Meet the Drapers Season 6 Episode 7: Saudi Arabia

Tesla, Skype, Hotmail, Coinbase. What do these revolutionary companies have in common? Billionaire venture capitalist Tim Draper, who invests in big ideas before they become the next big thing. Now he's traveling the globe to find game-changing startups. Entrepreneurs from 10 countries and 6 continents will share their ideas for changing the world.

There are some entrepreneurs everywhere, and they all have a different approach, and those cultures bring more creativity.

Then 12 finalists will fly to Silicon Valley to compete for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to launch their company on a global scale.

100,000 units?

But only one can walk away with the grand prize— $1 million.

It's go time.

This is a true entrepreneur here.

Meet groundbreaking technology.

We've built Denmark's first flying car.

Meet rejection.

I've seen 15 of these. How are you going to be better?

Meet innovation.

The blockchain is built for trust.

The sky's the limit.

Meet the Drapers.

Try not to make— well, no, make as much noise as you like.

Hi, I'm Marina, the founder of Diagneo. Diagneo helps women in their fertility journey.

My name is Reza Jafari. I'm the founder and CEO of MetaWorldX. MetaWorldX creates digital twins of the world.

My name is Rustam, the CEO and founder of Iman.

Mark, one of the founders and CFO.

Iman is a halal financial super app.

Amin Stali, co-founder and CTO of ProvenMat, the solution for incontinence.

Mourad, I am the co-founder of Takadal. Takadal is a cooperative insurance that helps Muslims all over the world to get insured.

Shireen, I'm the co-founder of ZakatDAO, and whatever he said.

What would it mean to you if Tim Draper invests into you as an entrepreneur $1 million?

For me as an early-stage entrepreneur, $1 million is like a big amount of money.

That would be amazing. That would be like a big step to achieve our vision of bringing Islamic finance to the world.

Whatever happens, whatever the outcome is, we're just so excited and so humbled to be part of this.

Investing in me will give our solutions to the millions who need it today.

We get to validate whether what we're doing Really is going to have global impact.

It's going to be fun. All right, welcome everybody, and welcome everybody in TV land to meet the Drapers. We have an extraordinary day for you. We are here in Saudi Arabia at the Leap Conference, and the Leap Conference is. Extraordinary. There are 250,000 people here, all entrepreneurs, businesses, great things happening here. On my left, we have Amal Dokan. She is a general partner of 500 Global.

Hello.

As a part of the Entrepreneurship Center here in King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. She's also a part of the New Ventures Acceleration and Corporate Innovation Program. Welcome to the show.

Thank you.

Great to have you here.

Really excited to listen to all of these pitches, and we're so psyched to have everybody coming to Riyadh, you know, doing everything they're doing around technology.

And what are you gonna be looking for in these entrepreneurs?

We always look at the founders, and I cannot really deviate from that mission. Their experience, why they're doing what they're doing, and obviously how are they gonna communicate their ideas to us entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, the resilience and their ability to really Show us what they have done, maybe even without funding.

Fantastic! And on my right, we have royalty: Prince Sultan, the grandson of the King of Saudi Arabia.

I think that's why he has me here, by the way.

No, I have him here because he's a good friend of mine. He and I have learned so much from each other, and he has also been a venture capitalist and has funded the biggest unicorn here in Saudi Arabia. How did you find that company, and what made you decide to back them?

The way they thought, the way. they communicated, easily explained their idea. That's what I look for. I look for simplicity. I don't like complex. I find that complex answers usually mean you're trying to hide something or don't really know what you're talking about.

Good. I'm looking forward to hearing your questions. You've got an instinct for this business. I know it.

I hope so.

And what these 2 don't really know is that they are now a part of the Draper family. We call this show Meet the Drapers. So before we get started, we'd like to adopt both of you into the Draper family. Happy to now have royalty in the We have a family, we have a guru, we have a Super Bowl champion.

You're embarrassing me here. It's making my head grow big.

We're very excited, and I'm excited to bring on these first entrepreneurs. You out in TV land, go to meetthedrapers.com. You can vote, you can be a judge, invest through our game. So with that, let's bring on that first entrepreneur, shall we? But before we do, let's see what's coming up. Going on behind the scenes.

Am I doing it right?

I'm liking the eyebrows here.

This is something that I've been thinking about as a child. I used to play SimCity, and I always wondered why couldn't we do that in the real world? I realized there was a huge void in the design and architecture and planning world. I know.

Pitchy, pitchy.

Stay with me.

