Arabnet Arabnet

When Gaza’s first and only accelerator launched in 2013, the founders of Gaza Sky Geeks were aware of the relentless spirit needed to kickstart such a venture. They were working with the first two startups to enroll: Datrios and DWBI Solutions. Unfortunately, just a couple of months into it, war soon followed: “We held our second Startup Weekend just two weeks before the conflict [with Israel] started,” Jessica Rose, communication manager at GSG, told Arabnet. “Funding for projects like this has been understandably eclipsed by the need to fund reconstruction.”

Persistent, Gaza Sky Geeks aim to get back on their feet through a massive online crowd-funding campaign that will go live next week. The campaign, which will go global on its release, aims to raise a minimum of $70,000 to keep the accelerator running until 2015. “We've had such a great response from partners and press so far,” said Rose. “We received interest from North America, Europe, the Middle East and as far as Japan, even though we're currently only putting out material in English and Arabic.” GSG has so far managed to raise a solid $30,000, with rumors of large companies like Google rallying for support.

The campaign will be accepting various payment options, including credit card and Paypal. Check the website here.