Iratel Ventures Breakfast Series #11
We had the privilege of hosting an informal gathering of local and global entrepreneurs, investors and active ecosystem players at eleventh Iratel Ventures Breakfast Series event. At our next few sessions, discussions will be based on 20 emerging technologies. The technologies for this event were:
FinTech & Insurance
Governance (public or private)
You can find the full list of technologies we’re tracking here.
During this session two topics were discussed:
Apart from regulatory concerns, why are not Fintech startups as prevalent as other startup types (when comparing their share in our entrepreneurship ecosystem with those of other countries)?
On top of payment, what are the other top 3 Fintech domains with considerable potential and no major obstacles in Iran?
The group discussed the abundance of opportunities in the insure-tech market, the fact that there is not much activity within the startup ecosystem and the general lack of trust of insurance companies in our culture. It was also discussed that IoT and telematics could be an interesting area where startups could focus their activities on.
On the other hand, the dominance of the big players presented less opportunities in FinTech. The major startup activities here are currently in payments and crowdfunding, both presenting a challenging regulatory environment.
Finally, it was decided to keep the discussions going in a semi-open environment and build a support platform for entrepreneurs which would become Breakfast Series’ digital twin. It was agreed that a semi-open Slack team would be the primary communication channel post events. Invitation to the Slack channel will be sent to the participants who provide their email address at the Breakfast Event and show an interest in being part of the discussions on the Breakfast Series Slack channel within a more selective Iratel Ventures Community.
The next event will be held on Thursday 23 February. The technology topics to be discussed are:
eCommerce & Omnichannel Retail
Media, Entertainment and EdTech
We believe the more open the dialogue, the better it will allow innovation and bringing different disciplines including investors together. These series were started to increase the dialogue opportunities among ecosystem players and especially to bridge the gap between those who are willing to know more about Iranian startup environment and meet up with other ecosystem players. This will increase openness and transparency.
We’re thankful that our guests constantly help us improve these events by the feedback they provide:
The topic and people attended the event were great.
It was great. The only thing I was expecting and was missing, was an in-depth introduction of Iratel Ventures’ and the value it generates for its investees.
Finally, if you’d like to be added to the breakfast mailing list, please sign up or follow us on LinkedIn.
This is the twelfth in a series of posts about Iratel Ventures Events. We’d love to hear from teams with crazy (but commercial) startups. Get in touch or attend our breakfast series. Finally, don’t forget to get your IV Score or talk to our FundingBot to prepare for your next VC meeting.
Thanks to Dr. Fardad Zand and Nader Dadkhah for their contribution.