I always had this belief, if you're gonna work, make it meaningful. Anything that I've ever worked on or built, I've always had a greater purpose behind it. My purpose behind META World EX is exactly that. As a serial entrepreneur, my family's always been excited about what I do. My children, my wife, they support this so much, and that means a lot to me. So I'm excited about their reaction, about what is gonna come out of this event itself. This opportunity came out of nowhere. Meet the Drapers is an absolute phenomenal opportunity. It's a global opportunity for tech startups to showcase the power of their technology. It just makes so much sense to be part of Meet the Drapers, and I'm so excited to meet Tim himself. I aspire to be like him. We look up to him. Whatever happens, whatever the outcome is, we're just so excited and so humbled to be part of this.

This is what it's all about.

The show's about to start and it's go time. Let's do it.

Bring out our first entrepreneur. So we have Raza Joffrey telling us about MetaWorld X. Raza, give us your pitch.

Coming on stage, it was just an invigorating feeling. I was very excited with all the lights and stuff in the crowd. It felt nice. Good morning, Draperverse. Thank you for having me here. I'm the founder and CEO of MetaWorld X. We're empowering sustainability through digital twins. Wins. Cities are growing faster than ever before. They need a solution. We're here because we've been invited by our partners AWS. They have all this data that they provide the cities, like air quality, water buoyancy, traffic pollution. By the time the city gets this data, they don't know what to do with it. They can't react fast enough. All of this data now we can bring onto one platform. The solution is MetaWorld X. We built very powerful platform that allows decision makers, cities to be able to see not just the past, the present, but also the future of the city. You can take live data and you're able to do simulations. So our platform essentially allows you to be able to do risk mitigation. This powerful platform builds on the experience I have with all my other startups. What we're doing now is we're creating a digital twin of the world. So it's the metaverse of the world for the world.

Wait, you said all my other startups. I mean, if you're an entrepreneur, this has got to be your life.

Yes, absolutely. This is— I've exited my last one. MetaWorld X is my baby now. I think I was more nervous than I expected.

Okay, so what is— is this so that you can sell to governments so they can plan cities?

So this is mostly for governments, for cities. As an urban planner myself, Tim, I would use this solution because it helps with shadow impact studies. As our cities are getting more dense and more crowded, We needed something that can help visualize everything.

Now I can see this being very relevant here in Saudi. They're building 7 new cities from scratch. How much of your business is consulting to the government and how much is the software you're providing?

We focus on the initial problems first. We scan the city with LiDAR scans and point cloud technology, and then we recreate the city using Unreal Engine, which is a gaming system. It's a partnership, and because we're licensing it, every 6 months we're updating the visualization So it's a living, breathing environment.

You've mentioned that you rely on the IoT systems or every network that's already in place. And what if there isn't? Do you have to collaborate to buy, you know, the IoT systems? Because you're talking about predictive technology. You're talking about decision-making on government municipality level, life-threatening situation. If that works 100%, you're really selling something that's super huge.

Here's the thing. AWS, for example, and all these other companies are working with IoT sensor companies The hard part is building the digital twin. We've taken care of that. You build it and they will come.

I understand this is preemptive software, but I've already seen dozens and dozens of metaverse options and very similar to this, some almost identical. In 5 words, tell me why you're different.

It would have been awesome if we could show them what it looked like, like we're doing at the booth. Just like the Prince mentioned, he sees a lot of these, but the differentiating factor is key. It's something that we were able to leverage because of artificial intelligence. 5 years ago, I would not be able to build the city of Toronto within 2 months.

I don't want to hear a rehearsed answer, right? You know, I just need in 5 words why you're different. 5 words only.

Because we're integrating— 5 words?

Yeah.

Because we're integrating— You got 2 more.

IoT, smart cities, metaverse, digital twins together.

Thank you very much. Appreciate it.

I tried.

It's just super, super cool to be pitching to people at that level. So to get their feedback and to listen to their questions, You learn a lot from what they're saying and what they're not saying.

Okay, thanks so much for being on Meet the Drapers. Great to have you on the show. All right. Oh, all right. Good job. I was getting up to shake his hand, but—

Oh, he's gonna make it up.

Congratulations.

Good to have you on the show.

Thank you.

To actually go to Silicon Valley and win would be huge. The validation and the global coverage this would give MetaWorld X would be massive. I'm so glad that I got to go first because now I I get to relax and watch the other pitches.

Coming up on Meet the Drapers.

Who would that upset, this product?

Who's gonna be upset?

Who's not gonna like this product?

Welcome back to Meet the Drapers. What did you think of Meta World X?

I mean, I think we all see the value proposition. The idea is great. The momentum is great. What I wasn't so excited about, to be quite honest, is the answers were really generic. It's the same pitches I've heard from many others, and that's why I asked for the 5 words. Answering these questions better would have been a good step forward.

Now, you said something would make this huge. What was that? What were you thinking?

So, the issues that I've seen in companies before is when they wanted to integrate basically with the organizations, there was always another system. There was always a switching cost. I think he needs to figure that out because that should be his opening pitch to even in any sales pitch, right?

