startups work in supply chains and logistics, 4 per cent in entertainment, 4 per cent in social media services and 3 per cent in cyber security, among other fields, he noted.

He noted that 80 per cent of startups are registered in Jordan, while 14 per cent of companies are not registered at all, while the others are registered in countries such as the Arab Gulf countries and Europe.

Masri pointed out that 50 per cent of startup companies are in the development stage, while 13 per cent are in the early development stage. He also indicated that the number of workers in startup companies is about 3,470, with females accounting for 39 per cent of the total.

A total of 54 per cent of startup companies did not receive any financing, while 19 per cent received pre-financing, and 6 per cent received development financing, he added.

At the end of the session, an extensive discussion took place among all the participants, during which several observations were made pertaining to the development of the platform's work.