RiseUp 2025 announces its 12th pivotal annual event, bringing together entrepreneurs, investors, and creatives from across the MENA region.
The summit features workshops, panel discussions, and startup competitions, offering a collaborative platform to fuel creativity and innovation.
Cairo, Egypt 30 April 2025: RiseUp has officially announced the 12th edition of its flagship event, RiseUp Summit 2025, set to take place at the Grand Egyptian Museum from May 8 to 10, 2025, under the theme “Tell Your Story”. For the third consecutive year, RiseUp is collaborating with the Grand Egyptian Museum, a rising hub for innovation, heritage, and creativity in Egypt. This renewed partnership strengthens RiseUp’s commitment to stimulating the entrepreneurial ecosystem by blending tradition with modernity, reflecting the organisation’s future aspirations to build an inclusive and integrated entrepreneurial ecosystem. RiseUp Summit 2025 will bring together over 200 regional and global investors, 350 innovative startups, and 20,000 entrepreneurs and creatives in one space, demonstrating the strength and vibrancy of the entrepreneurial community in Egypt and across the region.
The RiseUp 2025 summit will offer a range of innovative experiences, including a B2B matchmaking platform that facilitates connections between startups and solution providers and investor matchmaking sessions that bring together investors and promising entrepreneurs. The RiseUp 2025 summit will also introduce “Pitch N Ride”, an innovative experience allowing entrepreneurs to pitch their ideas to investors during a special car tour around the Grand Egyptian Museum. Additionally, the summit will feature a creative marketplace showcasing products from local brands and designers in fashion and home accessories, a career coaching space for mentorship and connecting talents with job opportunities, and a job fair aimed at supporting young professionals in their career paths.
The summit will host a distinguished lineup of speakers from diverse sectors, including Naveen Selvanathan, Art Director at Netflix Animation Studios; Eoin McGuinness, Head of Africa, CEE, & the Middle East at HubSpot for Startups; Javier Villamizar, Operating Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers; Ajibola Oluwatobi Ayoku Odukoya, Chief Operating Officer at the African Technology Innovation Hubs Initiative (AfriLabs); Maha Abouelenein, CEO & Founder at Digital & Savvy; Simon Clowes, Creative Director at Apple TV; Amr Awadallah, CEO and Co-Founder of Vectara; Simon See, Chief Solution Architect and Global Head at NVIDIA AI Technology Center; and Yasmine Telsem, Global Content Partnerships Lead at X.
As part of this year’s forward-looking vision, RiseUp is introducing a fully cashless experience in partnership with Telda. All on-ground transactions during the summit will be conducted digitally, highlighting the organisation’s commitment to embracing fintech solutions and reinforcing its position as a hub for digital innovation. In celebration of this collaboration, attendees will receive a 30% discount on their RiseUp 2025 tickets when purchasing their summit tickets through the Telda app, an initiative designed to offer a seamless and integrated financial experience.
solutions in fintech, reinforcing its position as a central hub for innovation. Summit participants will receive a 30% discount on ticket purchases when using Telda cards, reflecting this partnership’s commitment to providing a seamless, integrated experience for entrepreneurs and investors.
Commenting on the announcement, Abdelhameed Sharara, Founder and CEO of RiseUp, stated, “RiseUp Summit 2025 has become a pivotal annual event that unites entrepreneurs, investors, and creatives from across the MENA region. The main goal of the summit is to foster collaboration, uncover new growth opportunities, and engage with the trends and challenges driving the global entrepreneurial ecosystem through innovative and fresh resources.”
He added: “This summit serves as a unique opportunity for founders and investors to connect, share knowledge, and build strategic partnerships that propel startups toward sustainable success and ongoing growth.”
RiseUp 2025 is poised to become the region’s premier event for entrepreneurs, offering an unparalleled platform for idea exchange, entrepreneurial development, and building lasting partnerships that drive innovation and business impact.