I'm hearing you very loud and clear though that there are an awful lot of them.

Ton. Too many.

And I'm sure they're all knocking on your door because you have a lot of cities.

Yep. And I've heard the same thing across the board.

Okay, let's bring on the next entrepreneur. But before we do, let's see what's going on behind the scenes.

Can I do that again?

Yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, sure. This is the only thing I could do in my life. I really believe it's my mission. I have a privilege to be born to this world as one of the first IVF babies in my home country almost 40 years ago at the birth of this technology. So I just kind of dedicated my life to healthcare and technology. This is my second startup. In a healthcare area. I really believe this is my way. My desire is to build a global company. For me as an early-stage entrepreneur, with all the hard data on the fact that the women's businesses are underinvested, it's just a good push for me to be there and to be at the forefront and like one of the first women which can actually get investments and can drive this market forward. I really look at this as an opportunity. That million dollar is Very very much needed amount of capital to secure the future growth of the company. I do understand the problem. I do know how to solve it, and yeah, that's that's why I'm doing it.

All right, let's bring them out.

Hello everyone. A bit nervous. Or actually a lot nervous, but trying to, you know, breathe and fill myself up with confidence. We're a biotech company that provides solutions for rapid diagnostics of hormonal health and fertility for women. 30 million women every year struggle to get to their pregnancy, and at best they would achieve just 45% after 4 trials for IVF cycles, and it would cost them on average $120K to get to that stage. Women right now do not have the diagnostics that they deserve. The only solution to that is the earliest screening with higher fidelity. Well, to do that today, a woman would need to live in a lab. That's not practical, and that's what at Diagneo we're solving. We believe that rapid and affordable point-of-care diagnostics that would monitor the hormones and the reproductive biomarkers for them would be the solution for that. We're building the device And a software to do exactly that. It works basically like a PCR test for COVID, and it uses saliva. So it's very non-invasive, very easy, and it is kind of a fraction of the cost of traditional lab testing.

So let me get this straight.

Most likely Tim would interrupt. That's, that's what happened. I decided to go with the flow and get the answers to the questions and be as, as much natural as, as I could be.

How much money are they saving? What's the difference between the 2 treatments?

The first part, some of the diseases that are leading to the IVF need could have been avoided if the screening was there. And then the second point, if the woman needs to go through IVF, the diagnostic part of it is roughly 20%, so that can be saved almost down to zero. So that gives you, what, $24,000 of savings.

It's a problem that we have worldwide today. How does this work with ovulation? Because with IVF, it's usually timed. So how does this change that?

Fertility is the indication from which It's a good entry point to that market. And with fertility, the first way to cover is the ovulation and being able to find that fertile window, be able to monitor it month over month with a mobile app and a calendar and all of that.

So I still don't get this completely. What they normally do, it's blood taken usually, and it's— Oh, you take blood?

Yeah.

Oh, okay. And so instead of blood, you now have a swab. What was the technology that allowed you to make the shift? from blood to the swab, and how accurate is it?

They were so down to the point that they almost led me through my presentation. I was actually really grateful for the judges to walk me through my entire deck. The problem with blood testing, it requires some of the diagnostics and doctors' thinking put up front, and that process takes up to 2 years for them right now to realize that woman does have problems and then needs to be diagnosed, needs to be treated. So we really want to bring this down to like the first months of action. The technologies appear that allow us to detect the small molecules, which the hormones are, in the saliva. That's why it became possible.

How far are you, you know, within the clinical trials, the tests, the sample size and all of that? And what have you learned really? What have you heard from your customers?

We've had some sales already, like 400 units were shipped. We learned from that first batch, just one hormone, which is the MVP about, the estrogen, is not enough. And exactly that we need to put more hormones in there.

Who would that upset this product?

Who's going to be upset?

Who's not going to like this product?

Well, we exactly yeah.

We tend to say we're disrupting traditional lab business. Yeah, I mean that's very true.

But but is there a way of collaborative approach? Because when a hospital makes a decision, they're going to think of their partnerships, their agreements, their contracts with these big labs, right?

They really look at the problems that we're trying to solve here as startups from a very, like, above perspective, and they really see the big picture. And that's how we also can kind of bring our vision to the same level as they are. It's good for hospitals because if the hospital does not have the lab, so they need to send their patients to a third party. Once the patient walks away, the compliance drops.

That's what I wanted to hear.

How about you? Are you the scientist behind this? Tell us a little bit about you.

This is a very, very personal payback story. I'm not a doctor, but I worked in healthcare for all my life. My mother is a gynecologist, and she spent 50 years of her career treating women's hormonal and reproductive disorders. She had some fertility issues herself, so I have a privilege to be born to this world as one of the first IVF babies in my home country 40 years ago. So—

Wait, your home country is Saudi?

