Jordanian company wins int’l start-up competition in Istanbul

AMMAN — A Jordanian e-commerce technology firm has won first place in a competition held in Istanbul, beating thousands of start-ups from around the world to the top spot. 

Start-ups from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa took part in the four-day competition in Turkey earlier this month. 

CashBasha, founded in 2014, competed with start-ups from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. 

The Amman-based firm simplifies online shopping for customers across the region, calculating customs clearance and shipping fees and arranging delivery, while allowing shoppers to pay by cash or credit card, according to co-founder Fouad Jeryes. 

“In the Middle East and North Africa, e-commerce is a developing sector. [CashBasha] is the Arab world’s tool to buy products from international online markets. We aim to provide those services with fewer problems and via the customer’s preferred payment method,” Jeryes told The Jordan Times.

“Not all banks are certified by the shopping websites, many customers do not even have a bank account or a credit card to use for online shopping,” he added.

According to the competition’s website, some 25,000 start-ups applied from over 135 countries, and 4,000 were shortlisted. 

The most promising 100 were selected to meet with mentors in Istanbul, 50 of whom were chosen to pitch to investors and compete to be one of the 15 finalists. 

The competition was open to start-ups operating for less than five years, Jeryes said. 

According to Jeryes, Jordan witnessed a revolution in its business sector in 2009 when “Yahoo Maktoob” was launched. 

“It was the highlight of the year, but no progress after that was recorded. We then entered a phase of competitiveness, to pave the way for regional competitions to take place,” he said. 

“When other companies are growing, it gets tougher. Especially during the last five years, companies have been developing the technical and business sectors.”

CashBasha, which Jeryes cofounded with Sinan Taifour, currently has eight employees. 

“We aim to erase the borders between countries — to buy and sell over the Internet freely,” said Jeryes. CashBasha currently works with Amazon to purchase products, he explained. 

Turkish cyber security start-up InnoveraLabs ranked second in the competition. It was founded in 2015 to protect devices and accounts against cyber attacks.

The Greek software company Pobuca, founded in 2015, ranked third with its software developed for co-workers within a company, enabling them to communicate and share information. 

Three other start-ups from Jordan took part in the competition, Jeryes added.