Home to a booming startup ecosystem, the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) offers attractive incentives to young businesses, both at home and abroad, that are ready to leverage funding to hire talent, expand their customer base, or target new geographies. Its efforts have created an impact-driven innovation hub with global relevance.

QSTP’s Tech Venture Fund (TVF) supports promising entrepreneurs and innovative startups from Qatar, the region, and globally through their seed and growth capital. It’s a strategic venture fund that attracts tech companies across all sectors, from healthcare diagnostics and AI-driven sports agencies to tourism, food and ed-tech.

What do they all have in common? They are tech centric and originate from, or contribute to, Qatar.

Yousef Al Salehi, QSTP Executive Director

Yousef Al Salehi, QSTP Executive Director, said: “Our Tech Venture Fund is specifically designed to develop the next generation of startups and help them transform their ideas into successful business ventures. We support bottom-up innovation that presents new concepts for the future, and we aim to ease their launch as independent enterprises.”

Speaking about tech entrepreneurship during the pandemic, Al Salehi added: “We need to remember that startups are ‘disruptors’ that find gaps in the market that many existing businesses fail to see. They often create a new path, new products, and think in new spaces. The pandemic has changed our lives, our connections, and our businesses. But inventive startups see – and seek – opportunity within challenge. Our fund is designed to enable such startups to reach their full potential and create impact.”

TVF offers seed-stage funding of up to USD 500,000 for local startups and growth financing for international companies that already have a lead investor. Additionally, the TVF team also supports up-and-coming entrepreneurs in developing a solid business plan, expanding on commercial modules, identifying potential partners, and supporting with legal incorporation – all to set the budding business operations on solid ground.

As these businesses mature and their value proposition becomes clear, the Tech Venture Fund can participate in Series A financing rounds of up to USD 1 million or Series B rounds of up to USD 3 million, both in concert with a lead institutional investor. The aim is to lower one of the key barriers to starting a tech company with a keen focus of fostering a culture of tech innovation in Qatar and worldwide.

The TVF team also accompanies the tech founders as they navigate fundraising and evaluate potential mergers and partnerships. This multifaceted approach to providing entrepreneurial support reinforces QSTP’s strategic place within Qatar’s ecosystem.

Home for budding tech ventures that want to see their vision turn into reality, QSTP, a member of Qatar Foundation, is increasingly recognized as a global hub for applied research, innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship.

Over the years, the Tech Venture Fund has invested in a total of 16 companies. Some of the highly successful business ventures across various industries include the higher education tool, Stellic; the recently acquired healthcare IT startup Meddy (now Helium Doc) and the cloud-based adaptive eLearning platform, OBRIZUM. QSTP’s seed funding was instrumental in getting these innovative ventures off the ground. Many others are in development, and QSTP’s door remains open to entrepreneurs who want to solve a problem or fill a gap in the tech market.

Tech startups interested in applying should have already achieved some milestones, including product validation through pilots with customers or through recurrent revenue, while having secured interest from early sources of capital, such as angel investors, government grants, or through extensive bootstrapping of the business.

Local tech-based startups with early product validation looking to scale and international tech-based startups with a strategic rationale of how Qatar can play a role in developing their company can apply for the QSTP Tech Venture Fund.

To find out more about QSTP’s Tech Venture Fund, and to apply, please visit: https://qstp.org.qa/tech-venture-fund/

Published in Magnitt on Mar 3: https://magnitt.com/news/tvf-by-qstp-53265