Published at: The Financial Express, April 08, 2019
Repto will represent Bangladesh at the Startup World Cup 2019 Grand Finale in Silicon Valley on May 17th, giving it a chance to win the Champion title of Startup World Cup 2019 and USD 1.0 million investment prize, after it won the regional finale of the competition in Bangladesh on Saturday.
Repto is a education platform for learning, earning and sharing knowledge. Bongo and Solshare came in first and second runner up respectively. The competition titled “eGeneration presents Startup World Cup 2019, Bangladesh” by Fenox Venture Capital was organized in the country for the first time this year seeking to discover the best local tech startup to take part in the final competition in Silicon Valley along with 39 other regional winners from other countries. Fenox Venture Capital, a top venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley, ranked 16th in the latest global ranking of Mattermark Seed Stage while eGeneration Ltd. works on cutting-edge technologies like blockchain, data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing.
The finale had Mustafa Jabbar, Minister, Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology as the Chief Guest.
Besides during the event, Startup Dhaka, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), Grameenphone Ltd. and Microsoft Bangladesh were awarded with “eGeneration Startup Ecosystem Awards” for their contribution to the development of local startup ecosystem.
The crests were handed out to representatives from these organizations by the Chief Guest. The competition was co-organized by Bangladesh Innovation Forum (BIF) and partnered by Venture Capital and Private Equity Association of Bangladesh (VCPEAB), TiE Dhaka and EO Bangladesh. The initiative also had ICT Division as Supporting Partner, UNDP as Knowledge Partner and RTV as Media Partner.
Mustafa Jabbar said, “Thanks to Fenox and eGeneration for this opportunity to the local innovators. I am sure that the hard work, commitment and ambition of the Bangladeshi young entrepreneurs will be recognized in the global finale in Silicon Valley.’
Shameem Ahsan, General Partner of Fenox Venture Capital and Chairman of eGeneration Group said, “Through this competition we all could witness a new wave of startups working with most innovative solutions in Bangladesh. The local startups are now embracing the potential of technological disruption and are best positioned to success. We are very hopeful about Repto competing in the Grand Finale of a global competition like Startup World Cup.”
The 10 finalists that took part in Bangladesh finale had been selected down from 86 applicants. The finalists were Amar Astha, Bongo, Gaze, Gemsclip, Handymama, Hellotask, Jobike, Repto, Solshare and Zantrik in alphabetic order. The finalists pitched their business in front of live audience and jury in the finale gala held at RTV Bengal Studio in the capital. The winner was selected by a panel of investor judges including Tanveer Ali, Partner, Inflection Ventures; Sonia Bashir Kabir, Managing Director, Microsoft Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan and Laos; Mominul Islam, Managing Director and CEO, IPDC Finance and Maliha Quadir, Founder and Managing Director, Shohoz. Along with the 10 finalists, 7 other participating startups were given the opportunity to showcase their solutions in individual kiosks and network with investors and other attendees.
