jordan pulse -

Zain Group announced the selection of 13 tech startups from across the region for the next phase of its Zain Great Idea (ZGI) accelerator program: a global sprint in Palo Alto, California, in Silicon Valley.

The qualifiers were chosen by jury committees across six of Zain's regional markets.

From Jordan, Alefredo Exams qualified. It is an educational platform providing school and university students with an interactive assessment tool.

From Kuwait, six startups qualified: Farah (a wedding planning destination), LumenPro (a platform gathering powerful AI tools), Playbook (a digital platform for discovering and booking children's parties), Provis Management (specializing in recruiting for the culinary sector), Tenmeya (the first Arab platform enabling content creators to monetize their work), and theQA (a research platform connecting brands with local participants).

From the UAE, FortyGuard qualified with its AI-powered temperature measurement solutions. From Bahrain, Wajba qualified, a digital platform for selling surplus food at discounted prices.

From Saudi Arabia, fintech company WePay qualified. From Iraq, three startups qualified: Andalusi (educational technologies), Jaamila (an e-commerce platform), and Saleem (digital healthcare innovations).

The finalists will undergo the global acceleration program in Silicon Valley in cooperation with Vibranium VC, a venture capital fund based there. The program includes workshops, networking with startup founders, visits to major accelerators, and pitching to investment funds.

This year's program features strong support from Zain Ventures, the Group's investment arm for emerging technologies, and ZainTECH, its regional digital solutions arm. This marks the first time in the program's 15-year history that applicants from all six markets were accepted.