Iratel Ventures Breakfast Series #15
We hosted a gathering of local and global entrepreneurs, investors and active ecosystem players at Iratel Ventures Breakfast Series event last Thursday. At our next few sessions, discussions will be based on 20 emerging technologies. The technologies for this event were:
Networking & Communications — Consumers
Networking & Communications — Service Providers
Security & Infrastructure
Advanced Tech, Emerging Tech & Green Energy
Embedded Software and Systems
You can find the full list of technologies we’re tracking here.
During this session these topics were discussed:
Majority of the startups in our ecosystem are eCommerce and Media related. What are the startups in the Networking and Communication, Security and CleanTech sectors?
Can these startups compete in markets outside Iran? What technology edge do they have?
The group discussed the real gap in the market for these startups. Many mentioned the high startup costs and initial capital requirement as a reason. Also, the majority of the ecosystem is driven by consumer mobile trends meaning the enterprise and advanced technology markets are not as much developed. There was a lot of discussion about CleanTech and energy startups which could be an edge for our ecosystem where replacement of older energy sources and disrupting our own market should be a priority but many were saying due to lack of government support, these kind of startups are nearly impossible to get off the ground. This may be due to:
First of all, is there a need for clean tech?
Environmental issues aren’t highlighted and don’t make it a government priority.
Carbon reduction lacks support from the government
Having easy access to oil makes it hard to focus on clean tech
Government plays a big role in providing incentives for startups to become active in this field by giving grants — good example is UAE
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 29 June. The technology topics to be discussed are:
Human-Computer Interaction
IoT & Smart Connected Devices (City, Home, Transport, Consumer)
Manufacturing 2.0
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.
Finally, if you’d like to be added to the breakfast mailing list, please sign up or follow us on LinkedIn.
This is the sixteenth 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 ourFundingBot to prepare for your next VC meeting.
Thanks to Mahyar Khattak and Fardad Zand for their contributions.