During a press conference held on Wednesday August 3, 2011 under the auspices of H.E. Nicolas Sehnaoui, the Minister of Telecommunication, the Berytech Fund announced its latest investments in three tech startups led by young and motivated technology entrepreneurs.

The press conference gathered a crowd from the VC and finance community, Berytech resident entrepreneurs, Berytech Fund portfolio entrepreneurs as well as journalists and members of the media.

This round of financing is intended to help new startups finance prototyping of the products, business expansion, as well as marketing and included ButterflEye, a state-of-the-art swimming goggles that can monitor and display heart rate, Wext, the new generation internet and mobile texting and Yalla Play, a new online gaming platform including the all-famous card game Tarneeb.com.
Commenting on this investment, Berytech Fund Chairman Maroun N. Chammas, a Beirut-based seed capital fund, said: “When I see these bright, promising and innovative entrepreneurs, I feel confident about the future of this country”.
These new ventures will bring the total number of investments concluded by the Fund to eight, and confirm the Fund’s mission to help speed start new and innovative ventures in Lebanon.

About Berytech Fund
With over $6M under management, Berytech Fund stimulates high-tech growth by investing in early-stage technology companies, providing both the equity capital and the guidance they need to succeed. The Fund invests from $100K to $1.2M in any single investment which is a range not generally served by formal venture capital funds and subsequently helps secure additional financing when needed.

Website: www.berytechfund.org

For more information, please contact Tania Saba Mazraani, Director, Berytech Technology & Health, Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir , 01 612500

About ButterflEye

Butterfleye is a state of the art patent-pending technology for measuring heart rate through infrared. The same technology can be used to measure several other health-related parameters and can be embedded in a variety of devices ranging from medical appliances to sporting equipment. A first application of the technology consists of embedding it in swimming goggles whereby it can indicate the heart rate of the professional swimmer through light signals while swimming.

Website: www.butterfleyeproject.com

For more information, contact Mrs. Hind Hobeika, Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir , tel: 03 268589

About YallaPlay

Yalla Play provides all sorts of online based, non-gambling, multiplayer card games most familiar in the MENA region. Beyond that, the company is unique in its approach to card gaming in the sense that it provides comprehensive and innovative products including social networking components, a game storyline, and a virtual currency among others, all in a 3D and user-friendly environment. It is behind the very successful website tarneeb.com which has achieved more than 3 million visitors and more than 100,000 registered users. YallaPlay was founded by Mahmoud Hajo and Kareem Seddik.

Website: www.tarneeb.com

For more information about Yalla Play, please contact Mr. Paul Chucrallah, Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir , tel: 03 277888

About WEXT

WEXT is an internet-based mobile messaging application similar to Whatsapp and Blackberry’s BBM service. However, WEXT is the only application of this kind that can work on any smart or feature phone (non-smart phones) with any kind of Internet connection (WAP, GPRS, WIFI, etc). WEXT goes beyond simple texting and has the capability of integrating to e-mail services and social networks. It also allows the user to send and receive audio, video and image files. The application uses cutting edge technology and was developed by brothers Rami and Dany Hajjar.

Website: www.wext.me

For more information about Wext, please contact Mr. Rami Hajjar, Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir , tel: 70 800686.