Steady Fare
Founded US
Looking to raise US$600,000 (Dh2.2 million)
Lowdown Airfares typically rise closer to the departure date, which can prove expensive for travellers who are not sure exactly when they want to fly. Steady Fare allows users to lock in an airfare months in advance, in return for paying a holding fee.
Locuming.com
Founded US/UK
Looking to raise $400,000
Lowdown Locuming.com connects hospitals, clinics and pharmacies with healthcare temp workers, eliminating the need for what it calls "inefficient" temping agencies. "Within minutes they can have a quality temp booked," says Umar Afridi, the site's co-founder. MediaGraph
Founded UK
Looking to raise $500,000
Lowdown MediaGraph was co-founded by a former journalist, Nicholas Holmes, and a Web developer, David Batey. It aims to "bring public relations to everybody" by helping small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) connect with journalists.
Rasello
Founded Tanzania
Looking to raise $300,000
Lowdown Rasello enables SMEs to analyse their customers' profiles and communicate directly with them via SMS. Its founder, Natalino Mwenda, said it already had 300 clients and had turned down an $800,000 offer for a majority stake. "We politely said no," he said.
EXA
Founded Bahrain
Looking to raise $1 million
Lowdown Making blockbuster films such as Avatar requires huge computing power for rendering or processing images so they look lifelike. EXA helps speed up the process by using superfast computers based in the cloud.
Metwit
Founded Italy
Looking to raise $300,000
Lowdown Metwit is a "crowd-sourced social weather application"that allows users to access hyper-local weather updates. It aggregates information from multiple sources, including professional weather services and social media.
TaxiMonger
Founded Malaysia
Looking to raise $800,000
Lowdown TaxiMonger bills itself as a "virtual call centre", connecting passengers and drivers via a smartphone app. It is going after "untapped" markets in South East Asia and the Middle East, including Riyadh and Doha.