Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 28 September 2023: Under the patronage of His Highness Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Jalawi, Governor of Jeddah, Community Jameel Saudi successfully concluded the 7 th edition of the StartSmart competition, in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Sultan bin Abdullah bin Faisal, Chairman of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, Abdulaziz bin Muhammad Bin Aboud, Director of the Ministry of Sports Branch in Makkah Region, and a number of business leaders and experts.

The concluding ceremony was organised at Jeddah Corniche Circuit by Bab Rizq Jameel and Lenobadir program, in partnership with the Ministry of Sports, under the theme of “Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Entrepreneurship and the Green Economy”. This year’s edition featured four distinct tracks: Startups, Ideas, Social Enterprise, and the newly launched Environment track.

The competition witnessed remarkable participation, drawing 1,010 applicants, with 60 teams qualifying for the semi-final stage. The teams underwent an intensive training camp last July, covering a variety of topics, including strategic planning, marketing, and financial management. The qualifying teams presented their projects and ideas to a judging panel, resulting in the selection of 36 teams for the final stage, out of whom 12 winning teams (3 teams within each track) were selected and awarded valuable prizes that amounted to 465,000 Saudi riyals.

In the Startups track fanZ grabbed the first place, Siolla came second, and Ballurh secured the third place. In the Social Enterprise track AmplifAI health won first place, Bahaa Adaptive Solutions ranked second, while Ad Astr came third. As for the Ideas track, Rafah AI secured first place, Organic Waste Management came second, and Maqarri grabbed third place. In the new Environment track, SARsatX won first place, Ivvest ranked second and TrustiT came third.

On the sidelines of the event, Community Jameel Saudi held a forum that included a conference and 8 workshops. The forum featured 8 expert speakers who discussed some of the most important trends, challenges, and opportunities in the entrepreneurial sector and the market overall.