Samer Karam
Samer Karam | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Lebanese |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, investor, author, and activist |
| Years active | 2004- |
| Website | Samer Karam on LinkedIn |
Samer Karam is a Lebanese entrepreneur, investor, author, and activist. He founded Seeqnce, the first startup accelerator in Lebanon, created the Accelerate conference, and has had a leading role in building Lebanon's startup ecosystem and promoting, advising, mentoring, and investing in startup ecosystems across the world. In a 2017 article about Beirut's tech scene, tech journalist Monty Munford said Karam is "probably the most influential tech person across the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region."[1]
Early career and activism
[edit]Karam created Blogging Beirut, a citizens' photojournalism website, in 2004. During the 2006 Lebanon War, it became one of the most visited blogs in Lebanon.[2] In 2007, he founded his first tech company, Wunbox,[3] with a concept similar to Google Wave.[4] He also started a couple of businesses based on Twitter.[2][5] During this period, Karam co-authored scientific papers on community information and location technology.[6][7]
With his campaign "Flip the Switch", Karam lobbied the Lebanese minister of communications into tackling the nation's stifling connection speeds. During the Egyptian revolution of 2011, he kept a real-time online register of missing persons.[8][9][10]
Startup initiatives
[edit]In 2010, Karam decided he would assist Lebanese early-stage startups. After a few months of running a collective, he realized that the growing startup scene needed a space. Converting a derelict apartment in Hamra into an office and raising $700,000, Karam founded the startup accelerator Seeqnce.[11] Seeqnce was the first startup accelerator in Lebanon[4] and one of the first in MENA, providing investment, mentoring and offices to each startup. Its first two batches of start-ups raised more than $10 million.[1]
In 2014, Karam turned Seeqnce into Alice, one of the first online accelerators, which was based in London and supported by angel investors. For startups, it offered financial templates, performance metrics, and a global pool of mentors. For investors, it provided a library of startups seeking investment, with financial and business information, investment portfolio management and performance monitoring. Its name was a nod to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as Karam likened creating a startup to going down the rabbit hole.[12] At Mobile World Congress' 4YFN conference in Barcelona in 2014, he set up the pavilion featuring 14 leading Arab startups.[13]
He was a venture capital advisor of Banque du Liban (BDL, the Central Bank of Lebanon) and was a member of the founding steering committee of BDL's Circular 331 startup fund, worth $600 million. Karam created the Accelerate conference, which was one of the 10 biggest tech conferences in the world in 2016.[14] Together with Nicolas Sehnaoui, he created Beirut Angels, an initiative to gather Lebanese angel investors.[1][15] His initiative Startup Megaphone has promoted the Lebanese startup ecosystem by holding events abroad,[16] such as Startup Lebanon,[17] and creating national strategies and guides endorsed by BDL, such as Lebanon's Startup Ecosystem Roadmap and Startup Guide Lebanon.[18]
Mike Butcher (journalist), Editor at Large of TechCrunch, noted that "right now I can think of few other people who introduced Lebanon to the international tech community with as much energy, enthusiasm and longevity".
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "From bombs to bytes: How Beirut's tech scene is thriving". BBC. 2017-01-20.
- ^ a b "Building a career on the web". Gulf News. 2010-07-29.
- ^ "Livetwitting: un homme, trois start-up". Le Commerce du Levant. 2010-04-01.
- ^ a b "Sky is the Limit for Lebanese Entrepreneurs". Fair Observer. 2015-11-26.
- ^ "LiveTweeting, Real-Time Event Coverage With Crowdsourced Translation". Startup Arabia. 2009-12-09.
- ^ "Geographic 'place' and 'community information' preferences". University of Minnesota. 2008-01-01.
- ^ "Sharing the big apple: a survey study of people, place and locatability". ACM Digital Library. 2005-04-02.
- ^ "Le who's who de la blogosphère libanaise". Le Commerce du Levant. 2011-10-07.
- ^ "Google's Wael Ghonim still missing in Egypt; company asks for help". Los Angeles Times. 2011-02-01.
- ^ "Lebanon web suffers from 'world's slowest connection'". BBC. 2011-10-13.
- ^ "From The Heart Of Beirut, Startup Accelerator Seeqnce Plans To Thrive". Tech Crunch. 2012-06-05.
- ^ "Going Down the Tech Rabbit Hole with Beirut's Alice". The Wall Street Journal. 2014-01-20.
- ^ "Middle East tech news: What you need to know from February". The Next Web. 2014-03-03.
- ^ "Steve Wozniak Went To Beirut And Wowed 8,000 People". Forbes. 2016-12-19.
- ^ "Beirut's Bright Future As A Tech Hub For MENA, If Its Politicians Will Allow It". Tech Crunch. 2015-04-03.
- ^ "Lebanon a gateway to start-ups' success". The National. 2015-10-10.
- ^ "La troisième édition de " Startup Lebanon " se tiendra à la Silicon Valley". L'Orient Le Jour. 2018-05-25.
- ^ "Publications". Banque du Liban.