No, I'm Russian by birth. I live in Armenia right now, and yeah, I'm doing business here in the Middle East. So yeah, that's the reason that brought me here. And then my second child is also IVF, so I kind of know all the, all the steps of this journey.

Terrific. Well, thank you so much for coming and being on Meet the Drapers. Oh, okay, bring it in.

Thank you very much. I love that you have a sense of purpose and there's a reason why you're doing this. That's what's gonna make you succeed. Thank you.

Really, really amazing work. Thank you so much.

I need to catch my breath a little bit. My insides are shaking a little bit, but I'm glad that it's, it's done regardless of the, like, winning. This is really great opportunity. Ready to take what the future brings.

Well, what did you all think of Marina and Diagneo?

It can potentially solve a very big element of IVF or the fertility process, which is just moving from home to clinic, home to clinic every day, every 2 days. That adds a lot of emotional pressure, physical pressure. It's not cost-effective. Value proposition's there. What I liked about this the most, it's her purpose to do this. She knows what it's like. She is part of it, and that will drive her to go to the next stage faster and better than anything else.

I love her answer. She's an IVF baby. That'd be an interesting conversation with your mother. What did you think?

I'm in love. I, I'm— I have a very weak spot, you know, when it comes to biotech and health companies. I can't wait to see this really working on a huge-scale number to prove the accuracy of these tests.

Let's bring on our next entrepreneur. But before we do, let's see what's going on behind the scenes and behind the screens.

Rustam and I used to work together, and while looking at some investment opportunities in the banking sector, what we found really interesting is that there are no Islamic products. Even though 93% population of Uzbekistan are Muslims.

I am Muslim myself, and I know how big the problem is and how bad it is for a Muslim to use interest financial products. Very close problem to me. So I am, as an entrepreneur, feel the mission to solve it.

Do I keep going? Do I? I always had sort of entrepreneurial drive. So it was sort of just a matter of finding the right opportunity that you know where I could apply my skill set and you know create something big.

All about balance and the combination of strengths, combination of beliefs, culture. With Mark, we have much in common. If I'm an Islamic finance guy, Mark is more investment banker and tech guy, crypto guy. I think we found a good combination of strengths.

Well, I'm extremely excited. I mean, I've been following Tim Draper since I was like in college. I think having him on board, we see a lot of value, not just from the capital alone, but potentially You know, getting some real strategic value add.

Not only about money; it's about people like Tim Draper believing in Islamic finance, believing in an interest-free economy. So feeling great.

Super excited to be on the stage, and yeah, hopefully I think we have a good shot.

It would be great. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Hello, everyone. Hello, dear judges. Super excited. Today is the day. Looking forward for some positive emotions. Almost 1 billion Muslims worldwide, or 25% of the world, can't use Western banks because of interest, but they can use us, Iman. Iman is interest-free super app that allows people to invest and borrow interest-free basically in 2 clicks. Only 1% of retail banking in the world is Sharia compliant out of whole retail banking. So Iman has a solution of B2C and B2B. Now we have 200,000 users, 30,000 investors, and 20,000 borrowers. Currently we do $10 million in transactions.

So we already operate in 2 countries, in Uzbekistan with our B2C product and in Kazakhstan with our B2B product, where we partner with an Islamic bank and also telecom company with over 200 million users. And that's really our strategy, continuing growing our B2C business and scaling globally, but partnering with banks and other fintechs. It's not just the user experience, it's not just Sharia compliance, it's our credit scoring model which makes us really unique. With our credit scoring model, these banks can serve unbanked customers in the most underserved markets. The strongest asset that we have is our team that already built a $1 billion bank that's already publicly traded.

So tell me something. I'm not completely familiar with the Sharia compliance. What if you want to lend somebody money to buy a house? What happens there? Is there any collateral?

Islamic finance is not some trendy thing right now that everybody knows, everybody gets. It's really difficult to deliver how big problem is. It trades, so it buys the asset first and then resells it. On investment side, instead of fixed interest, Islamic banks The companies do the partnership agreements with the investors, agreeing the profit participation rate, like venture capitalists do.

So the lender has to have a skin in the game. That's the main thing.

I'm a little more confused than I was before.

It's hard to sort of understand the problem, how big the problem is. You have to really change your mindset to understand first the scope of the problem.

Exactly.

I think that was the, the biggest question left on the table.

Maybe Sultan, you could ask them something.

Why are you doing this?

That's personal for me. Interest is prohibited not only in Islam but all in other religions, and I feel personal mission to bring Islamic finance globally.

There are so many belief systems within the Islamic faith and ideologies and points of view. How are you going to deal with that?

