900+ Companies Register on Online Directory for Iranian Startups

EghtesadOnline: A startup data bank is being finalized with the help of major stakeholders in the startup ecosystem, said the head of Iran's ICT Startups Empowerment and Facilitation Center.

News ID: ۷۷۳۴۴۲

23 January 2017

Information about the website is available on  http://www.ictstartups.ir/. The relevant organizations and sectors can have easy access to the directory, Shahla Osooli was quoted by Mehr News Agency as saying.

A startup ecosystem is formed by people, startups in their various stages and various types of organizations in a location, interacting as a system to create and scale new startup companies.

A total of 930 newly-found businesses and 550 startup ideas have been registered on the website, Osooli said, adding that 79 investors have used the website to announce their interest in investing in startups, Financial Tribune reported.

The top three areas in which most Iranian startups are working are e-commerce, content and education. All are very broad and include several subcategories.

Osooli says financial technology, market development and social issues are also very popular.

Users can make connections on the website via private chats. A platform has also been created to target investors and startup accelerators with the goal to facilitate the process of establishing links with startups.

"The ecosystem is in its infancy, therefore it is  necessary to keep bureaucratic procedures as simple as possible, this will help ensure more effective results."

She says measures to be taken in the future include offering service-level agreement (SLA) permits to investors who wish to work with startups and the assessment and grading of mentors.

SLA is a document describing the level of service expected by a customer from a supplier, laying out the metrics, by which that service is measured, and the remedies or penalties, if any, should the agreed-upon levels not be achieved.