American Express MidEast launches “Accelerate Me”

American Express Middle East has launched its first Accelerator programme, ACCELERATE ME, in partnership with Nest, a corporate innovation specialist. The programme aims at bringing together the next generation of startups and newly established SMEs (Small and Medium-size Enterprises) from around the world.

Operating from a specially appointed innovation lab at American Express Middle East’s headquarters in Bahrain, ACCELERATE ME, an eight-week programme, will select seven startups and give them the opportunity to pitch their solutions. Mazin Khoury, CEO of American Express Middle East, commented: “We are delighted to be launching ACCELERATE ME at this time, and to be able to give the powerful backing of American Express Middle East to some of these powerful new ideas.”

CEO of Nest, Lawrence Morgan, said: “We are excited to have seven world bestin-class startups from as far west as Silicon Valley and east to Hong Kong to join ACCELERATE ME.” The programme has attracted a number of startups and SMEs from around the world, from Seed funding through to Series B stage. The seven teams that have been selected are committed to spending eight weeks in Bahrain. A public demonstration day, where the cohorts will present their work, will be held on the 2nd of December.