Arabnet Has Launched in Beirut! Today's Developer Days at the Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace have kicked off, featuring hands-on workshops on SEO, mobile app development, security, user interface design, and agile development. The Industry Days will follow tomorrow, featuring four tracks: e-commerce, mobile and web healthcare tools, online travel, and education technology. 

Then, during the main Forum Days, the Ideathon and Startup Demo- Arabnet's main startup competitions, where companies like tasmeemME, Istikana, Zeedna, Jamalon, and Monaqasat once pitched- will begin. Finalists in the Startup Demo will pitch at 11:45am, while finalists in the Startup Demo will pitch at 1:00pm, both on Thursday. Winners will be announced at the end of Friday.  

The format is the same: Startup Demo entrepreneurs will be given 5 minutes on stage to showcase their product, in addition to exhibition spaces, while Ideathon finalists will be given 2 minutes on stage to present their ideas and convince the audience of their market potential.

But what's different is the collective level of experience. "The startups we're seeing this year are generally more mature," says Arabnet founder Omar Christidis. "We're seeing people pitching who have 5 to 7 years of experience, who already have a working product, some of whom aren't even looking for funding, but are here for the exposure. This reflects the fact that the industry today has more collective experience, more people who have tried and failed, and built up skill sets along the way."

These mature entrepreneurs include: 

Startup Demo Finalists:

ArabRooms - Saudi Arabia
Cinemoz – Lebanon
Codely – Jordan
GlamBox.ME – UAE
Jogabo – Lebanon
Madfoo3atCom – Jordan
Qordoba Translation – UAE
Reserve Out  – Jordan
Souqalmal – UAE
Yamsafer – Palestine

Runners-up:

Acadox – KSA
Elmenus – Egypt
Imudir – UAE
Darebni TV – Jordan
i-NGO – Lebanon

Ideathon Finalists:

Adnan Al Khatib – Syria
Alaa MM Shaheen – Palestine
Fadi Kayale – Lebanon
Lana Karrain – Jordan
Maha Khatib – Jordan
Marc Malkoun – Lebanon
Mohamed Hussein – Egypt
Muhammad Sarfraz– UAE
Raphael Andonian – Lebanon
Zain Almasri – Jordan

Runners-up:

Tahar Zanouda – Algeria
Mahmoud AlDwairi – Jordan
Rayyan Sameer – Egypt
Olfa Gamal Tantawi – Egypt
Ola Al Qasem – Jordan

Who are you rooting for?