Archives: Projects

What is Akeed?

Akeed is an Omani startup that provides last mile delivery company for restaurants and grocery stores. It is an Omani food delivery platform with the largest network with 1,100 restaurants and grocery stores.

Akeed began operations in February 2018 initially using Whatsapp as the platform to accept food delivery requests. In May 2018, the Akeed application was introduced and since then, the start-up has completed 500,000+ orders. Above the delivery services, Akeed provides restaurants with insights in order to improve performance and geographic expansion. The service is now available in six cities across Oman.

Akeed is Oman’s first successful food delivery app to go head to head with a regional giant and is considered an example for Omani start-ups, achieving high growth rate and impressive returns.

Importance for IDO

The COVID-19 Pandemic had various negative effects on the global economy, and Oman was no different. The Food and Beverage (F&B) industry was especially impacted and had a domino effect on produce suppliers, including local farmers. Akeed, not only provides a lifeline for the restaurants and its supply chain but also established a program to onboard Omani drivers, in partnership with Europcar, and was the perfect candidate for IDO Investments’ ERIP*.

How Akeed is helping alleviate the COVID-19 Pandemic

The F&B ecosystem was severely impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic as customers were encouraged to stay at home, and eventually restaurants were asked to offer take away and delivery services only. Akeed is the perfect platform to provide liquidity and a source of income for restaurants, allowing small businesses to stay afloat during such uncertain times.

In addition, it enables services to ensure people staying at home as it continued to expand its food and grocery offering, signing on larger supermarkets and restaurants that did not previously offer delivery.

What is Aphcarios?

Aphcarios Engineering Solutions is a product design and development company that focuses on development of new and innovative electro-mechanical projects. Aphcarios takes ideas from concept through to mass production utilizing the product development process cycle until the last pre-production phase. Their products cut across various sectors and demonstrate innovation in cutting edge technology.

Aphcarios also trains and develops young Omanis and nurtures their talent by helping them pursue their innovative ideas, and allows and enabling environment for exploring those ideas and taking them to production and workable solutions.

Importance for IDO

Since COVID-19 is a respiratory virus, those that progress through the disease may require hospitalization and ventilators, which are not as readily available as required during the spread. In order to prepare for the worst, many start-ups have been developing low cost, fast turnaround medical devices, Aphcarios is doing just that, and helping to lift the burden on the medical system, to ensure all those that need it receive the necessary lifesaving care they deserve.

Aphcarios’ development of lifesaving tools and innovative adaptation of the MIT blueprint made them excellent candidates for the ERIP*.

How Aphcarios is helping alleviate the COVID-19 pandemic

Aphcarios has taken the MIT 3D printed automated ventilator blueprint and used it to design a machine that can be produced locally and with a fast turnaround. This ensures the supply of life saving medical equipment while bypassing the overwhelmed global supply chain. In addition, they will modify the blueprint to include AI technology which will enable continuous learning and optimization.

* Given the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, IDO investments established an Emergency Relief Investment Program (ERIP). The ERIP empowers IDO Investments to execute vital investment opportunities in critical short-time horizons. The motivation and reasoning for invoking the ERIP shall be to drastically speed up the regular investment process to provide short-term assistance to the Sultanate and its people in times of crisis.

What is The Longevity Forum?

The Longevity Forum is a not-for-profit initiative committed to achieving longer, healthier and more fulfilled lives for as many people as possible. The Forum’s founding belief is that the best way to tackle an ageing society is to focus on longevity and that this requires a combination of scientific progress, economic investment and behavioral changes.

The Longevity Forum was created to provide a platform for public and private dialogue and collaboration among the stakeholders that play a critical role in the government, the corporate world and society. Such a platform can play an instrumental role in raising awareness of the changes underway, test ideas and create solutions.

Their inaugural event took place in November 2018 in London and brought together a diverse audience with different perspectives around the topic of human longevity. The Forum featured a range of thought leaders in this space, including the Director of the Stanford Center on Longevity; CEO of the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the CEO of Encore.org. They also hosted panel discussions covering progress in curing the disease of aging, explored challenges in healthcare, education and work policies, all discussed through an inter-generational lens.

The Longevity Forum – Oman

Following the success of the inaugural forum, and the successes of the longevity week, which took place November 2019, as well as the importance of the global longevity agenda, The Longevity Forum and IDO Investments have decided to expand the forum and host its first international forum in Oman.

Bringing together local, regional and international experts to provide an overview on the breakthroughs and opportunities in Longevity and contextualize them to the Middle East region, the Longevity Forum – Oman is a one-day event that was scheduled for February 2020. Given the mourning period for his late Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Longevity Forum – Oman has been postponed until February 2021.

For more information, and to request an invitation, please visit www.thelongevityforum.com/oman

Importance for IDO Investments

Our investment in Juvenescence in 2019 is much more than just financial, it is a partnership to understand opportunities and shape a world where people live longer better lives. Exploring various opportunities in the longevity space, including making Oman the hub for longevity in the region, the Longevity Forum is one of a number of activities to shed light on Longevity and its importance, and the unique value proposition it poses for the region.

What is OSH?

OSH, Oman Startup Hub, is a new platform, that aims to be a resource hub for startups and innovation in Oman. The platform starting point is a webpage that offers an opportunity for startups to showcase their offering, find resources, connect with advisors, and provides an overview of the startup ecosystem. It will also offer supporters a high-level overview of the ecosystem, allow a preview of startups and their needs, as well as a consolidated calendar.

The idea is for OSH is to create a community within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, to nurture and help the startups within it to grow, and promote collaboration with supporters. All members of the ecosystem are invited to sign up for free, and create profiles.

The website comprises of interactive pages which provides a look not only into what startups and supporters are currently active in the ecosystem, but all what events take place, what’s the latest news including new investments and acquisitions, and a directory of advisors to allow startups to gain the valuable feedback required to grow.

The heart of the site is also a dynamic ecosystem map which allows users to navigate the supporter ecosystem, and find the support they need regardless of what stage or sector the startup is in. The map is always up to date and allows for growth as more supporters create profiles on the site.

For more information, please visit www.omanstartuphub.om

Importance for IDO Investments

The core of all activities at IDO investments is to support Oman, its growth, development and economy. At the heart of the economy are small businesses and such companies are the main driver of job creation in a nation.

As a growth stage investor in a young and ever evolving startup ecosystem, it is important for us to help the ecosystem grow and provide as much support to the earlier stage startups as possible. IDO Investment does not invest at the early stage of company development, however, with many organizations available that do, we felt creating a platform to connect all investors, supports, startups and all those interested in the ecosystem would create an enabling environment to nourish startups, and create a community hub that is beneficial for Oman.