DUBAI, 12th December, 2024 (WAM) -- The 1 Billion Followers Summit, the world’s first and largest event dedicated to shaping the content creator economy, announced its jury for the 1 Billion Pitches competition.
The panel comprises experts, prominent investors, and leaders of major regional investment firms.
The six-member jury, composed of investors and investment fund leaders, will evaluate submissions from startups and entrepreneurs seeking funding in the 1 Billion Pitches competition.
The jury includes four permanent members and two guests of honour.
Leading the jury is Tarek Fouad, Chief Marketing Officer – Shorooq. In addition to spearheading marketing and communications, Tarek leads the acclaimed Gametech Fund, investing in global gaming ventures. Previously, he directed operations during Ghadan21, Abu Dhabi's digital transformation initiative. He also contributed to attracting over 100 deep-tech startups to Abu Dhabi.
Another permanent seat is taken up by Issa Aghabi, the Founder and Managing Director of Access Bridge Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund focused on the Middle East and North Africa, managing over 21 investments.
Aghabi's career has centred on finance and venture capital since 2004, holding roles such as M&A consultant at Accelerator Technologies and Yahoo!, Head of Investment at N2V, and Head of Investment and Venture Capital at twofour54.
Sara Enan, Principal at both VentureSouq and Salica Investments, also joins the lineup of judges for the 1B Pitches. Anan leads VSQ's investments in Egypt and North Africa. With a background in economics and experience at Global Ventures, Flat6Labs, and Jumia.com, she brings a diverse skill set to her investment role. Last year, Enan sat on the selection committee on El Forsa, the largest TV competition for startups.
The fourth permanent member of the jury is Andy Gaies, Chief Operating Officer at LIT Videobooks. Gaies has extensive experience in consulting (Boston Consulting Group) and content, where he previously served as Chief Content Officer of (Audible), focusing on legal advisory, business growth, and content development.
Two guests of honour will join the permanent members of the jury in the second and final selection rounds. One is His Excellency Faisal Belhoul, Vice President of the Dubai Chambers.
The second guest of honour is Mahmoud Adi, Founding Partner at Shorooq. Adi is an experienced investor and entrepreneur. He led investments in successful regional startups like Pure Harvest, TruKKer, and Tamara. His background includes leading Hub71's establishment, which quickly attracted hundreds of startups, VCs, and corporations. He also spent 10 years at Mubadala, working on major tech and industrial projects.
Attending the selection process alongside jury members will be representatives of several major companies and investment funds, including Shorooq, Beyond Capital, HALA Ventures, Access Bridge, Salica Investments, MEVP, Silicon Badia, BECO Capital, AdamTech Ventures, Nuwa Capital and others.
On 26th November, the 1 Billion Followers Summit announced its partnership with Shoroo, a leading alternative investment firm based in Abu Dhabi, to support the 1 Billion Pitches competition with a AED50 million fund. This includes AED30 million in funding and direct investments contributed by Shorooq, and another AED20 million contributed by the Summit.
Alia AlHammadi, CEO of the New Media Academy, said, "The 1 Billion Followers Summit is committed to ensuring expert evaluation of groundbreaking content creator projects. The 1B Pitches jury's extensive experience in investment and business consultancy ensures impartial and professional selection of winning projects.”
AlHammadi explained that funding these impactful projects empowers creators to leverage their talents and inspiring content to drive positive change, taking their work to the next level and contributing to worldwide development.
She added, “The initial round of the 1B Pitches competition witnessed intense competition, with innovative submissions propelling successful applicants to the next stage in pursuit of funding and support.”
The groundbreaking 1 Billion Pitches competition received 500 applications from 40 countries. From these, 60 top projects were initially selected and then further refined to a shortlist of 25. In the second round, 10 finalists will be chosen to pitch their ideas to the jury and their projects will be subject to a public vote. The competition will culminate in the third round with the announcement of the first and second place winners.
The 25 shortlisted projects were selected based on criteria including feasibility, pitch quality, market potential, creativity, scalability, potential social and economic impact, and leadership capabilities.
The winners will be announced on the closing day of the 1 Billion Followers Summit's third edition, hosted by the New Media Academy in Dubai from 11th to 13th January 2025, under the theme “Content for Good.”
In November, the 1 Billion Followers Summit shortlisted 25 startups and entrepreneurs for the 1 Billion Pitches competition. Ten finalists will advance to the final round, where two winners will be selected to receive funding and support.
The list of shortlisted projects included 10 from the UAE: Atlaseek, PenSell, Division, Halo AI, EPL World, Shooty, Ta Marboota, Voral Media, ReadCoin and Majarah.
The list also included 4 projects from the UK – SoSquared, Lobster Money, Livelogue, Unreel Network – and 3 from the USA: Bump, HelloCreator and Stashem.
2 projects from South Korea made it to the list; Ad-Shield and Eugenius, as well as one project from the following countries: The Middle Frame from Jordan, the Arabic Archive Project from Egypt, Tubelator from Pakistan, Trugetherness from Singapore, Hubee from Brazil and Verix from India.
With a goal of reaching over a billion people worldwide, the 1 Billion Followers Summit brings together top global social media influencers across all online platforms. The summit explores how new media can drive positive societal change and fuel sustainable economic growth for nations.