Spike Diabetes Assistant is a health and fitness app launched by Lebanon-based serial entrepreneur Ziad Alame. Over its short span of existence, the app has gained much traction in its home turf due to a relatively simple, yet practical and highly effective offering. And now adding more to its glory, Spike has made it to a selected group of startups trained by Speed that will soon travel to Silicon Valley for further opportunities.
Spike was at the forefront at a recent demonstration held by Speed at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beirut. The demo featured all the startups to have undergone Speed’s latest acceleration cycle.
“With the funds now, we’ll definitely be hiring people who would normally work at companies outside Lebanon,” said Alame, who, by own admission, was motivated to develop Spike after struggling to monitor his Type-1 diabetes. Alame has set himself an ambitious goal now — to expand globally in the next few months.
Alame’s vision perfectly fits the ongoing efforts by the Lebanese government to bank on the ever-expanding entrepreneurial sector in the country that brings along with it the perfect opportunity to develop and nurture a knowledge economy, which in turn, will further contribute to the local job market.
“We’re working closely with the startup ecosystem. The message that needs to get out is his [Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s] initiative and commitment to the new knowledge economy and the startup ecosystem,” said Ghiath Barazi, adviser to the prime minister.