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Palestinian start-up with female touch goes international
20 September 2015

In May 2015, Palestinian start-up BOLD Gadgets, founded by just 22-year-old Lama Mansour and her classmate Ismat Tuffaha, officially launched the Knot, Palestine’s first tech product. A wearable USB charging cable that powers iOS and Android smart phones at double the speed of commercial chargers, the Knot in 2014 won second place at the Best Startup competition during Global Entrepreneur Week (GEW) in Palestine for its vision, business model, and product. However, the two young entrepreneurs faced significant challenges in developing their product and growing the business due to the import restrictions imposed on Palestine by the Israeli authorities. TechCrunch asked cofounder and Product Manager Lama Mansour about the strategies BOLD Gadgets relied on to overcome the many challenges start-ups in Palestine face: “we sought an international fund, were accepted at the Buildit Hardware Accelerator in Estonia and received a €10,000 fund in return for equity in the company," she explains. "We couldn’t have launched or taken the project anywhere before leaving Palestine.” In addition to the Estonian fund, BOLD Gadgets raised crowdfunds on Indiegogo, quickly exceeding its initial $15,000 goal for manufacturing the first batch of Knots, and doubling this figure in only five days. Today, BOLD Gadgets has relocated their production to Estonia, and are currently working on developing new products in the mobile and wearables sector.

More information about BOLD Gadgets available here