Introducing Five One Invest

By Ashley Barlow

Five One Labs has been supporting Iraqi startups since beginning its operations in September, 2017. Now, with its new initiative Five One Invest, Five One Labs wants to help tackle one of the key challenges facing the Iraqi entrepreneurial community - access to finance. Five One Invest aims to work with both investors and entrepreneurs to improve their understanding of, and access to, each side of the investing equation. The initiative includes training programs for entrepreneurs to become more investment ready - including preparing for investor due diligence and valuation analysis - and works with new and existing investors to engage in angel investing and support technology startups in Iraq. Additionally, there are public webinars and other events to make investment a better understood topic across Iraq.

One such event is the Entrepreneur Spotlight, which brings together investors from across the world who are keen to support startups in Iraq, and young entrepreneurs who are looking for seed funding. In these monthly Spotlight sessions, two startups are invited to pitch their ideas and answer in-depth questions from investors. The startups come from a wide range of fields, and represent the diversity of entrepreneurs in Iraq.

The Station is delighted to announce its collaboration with Five One Labs in co-hosting one Entrepreneur Spotlight session every three months. It marks a continued partnership with our partners in Sulaymaniyah as we work together to find opportunities to support entrepreneurs across Iraq.

Why has Five One Invest been launched? Quite simply, Five One Invest wants to help facilitate more investment for Iraqi startups. By providing high quality, tailored support for both investors and entrepreneurs, and by facilitating connections between each side, Five One Invest hopes to see increasing investment deal flow in the Iraqi market.

What has the feedback been from entrepreneurs? “Five One Labs is the right investment mentor who educates entrepreneurs in Iraq and directs them towards beneficial investmentment opportunities.” Ahmed D. Salman, Co-founder of IoT Kids