After three days of competition at LEAP 2026, ten startups have reached the Rocket Fuel Finale. Tonight in Riyadh, seven awards will determine which founders leave with a share of the $1 million prize fund.<\/b><\/p>\n
One hundred startups entered the Rocket Fuel competition at LEAP 2026. Tonight, only ten will stand on the Main Stage.<\/span><\/p>\n The Rocket Fuel Finale begins at 5:15 p.m. on September 3 in Hall 1 of the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham. The founders will make their final cases before the judges, with deliberations beginning at 6:15 p.m. and the winners revealed live from 7 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n The finalists emerged from a diverse semifinal cohort representing more than 40 nationalities and 25 countries, with women accounting for 23 percent of participating founders. Their companies span artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, biotechnology, healthcare, manufacturing, water security and sustainability.<\/span><\/p>\n Each finalist will have three minutes to pitch, three minutes to answer questions from the judging panel and one minute for evaluation and scoring. Seven awards, worth a combined $1 million, will then be presented.<\/span><\/p>\n The Ten Finalists<\/b><\/p>\n The finalists will face Armineh Baghoomian, Managing Director and Head of Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Partners for Growth; Talal Alasmari, Founding Partner at Ra\u2019ed Ventures; JF Gauthier, Founder and CEO of Startup Genome; and Robin Schneider, Chief Strategy Officer and Acting Chief Investment Officer at HUMAIN.<\/span><\/p>\n Each startup will receive a score from one to five across seven criteria: innovation and creativity, growth potential, functionality, traction and market growth, impact on people and society, team strength and experience, and the quality of the founder\u2019s delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n The evening\u2019s largest prize is the $250,000 LEAP Award for the competition\u2019s most outstanding startup. The $150,000 Shooting Star Award will recognize an exceptional early-stage company, while the $150,000 Scaling Star Award will honor an established venture demonstrating scalable growth.<\/span><\/p>\n The Into New Worlds and Tech for Humanity awards will each provide $150,000 for disruptive innovation and meaningful societal impact. The $100,000 LEAP Landing Award will support a high-potential international startup capable of establishing itself and creating economic value in Saudi Arabia. The $50,000 People\u2019s Choice and Founder Award will recognize the team that most powerfully captures the LEAP audience.<\/span><\/p>\n Rocket Fuel\u2019s importance extends beyond tonight\u2019s prize money. It brings founders into direct contact with investors, government leaders, technology companies and potential customers inside one of the world\u2019s most ambitious economic transformations.<\/span><\/p>\n Under Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia is not simply hosting the future of technology. It is building the market, infrastructure and institutional momentum required to deploy it. Rocket Fuel turns that national proposition into a live competition, giving founders a route from international visibility to meaningful Saudi growth.<\/span><\/p>\n The Saudi Times is honored to serve as a media partner of LEAP 2026 and the exclusive media partner for Rocket Fuel. We are proud to have accompanied this journey from the competition floor to tonight\u2019s final reveal, sharing the founders, technologies and ambitions shaping its story.<\/span><\/p>\n Tonight, seven winners will be announced. Yet all ten finalists will leave the stage having demonstrated something larger: when the world\u2019s founders are ready to turn innovation into execution, Saudi Arabia is ready to meet them.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After three days of competition at LEAP 2026, ten startups have reached the Rocket Fuel Finale. Tonight in Riyadh, seven awards will determine which founders leave with a share of the $1 million prize fund. One hundred startups entered the Rocket Fuel competition at LEAP 2026. Tonight, only ten will stand on the Main Stage. The Rocket Fuel Finale begins at 5:15 p.m. on September 3 in Hall 1 of the Riyadh Exhibition and Convention Center in Malham. The founders will make their final cases before the judges, with deliberations beginning at 6:15 p.m. and the winners revealed live from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":58772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kingdom"],"yoast_head":"\n\n