Dubai based startup Brndstr, took a 16 hour flight to the Twitter HQ in San Francisco, to pitch for the chance to win a $250k cash prize and be crowned Twitter Champions 2016.
CEO and founder of Brndstr, Simon Hudson, took the stage to face a panel of 6 top Twitter Exec’s to battle it out against 11 other finalists. The competition called #Promote, was part of a Global Twitter Ads search to find companies around the globe who were using it’s Ads API to innovate and develop new technologies for the platform.
Access to the Ads API required a series of interviews and various applications to be submitted, but once approved and granted access – 3rd party companies were asked to submit their entry to Twitter over the summer. Of the 500+ applicants, only 12 were invited to compete against each other for the attractive cash prize and prestigious crown.
“Brndstr has been working closely with Twitter for the past 2 years and to be invited and be on the same playing field as the world’s best was an honor”, explains Hudson.
Arriving in San Francisco, Hudson spent 2 days with the other 11 companies before taking to the stage in front of a packed room full of Twitter staff and other 3rd party partners. “Dubai has often been seen as the city of dreams and we are proud to have established our business here in the Middle-East, however it is often difficult to keep up with the traction and innovation that happens in the West, so to be recognized for our skills and engineering made me very proud” says Hudson.
There has been a huge spike in the number of startups forming in Dubai over the past few years and with successes such as Brndstr, it gives the city and eco-system confidence that Dubai is becoming a global player and a force to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, for Simon and the Brndstr team, they did not win the large cash prize but as Hudson says, “We may not have walked away as winners but the experience and new friendships we formed as part of the competition made it so worthwhile. Breaking in to the USA was always part of our road map, we have the connections and doors open to do that now, it is just a matter of signing some deals”
Brndstr will celebrate its third birthday this month and has proved being a startup in Dubai gives companies just as much a chance of success than any other city around the world. Brndstr is working on a number of major new projects with some very “cool” innovations being launched in Q4 explains Hudson.
