According to the IWMF news outlet, 17,423 websites and 4,396 mobile apps participated in the event and were categorized into various groups to be ranked by a panel of judges selected by Iranian programmers and entrepreneurs.
The websites were categorized in 48 groups, including e-learning, games, fintechs, online insurance, marketing, retail, hotel and reservation, classifieds, video streaming, parenting, news websites, cinema and theater, art and culture, environment, job hunting, housing, transportation and package delivery, online sales, food delivery services, charities and cloud services.
Some of the website winners were the country’s leading online retailer Digikala and its spinoff Digistyle, which offers clothing, major online package delivery service Alopeyk, the well-known local charity Mahak, food delivery service Reyhoon, online housing service Alounak and the job hunting service Jobinja, according to Financial Tribune.
Additionally, 21 app developing teams received awards. While the list of winner apps was shorter compared to the websites, the main categories were almost similar.
Major app developers among the winners were sports news app Navad which is linked to a TV sports program with the similar name, Alopeyk’s application and ewallet services Mobillet.
Sponsors of the event included the local content delivery service provider Arvan Cloud, Bank Sepah, iOS app market Sibapp, Saman-e Kish Electronic Payment Ltd., local Internet service provider Pars Online, web hosting service Pardis Mizban and online advertisement company Anetwork.
Shayan Shalileh, founder and managing director of Anetwork (an online advertising network) founded the festival in 2009.
At the time it focused basically on websites. Other organizers of the event, Milad Ahrampoush, and Mohsen Barati created the Iran App Festival in 2014. The two events later merged.
During the recent festival, Shalileh called on local entrepreneurs to be steadfast and not assert themselves despite hardships. He urged startup owners to create a more collaborative environment conducive to their higher interests and the industry at large.
Telecoms Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi attended the festival. He said, “After President Hassan Rouhani took office in 2013, expansion of the ICT sector and relevant infrastructure have been a priority.”
He noted that the general approach to the Internet and information technologies has evolved over the years. “What was once considered a luxury is now seen as an essential part of daily life.”
During the event, several Iranian startups set up booths introducing their services. The minister visited some of the stalls and later took to Twitter to laud two of the online firms. “During IWMF, two Internet-based enterprises were interesting; one from South Khorasan Province which sells saffron via the Internet and the other from [southern province of] Hormozgan which delivers fresh fish to several cities. These companies have shown that by employing technology and local resources people can overcome financial hardships,” he wrote.
In a second Twit Jahromi tagged and thanked both firms namely Bandarmahi (the online fresh fish delivery service) and Keshmoon which connects saffron farmers to consumers.