The processes are the same, just the details are a little different, and the contracts, they may be some additions to the contracts. It's a very sensitive topic. It's very close to religious principles, aspects, but it's a problem for everyone.

Who's designing your experience, you know, and the technology? Alternating that will be super tricky.

We have a very strong product management team. Together with this product management team, we work with the Sharia scholars. These 2 teams consult and design the products according to Sharia principles.

Because that's the key. A lot of these, you know, Sharia-compliant products may not really fit how people are thinking. So product versus You know, what consumers really want is super important and tricky here.

Aren't there like thousands of these doing the same thing? People have tried to solve this Sharia-compliant bank thing for a long time.

Yeah, and there are lots of Islamic banks as well. But the unique point here is our B2B model. So we are building the B2C products in microfinance. So we are enabling banks to be Islamic banks.

Terrific. Well, thank you so much for being on Meet the Drapers. Great job. Looks like something really interesting.

Where did he get the scarf? It was wild. I haven't been on the stage too many times. I haven't been on stage, you know, in front of Tim Draper. Yeah, it was a really cool experience.

It was easier for you because I started the pitch and I started really bad. And after that, it went better and better. But I hope we spread the word, we spread the product, we spread the idea. This is the beginning of something great.

Coming up on Meet the Drapers.

So number one, partnerships.

Number two, partnerships. What?

What do you mean?

Welcome back to Meet the Drapers.

Was that a good crash course in Islamic financing, or?

I thought I understood it, and now I don't. What did you think?

I think this is, to be quite honest, the best solution I have seen yet to help banks worldwide offer Islamic and Shariah-compliant loans or finance options. Normally, when you speak to them, they don't want to do it because they don't want to go through the hassle setting up new entities, new processes, and all of that. And I think that's where they solve the biggest problem. What impressed me the most so far, he's the only one who recognized this team as their biggest and most important assets.

The fact that he doesn't need even a fintech license, And every count is really going to help them a lot to expand and scale. And it seems they understand it. Quite interesting, honestly.

So let's bring on our next entrepreneur. But before we do, let's see what's going on behind the scenes.

You want to go first?

Go ahead.

This is a 2-hour story, by the way. So we got married a really, really long time ago. And we actually started and founded our first business in the United States.

And after a successful exit, I moved to the Middle East.

We have 7 children. He always messes up that number. My oldest son is 19, my youngest is 3. Conventional insurance is not permissible in our religion. We wanted to do something therefore meaningful for us, and that for me constitutes my life's work, something that I'm passionate about and something that I hope can really make a dent in the world and leave a good legacy for myself and my children.

We realized that how can we build a product that can uplift the life of millions of people who are actually underinsured?

This is why we decided to build Takado. So we do this quite often. I'm usually the one who ends up pitching just because I have probably a certain style that usually is quite successful. So I'm okay. I'm excited. I'm looking forward to it and I'm gonna do my best.

She deserved the whole thing. I mean, in terms of pitching, being in front, and I'm just here to support actually. Sharon, I don't know if—

Kallas, you said it all.

For me, we get to be on the global stage, which is something that is an opportunity that doesn't come by often.

Team coming to Riyadh is like unthinkable. So it's a dream come true, to be honest.

We get to play with the big guys. So I think that network, that mentorship is going to be very important moving forward, whatever happens. Of course, I hope I win, but you know. Whatever happens, I'm glad to be have been a part of it.

I'm sure she's gonna make it, Tim. We're waiting for you and your team.

Hey, come on up.

I was afraid she would trip on the on the on the dress, which happens often, by the way.

This is Shireen Lee, and she's giving us. A pitch on TakaDAO.

TakaDAO.

TakaDAO.

Tim, TakaDAO.

TakaDAO. There you go. Is it a DAO?

Yes, it is.

Oh, excellent. Okay, go ahead, fire when ready.

Every so often, I receive a WhatsApp about someone who's passed away too soon. Inevitably, the message asks for donations for the family that's left behind. This is the Muslim equivalent of life insurance. 2 billion Muslims today are underinsured because conventional insurance is not permissible in their religion. There is a severe shortage of the permissible takaful insurance, which today accounts for less than half a percent of the global insurance industry, servicing 24% of the global population. But not for long. Takaadhal is a platform for cooperative insurance that enables strangers to pool their money together to insure one another. But how can strangers trust each other? Enter the blockchain and DAOs. A DAO, or a decentralized autonomous organization, is an entity that exists without the need for a central authority to enforce its contracts. Instead, smart contracts deployed on public blockchains automatically execute when certain criteria is met, eliminating the need for trust. TakaDAO is Takaful insurance that is trustless and global. Members contribute funds to the DAO through a token purchase. Funds generated from the token sales are invested for a return and used to pay claims. The tokens are staked into smart contracts which represent your insurance contract. And unlike in conventional insurance where the underwriting surplus goes in the pockets of the insurance companies, in this case the underwriting surplus is redistributed among members of the DAO. The DAO is a sovereign entity that is owned by its participants who take part in high-level decision-making through voting— one token, one vote. We are a service provider for the DAO and we receive management fees of 25% on all contributions. If you guys want to be part of the future of insurance, join us.

