The 7th Yalda Summit (Yalda of Startup Entrepreneurs) was held in the conference hall of the Ministry of Interior.
According to Iran digital economy annotation, in the first panel of this ceremony, which was held with the presence of CEOs of large startup companies, Milad Monshipour, the CEO of Tapsi, said that the number of Internet taxi drivers in the country is about 3.5 million people.
Snap CEO Mohammad Khalaj said that about 5% of people use online taxis in the country.
“Mehdi Shakouri Moghadam, co-founder of Aparat, said: ‘When they want to regulate for us, they don’t consider our companies at all. We are not against regulation either. About 11 million people watch our home entertainment network.'”
Majid Hosseini-nejad, CEO of Alibaba, said in this panel: “50% of people buy tickets online for their trips.” In this event, he announced that Alibaba will enter the airline and bus market and will soon launch its own airline named “Dot Air”.
Masoud Tabatabaei, the CEO of Digikala, also said that Digikala has reached a tipping point in the past 3 years.
The determination of CVCs for startups
In the continuation of this ceremony, the venture investment panel was held with the presence of managers of CVC (corporate venture capital) companies.
Rashid Ghanei, the CEO of Petrol from Persian Gulf Holding, said in this panel that they have launched a 2,000 billion Tomans fund to complete their value chain, which will start next year, and fintech startups are also of special importance to them.
Yahya Palizdar, CEO of Foulad Mobarakeh Innovation, said that they have set a goal to invest 2 thousand billion Tomans in startups and knowledge-based companies during the next year.
In this panel, Ali Sanginian, the vice president of investment of kayson Company, said that their investment model is CVC and they are looking for innovations and startups that are compatible with kayson’s business. “We have established a venture arm in kayson,” he explained. We will invest 72 billion tomans in Achareh and 120 billion tomans in kind next week in another startup that operates in the field of nanopolymers.
Shahab Javanmardi, CEO of Fanap, said: “Our country is facing many crises, from water to air pollution. In these fields, we do not have an institution that thinks about solving the challenge. I hope we will go towards solving national issues in this area.”
The focus of startups in the field of services
“In the third and final panel of this ceremony, which was held with the presence of VC managers, Latif’s team, the CEO of Max Holding, mentioned that they have invested in 30 investment companies, and the annual financial turnover of these companies ranges between 17 to 18 thousand billion.”
Farzin Fardis, the CEO of Sarava, said that the ecosystem has shifted towards service startups. He presented a presentation and said: The startup ecosystem has achieved these achievements despite the challenges.
Hamid Mohammadi, the co-founder of Digikala, said in the last Yalda Summit panel that it is not that difficult for Iranian platforms to enter some international markets, but mental barriers have led to Iranian startups not leaving Iran’s borders.
Regarding the entry of Iranian platforms outside Iran’s borders, Majid Hosseini-nejad, the CEO of Alibaba, said: “Iran’s name is not very positive in the countries of the region, and I think it is better to enter the countries of the region with a new brand.”
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