Seven young technology companies from the GCC region travelled to London, UK, last week to pitch for $10 million in front of a panel of investors as part of the Cloud 10 technology accelerator programme or Scalerator, powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). The companies pitched to a panel of high profile international investors that included: Atkins Global, HSBC Private Bank, Standard Chartered Private Bank, C5 Family Offices and C5 Cloud Partners. The companies pitched for a combined amount of $10 million. During the meetings, the companies presented their elevated business plan, requirements for investment and had a valuable opportunity to network with some of the world's most experienced professional technology investors. This pitch day represents the culmination of the first Cloud 10 Scalerator programme that has taken bright, young, tech firms from across the MENA region (that are revenue generating) and provided them with a highly structured 3 month programme of intensive mentorship giving them the practical tools to rapidly scale their businesses and given them access to investors. Cloud 10 is one of the only platforms of its kind in the GCC region that has been created to help young, technology firms (B2B firms including FinTech, MedTech, EnergyTech etc.) to scale-up their businesses using the cloud. The aim of the Cloud 10 programme is to create 300 EMEA technology champions over the next 4 years. Cloud 10 operates as a 3 month rolling programme which is divided into a series of sprints or tutorials that cover all aspects of scaling up a technology business such as operational scaling and business planning; customer acquisition and marketing; management and governance; product development and accessing investment. The programme is delivered by a resident CTO and supported by a highly experienced group of prominent international tech entrepreneurs, business leaders and investors. One of the core elements of the Cloud 10 programme is helping companies to scale up their operations using the cloud (or cloud computing). Cloud allows businesses to be operationally agile by removing the need for traditional, on-premises infrastructure (and costs) while at the same time increasing operational integration and maintaining a high bar of security. This levels the playing field, giving companies of all sizes access to enterprise-grade technology and agility, such as allowing them to scale-up (or scale down) operations in real time without the need for significant capital expenditure. Hadyah Fathalla, Executive Director of C5, said: "We are delighted with the outcome of the inaugural Cloud 10 programme; we have seen a diverse and highly innovative group of disruptive young technology companies mature significantly over the last 3 months. I believe there is every chance that you will see some of these companies becoming regional household names in the coming years. The Cloud 10 platform is the first of its kind in the region and the only one that provides a tailored program, consisting of one-to-one international mentors and access to this level of investors." Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector of Amazon Web Services, said: "This pitch day is an exciting milestone for the Cloud 10 programme's seven technology start-ups. These companies will come together from across the Middle East and Africa to share their accomplishments over the last several months, and we are so pleased to help take their innovative ideas from a vision to reality with the AWS Cloud." About C5: C5 Accelerate ("C5") is a London, Luxembourg, Cape Town and Bahrain-based technology investment firm. C5 Accelerate is developing a Cloud Accelerator Cluster in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Its mission is to accelerate best-of-breed start-ups throughout EMEA to meet the growth opportunity being created by the geographic expansion of cloud computing. To apply to the Bahrain Cloud Accelerator, visit website http://www.c5accelerate.com/ — SG
