About the Festival

Get to Know Unbound: What's It All About?

Unbound festivals are renowned for bringing together the people at the centre of the innovation. The festival will attract and bridge the gap between 3,000 startups, investors and businesses, who will travel to Bahrain to hear from 100+ influential speakers, uncover pioneering ideas and take part in immersive brand experiences, hackathons, startup battles and networking sessions.

Join the finest minds in AI, fintech, sustainability, energy, investment, blockchain, digital wellbeing and more, to make invaluable connections and discover inspirational insight and emerging technologies that will shape the future of your career and your business.

2018 Highlights

Main Stage Content

With innovation as the overarching theme, Unbound offers unparalleled insight into the future of digital.

Insight is given through a variety of presentation formats, including keynotes, interviews, panels, side events, exhibitions, startup challenges, hackathons and more. Topics being explored in 2019 include:

Building the New Gulf Ecosystem
A Global Fintech Hub Rises
Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Energy & Sustainability for a Cleaner Gulf
Reskilling the Workforce
Investing & Venture Capital
Blockchain Deep Dive
Digital Wellness & Corporate Wellbeing

Click here to learn more about the festival themes.

Future Stage Content

The Future Stage is a place to identify the latest trends and tech innovations impacting on consumer lifestyle, product development, and engagement. Hear from industry experts on the matters that will affect what you do next.

The stage connects you with consumer trends and gives actionable ideas and insights to help you innovate and grow your business. Themes of 2018 included:

Microsoft Workshop: Empowering SMEs Through Microsoft Cloud Solutions
Startup Pitch to Investor Sessions
Hack@Track ceremony

Interested in joining 100+ expert speakers on stage at Unbound Bahrain in 2019? Want to recommend a friend or colleague to join our growing list of speakers? Our Call for Papers is open until 6 Dec.

Submit Your Interest

Unbound50

The Unbound50 is our highly curated selection of exciting, forward-thinking startups, invited to the festival to showcase their solutions for free in the unbound50 Zone. The Zone is dedicated to giving founders a platform to elevate their startup to the international market and network with festival attendees. Our team are always on the hunt for the next-big-thing. If you know an incredible startup, let us know!

Female Founders Challenge

In a world fighting disparity between the sexes, the technology sector is still suffering. Our aim is to change that by boosting female representation and inspiring women in tech across MENA and the world. The challenge invites eight budding entrepreneurs to the stage for a pitch battle. Whoever delivers the punchiest pitch, as deliberated by the challenge sponsor, wins!

Pitch to Investors

In our Pitch to Investor sessions, we invite early or later stage startups to the stage for a three minute, interactive pitch presentation to an audience of brands, investors, governments and more. Pitches are followed by a Q&A session where the entrepreneurs are quizzed by a jury of senior VCs.

Want to showcase your startup at Unbound Bahrain 2019?

Get in Touch

Benjamin Ampen (UAE)

Revenue & General Manager MENA , Twitter
Hala Fadel (Lebanon)

Co-Founder & MD, Leap Ventures
Jeb Million (Bahrain)

Chief Technology Officer, American Express (Middle East)
His Excellency Khalid Al Rumaihi (Bahrain)

Chief Executive, Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB)
Jasmine Toh (Singapore)

Senior Analyst, Quest Ventures
Holly Richardson (USA & Bahrain)

Projects & Development Manager, Autarky Advisors
Jon Hall (Bahrain)

Global Chief Growth Officer, Eastman Kodak Company
Shaima Aseeri

Consumer Marketing Expert, Zain
Ihsan Anabtawi

Chief Operating and Marketing Officer, Microsoft Corporation, Gulf (UAE)
Hasan Haider (Bahrain)

Partner, 500 Startups
Trey Goede (Saudi Arabia)

Head of Portfolio and Investment Management, Wa'ed Venture Capital, Aramco Entrepreneurship Ventures

Hack @ The Track with American Express

American Express Middle East teamed up with Unbound and AngelHack to find the solution to digital payments in The Hack @ The Track.

20 of MENA's most promising fintech startups competed over two-days to build a solution to making digital payments more appealing, accessible and relevant. Prizes included $20,000 (1st place), $10,000 (2nd place) and $5,000 (3rd place).

FACE-OFF On The Track

Global accelerators C5 and Brinc hosted the most exciting startup competition of the year at Unbound Bahrain, where founders went head-to-head for $25,000 in prizes, courtesy of Tamkeen. Tech and Tech-enabled startups competed in our FACE-OFF pitch competition.

It was a great opportunity for local and international startups to refine their pitch, meet investors, and run new ideas by the industry’s leaders.