So this is really cool. It's really interesting.

I really love that Tim is from Web3 crypto background. He's very much pro-decentralization. So I think he pretty much got what we were doing right from the beginning.

If I have a claim— well, I wouldn't have a claim. I would be the dead one. But if there's a claim on my life, are they paid in tokens?

In phase 1, it's a crypto transfer because a lot of the markets that we're playing in—

So they are paid in tokens?

Yes.

So it's a crypto transfer.

So those tokens, the group benefits if the token becomes worth more over time, right?

Um, it is kind of a detailed thing that requires a lot of time to explain. Yes.

So the underwriter, the tokens—

My insurance could be, I could get I could get 10 cents out of the payment, or I could get $10 billion, depending on what the token's value was.

So the token itself determines the underwriting surplus distribution. So when you have a group of people pooling their money together, not all of it is going to be spent in paying claims, and there will be investment returns as well. So based on that, they come back with the token, they say, I want to redeem my token. We'll divide that up, obviously, among the outstanding tokens, and that's their underwriting And can you avoid being regulated as an insurance company? Takaful is clear in these parts of the world where Takaful already exists, but the crypto regulations are not there. In phase 1, we're really crypto only, but we will self-regulate. And the reason is for consumer trust. Consumers want to know, what are you doing? What are your risk management practices? Are you a trustworthy company?

How are you going to get the word out to people to use it?

So number 1, partnerships.

Number 2—

Partnerships? What do you mean?

I wanted to step in 5 times. She was tense. She's not usually that tense. Really, I was impressed by the way she was answering the question and tackling the pressure basically on stage.

What do you mean?

So we have partnerships with crypto exchanges, other DeFi platforms, Islamic-focused finance platforms, organizations. We not only address the Muslim target audience, but we also address microinsurance.

Are you the first to do this?

There are lots of Lots of people trying to do insurance on the blockchain. Most of them are reinsurers, the DAOs anyways. Other ones are centralized insurance providers.

Were you the creator here?

Absolutely. So myself and my co-founder, I take credit for the initial idea.

Okay, you were the initial idea.

But he helped me refine it a lot.

And then who's writing the code? Who's doing the DAO?

So I'm very much a product person, so I wrote the white paper, and we have an excellent team, and we work together to To build this product, everything is done in-house, of course.

A DAO by nature is very democratic. I've been lucky to start 2 DAOs as well. The biggest issues we found is changing the direction depending on who joins us later. So how are you going to protect your DAO from shifting away from Islamic insurance just because there are more people voting to move away from it?

I was surprised. His Excellency was really on the dot and he understands the DAO and he even invested in the DAO. So I was like, oh my God, wow. He gets it.

So we actually started with a DAO constitution which literally says this DAO is created for this purpose, which is Islamic insurance only. Not only is it Islamic insurance only, it's not even investment. It's an insurance product. The DAO is beneficial for the technology and the tokens, but we're not gonna let the DAO just, you know, take off in a direction of its own.

I think it's gonna be a hybrid, maybe. Yes, lots of blends of different existing structures. so you would actually reach what you're trying to do.

It can get a little bit frustrating because I do a lot of educating of investors, but when an investor knows and gets it, it's the best feeling. I was very pleased with that response.

If I'm not Islamic, am I still allowed to participate in your— Absolutely.

This, I believe strongly, is a product for the world and for all humanity, and it is the better form of insurance. The only reason we try to target the Muslims at the beginning Because first of all, I'm Muslim. This is a pain point I've had all my life. When I'm living outside of the kingdom, I cannot get insured. And second of all, I know as a B2C founder, you need an audience you can talk to and who understands what you're doing in order to launch your product.

Shereen, thank you so much for being on Made in America.

Before you—

here, we'll do that.

Yeah, before you do that.

When she didn't shake the hand of Tim Draper, I wanted to step on the stage and just grab his hand.

Thank you.

I'll do it on your behalf. Yeah.

This is for you.

This is for you.

She's allowed to do it.

I got a preference.

Not only that, I know her, so thank you.

My heart's pounding out of my chest. I really would like to see the ecosystem, what that's like in Silicon Valley, and to meet investors who are like-minded, who understand what we're doing. So I'm all for it. I'm positive that it will go well, inshallah.

I thought she was fantastic.

