The Talal and Madiha Zein AUB Innovation Park (Zein AUB iPark), the flagship startup accelerator of the American University of Beirut (AUB), and Impersonas, a startup specializing in digital humans, co-hosted “Scale Beirut ’26: Where Capital Meets Impact” in New York City as part of New York Tech Week. The curated evening brought together Lebanese founders, investors, operators, innovation leaders, and diaspora champions around investment, innovation, and global growth.
Held in Midtown Manhattan, Scale Beirut ’26 attracted strong interest from the New York and international innovation community, with 178 registered attendees representing ten countries. The guest list included over sixteen investors and capital allocators and more than fifty founders and CEOs, with representatives from venture capital firms and investment organizations such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), DMZ, Nyca Partners, Moonshots Capital, Aegis Ventures, Apax Partners, Zeytoun Ventures, Planeteer Capital, and STS Capital Partners.
The energy in the room reflected a clear appetite for deeper connections between Lebanese innovation and global capital. For many diaspora attendees, the gathering offered a meaningful opportunity to reconnect with Lebanese talent while engaging directly with ventures building for global markets.
George Yazbeck, Lebanese Emmy-winning filmmaker and founder of Narrative Square, described the energy in the room as one “you don’t find often. Warm, open, alive. The kind of room where conversations go somewhere.”
The evening opened with a networking icebreaker and an interactive encounter with Impersonas’ live AI avatar. It continued with “Lebanon Builders: The Unfair Advantage”, an expert talk exploring how Lebanese founders build differently and why that can translate into outsized success. Moderated by Michel Haddad, founder and CCO of Synova Life Sciences and a Y Combinator startup accelerator alumnus, the conversation featured Dr. Kamal Shehadi, Lebanon’s minister of displaced and minister of state for technology and artificial intelligence; Dr. Rich Ziade, founder of Aboard and Postlight; and Khaled Kteily, founder and CEO of Legacy and a Y Combinator alumnus.
At the center of the discussion were four advantages Lebanese founders can build on now: diaspora reach, crisis-tested adaptability, deep talent, and the concentrated support of institutions such as the Zein AUB iPark.
Lebanon’s diaspora gives founders access to capital, mentors, operators, and markets worldwide. That network has already become central to the country’s emerging technology strategy, said Minister Kamal Shehadi.
Dr. Ziade summarized the advantage simply: “We flourish wherever you drop us.” For Lebanese founders, global mobility is part of the edge.
While no one celebrated instability, speakers agreed that navigating uncertainty has shaped a generation of resilient entrepreneurs.
Khaled Kteily described that strength as “a refusal to define ourselves as victims.”
Dr. Ziade added that adaptability is essential in entrepreneurship, where plans rarely unfold as expected. “The willingness to adapt your thinking and to navigate change is a Lebanese skill that can become a business advantage.”
Michel Haddad, CCO at Synova Life Sciences, and entrepreneur-in-residence for one of Zein AUB iPark’s flagship programs, highlighted the “mindset, resiliency, hardships, and execution culture” of Lebanese founders. The Zein AUB iPark helps translate those qualities into scalable ventures through rigorous founder selection, early investor readiness, and a strong culture of collaboration.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together,” said the Zein AUB iPark Director Maha Zouwayhed. “Former Zein AUB iPark founders come back as mentors and angel investors. They dig in deep, helping the new crop of founders avoid some of the pitfalls they ran into themselves. At iPark we focus on collaboration rather than competition. And it works.”
The program then moved into direct founder engagement. During the Startup Teaser session, founders had ninety seconds each to introduce what they are building and why it matters, in a conversation led by Arthur Bizdikian, co-founder of Pipp, and Zein AUB iPark entrepreneur in residence. Founder Stations followed, allowing guests to interact directly with ventures and explore live use cases spanning AI-powered digital humans, behavioral design, cybersecurity, connectivity, regenerative medicine, healthcare monitoring, and podcasting.
“The founders you will meet tonight are building real companies,” said Dr. Yousif Asfour, AUB’s chief innovation and transformation officer and Zein AUB iPark’s executive director, highlighting the quality of the startups and audience present at the event. “What they need are the right connections: people who can open doors and help companies grow. Fortunately, many of those people are in this room tonight.”
Scale Beirut ’26 also gave guests a firsthand view of the investment process through Thrill and Grill. Abdo Achkar, founder and CEO of Sowlutions, led founders through a fast-paced series of investor questions. Before signing off, Amanda Fox, director of strategic communications at the AUB New York Office, interviewed Maha Zouwayhed on the strategy behind building a high-conviction startup pipeline and an incubation model designed to generate measurable outcomes.
The evening concluded with curated networking among founders, investors, operators, diaspora leaders, and ecosystem builders. Hosted during one of the world’s most active technology and investment gatherings, Scale Beirut ’26 reinforced Zein AUB iPark’s role as a bridge connecting Lebanese entrepreneurial talent with global capital, expertise, partnerships, and market access.
About AUB
Founded in 1866, the American University of Beirut bases its educational philosophy, standards, and practices on the American liberal arts model of higher education. A teaching-centered research university, AUB has more than 790 full-time faculty members and a student body of over 9000 students. AUB currently offers more than 140 programs leading to bachelor’s, master’s, MD, and PhD degrees. It provides medical education and training to students from throughout the region at its Medical Center that includes a full-service 365-bed hospital.
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