Known as Hybrid, the program promotes various Arab-led startups from an early stage all the way to becoming independent and international hi-tech companies.
The program's participants receive a personalized mentorship process, quality content and network, connections with investors and collaborators, and practical experience in developing effective technologies and business models.
A notable success of the Hybrid initiative has been to promote many women-led startups from the Arab community in Israel. One example is Mirrori, an AI-based virtual beauty assistant that provides advice to women based on their facial features and their own inventory of beauty products.
Another example is Petwork, which creates a rich social space for pet owners by providing tailored location-based information about all the different services and activities nearby. These include parks, vets, barbershops and more.
“The Arab community has an abundance of talented hi-tech professionals, mostly working in corporations. Our goal is to be the bridge to the competitive world of entrepreneurship in Israel”, says Noa Gastfreund, the program’s managing director. “Hybrid connects the extensive network and skills among Arab entrepreneurs with those of the 8200 unit’s alumni, making Israel a more diverse startup nation”.
More examples of success stories coming out of this unique program are Gemsight, a virtual try-on service for jewelry and watches on e-commerce websites; Ahlan, which develops property management solutions to help hospitality asset owners with their operations; Obscure Games, a game studio; And Daifco, which is developing a new online matching platform to help news channel companies to find new expert guests. Hybrid was launched in 2016 by the Economy Ministry and is led by 8200 alumni. The project has since helped numerous startups originating in the Arab sector in Israel to expand and become financially independent.