She knows what she's doing. She clearly went through it all. I mean, she knows all the details. She was prepared for all the questions that we asked. Although prepared, but they weren't rehearsed word for word, and that shows the belief in what she's doing and that she really wants to do it and she knows what she's doing.

Comes from a good place. You can tell that, and a need that she is seen.

A lot of businesses require the belief inside in order to attract the partners, to attract the customers.

Starting a new token is always a little dicey.

Tricky.

You don't quite know what it's worth, but it's a really good use of tokens. I think insurance is ready for a little bit of a disruption, so I'm kind of game for helping out here.

I agree completely.

Let's bring on our next entrepreneur, but before we do, let's see what's going on behind Behind the scenes, and I know the whole thing's live, but I gotta blow my nose, so we're gonna do that live.

How's that?

Several years ago, I lost contact of my dear friend. He was a very active person in society, and after surgery, he lost his bladder control. He was depressed and embarrassed. As his friend, I wanted to help him. A fixer by nature, I have been making and breaking things since I was a kid. I really heard that call that I need to make him for him. I'm so proud that I took that call and I moved forward. I put all what I have in it, believing on the near future that we are making together. Whatever the challenge would face me, I need to make it. I'm delighted to be one of the founders pitching to Meet the Drapers. We need more visibility. We need a voice. And we are tackling a problem which is a taboo. Investing in me will help that social impact, that voice to be raised, and to help all those people who need the solution.

Coming up on Meet the Drapers. It could be any number of these. And we're hearing it. We're hearing it. We're hearing it. Welcome back to Meet the Drapers.

I felt my body walking without legs. I'm gonna pitch to the Draper. Well, listen, I have something to show you. Look at here. I'm wearing the product. Don't tell anyone, okay? I'm gonna tell them on the stage.

So you're Amin Stali at ProvenMed.

Yes.

Give us your pitch.

I have a question. If you were scared that it wets your Would you leave your house? There are more than 423 million people around the world haunted with this question every day because of a problem called urinary incontinence—a loss of bladder control caused by diseases like diabetes, prostate cancer, dementia, and all the nervous systems. And still, it's a hidden problem nobody talks about. Several years ago, I lost touch with my friend. After surgery, he lost his control on his bladder. And together we came up with a prototype, an external catheter made specifically with biomedical silicone, designed to be super comfortable. It's attached to a very special boxer to make it easy for people. They don't need any assistance, they just can wear it. And it has an integrated washing system. We use water and it cleans all the area and takes all the residual down into an integrated urine bag. We have more than 13,000 people using that, and we want to do more. We started also developing the women product. We got a patent worldwide, and now we are at the verge of launching it. So we developed also a sensor, and this is the first sensor that works with biosignal.

So does this need FDA approval?

Yes.

Is it a 510? Is it Yes. So have you gotten it?

Yes, we got it.

You've gotten FDA approval?

Yes, we got the FDA, we got the CE, we got the South Korean FDA.

So you're starting to sell it?

We are selling already in 7 countries.

How many have you sold? What are your revenues now?

We sold 13,000 devices so far, and last month we signed with one of the largest medical distributors in Saudi. They're gonna distribute our product all over the kingdom. I was planning to show that I'm wearing the product after the pitch, but because of a lot of questions and a lot of energy going on, I forgot.

Can you expand on the distribution model, please? And how does it work and the business model?

First, we go for specific distributors who have access in healthcare. The first launch will be hybrid B2C, then they move B2B because this product is not only for those patients, 100% of all hospitalized Patients, they use an invasive catheter. People who went for a small surgery, they can use our product and that saves cost.

How much do you sell them for and is it a one-time purchase or is there a service involved?

So the product is a kit that costs $220 with a couple of other consumables. It reaches to $800 for a year.

And is that mostly an insured product? Like, do you work with insurance companies?

Yes, we got one insurance company in the UAE which is already insuring 100% the product, and now we are pushing our partners to work on the insurance companies as well.

And what's your cost of goods sold?

Around 40%.

Something that's $800 a year costs you how much? $380?

So one kit, it costs us around $40, but we sell it to the B2B in a wholesale, so we have a decent margin. But again, here we are not just in the business of generating money, but we are in a business that giving those people their life back.

You had me until you said we're not in the business of making money.

That was a little bit off. I sound like an NGO, but I'm not an NGO. But what I meant is we make money, but we make more than money. We make people happy. We are making money.

You gotta make money or you're not doing anybody any good. Of course.

Of course, but I'm telling you my true inside of me, how I started. I did not start to make money.

No, no, I love the whole story. It's fantastic. But you've got— if you want the world to see it, you got to make sure the business works.

Definitely, definitely. And we believe that we have a great business model. Our partners are happy. They are making money. We are making money.

How do you really balance between the science and the sales? and the operations and the manufacturing. There's so many components here. I just want to know, how is it being managed, you know? And then what's next from here?

I think they understood very well the problem and the solution, and they know that this is something needed. And I think they felt, they felt what I, I was talking about. All the team are founders. We give them the freedom and the possibility to act as a founder. So we got somebody taking care of manufacturing, Somebody taking care of R&D. We got access to South Korea. We have team members in South Korea where we have access to a very good advanced ecosystem. So that's the largest market you've got today?

Yes. What is the market that you aspire to, you know, to be in?

The USA. So today we sell to the USA, but we sell B2C.

Terrific. Thank you so much for coming and presenting here on Meet the Drapers.

Thank you very much. I have been participating in many, many, many stages, but this one is truly the best. It has that energy. I can feel it, that we're going to be successful in USA. We need to, to go there.

What did you all think of this?

I think he, he solves a very, very big problem. The market is there. The real added value for me is it's It's giving people dignity back. Why he's doing this is also very, very important. Shows you the purpose. Love the project. Love the idea.

It's amazing. I love the non-invasive part. I've seen, you know, so many people that have actually, you know, suffered with this. It's humiliating even in a hospital setup. So I think it's brilliant that they tackled that part. The second thing, the demand. The minute they got the FDA, they started selling. And honestly, in a span of years, you know, they started to get into market. They need to focus on obviously the partnerships.

Now the rubber meets the road. Which of these amazing entrepreneurs are going on to the semifinals? It ends up being up to the crystal ball. There's only one that's supposed to go. We're gonna have a tough decision. Let's bring out the contestants.

All right.

Let's take you guys one at a time. MetaWorld X, the most exciting for me is that you're gonna have data that's very valuable. Although selling to governments is tough, I also worry that it's a consulting business that would have a lot of competitors. Diagneo, wow, we were really impressed with what you've got. Beware, you are up against a ruthless group of competitors. Iman, I had some confusion when I heard you. I had one feeling about Sharia compliance, and now I know it's not a clear-cut thing. Sultan mentioned that he liked what you were doing better than most of the ones that he's talked to. That weighs very heavily. Takadao, getting a token off the ground now is very difficult, but you're on to something. You're hitting a hot button for me, which is you're gonna reach one audience that's a forgiving audience, and then you're gonna reach the rest of the world. And I think that that's quite powerful. ProvenMed, it could really transform some lives. You're more passionate about the customer, which is great than about your business. A lot of people have good hearts, but they're not realizing that to do something really extraordinary for the world, you have to make money.

With your help, we're gonna do that.

So with that, I have no idea. So we're just gonna have to rely on the crystal ball.

May I add something to all 5 of you? Just being here shows that you guys Have the right idea. You're taking the right steps. You're doing the right thing. You guys have already won. Keep doing what you're doing. Inspire others, and I wish you all the success. Thank you for doing what you're doing. Thank you. Thanks.

Thank you. Let's hear it for the entrepreneurs.

Okay, now it comes down to the crystal ball because I have basically given up. These are some of the best entrepreneurs we've seen on the show. We're gonna do the noogie boy. Oh, it's getting very powerful here. It could be any number of these. And we're hearing it, we're hearing it, we're hearing it. Takadou! Congratulations, Takadou! You move forward. I was impressed with every single one of you.

I wanted to step on the stage and just grab his hand.

I cannot shake your hand, but I shake your hand.

Listen, the co-founder of Takadou, and I got a hug. Fantastic. For those of you who are not Going forward, if the viewers vote you in, you'll go straight to the finale. See you next time on Meet the Drapers.

Dude, I feel on top of the moon.

It was super exciting, super happy. She deserves it.

Vote for ProvenMed, not for me, but vote for those people who need the product. We need to raise their voices. We need to tell them that there are solutions out there.

Vote for them. I believe that Iman will change the world. The audience can make the change.

I think because it's about the mission, it's not about the product.

No, just business.

Would be fun to be on stage again.

I mean, I truly believe what we do is, is really, really important here and now, not in 10 years, not in 20 years, but really this is something that can be done today for millions and millions of women.

We have the ability to build something that helps the entire world. Together we can do this, and I hope the whole world can embark on this journey with us. Let's go!

There are so many companies here, so many startups— biotech to AI to metaverse to fintech to space even.

It's the will of the people of Riyadh that we're getting to sense here, understanding the value of building a better future.

In some countries, everything's been done already, so in Riyadh, that has rapidly opened up. So there's a lot of new opportunities, forward-thinking and welcoming to new ideas.

There's been a lot of hype around Saudi Arabia for the last few years. Seeing this conference, you know, seeing like all the entrepreneurs, investors, it seems like this stuff is really happening here.

Doing business here is the right place and the right time. There is a vision, making things happen, making a better future together.