QSTP-Funded Company Sets New Standards in Airport Operations
With the aviation industry gradually emerging from the deep sleep imposed by the pandemic and the ongoing shifts in regulations, airports are looking more than ever for more efficient operations to result in enhanced convenience and safety for passengers.
EMMA Systems, an AI-powered Airport Management Systems provider, works with aviation stakeholders to increase the efficiency and sustainability of their operations by optimizing aircraft turnaround processes and by reducing delays and fuel wastage. Streamlined operations contribute to passengers’ priorities, such as on-time arrival and departure of aircrafts, swift check-in process and smooth navigation to the gates, or to the baggage reclaim area.
Adaptable to each airport’s unique operating procedures, EMMA (which stands for Environmental & Movement Monitoring for Airports) Systems created a new standard for internal airport system communication. Its centralized cloud-based dashboard visualizes live data providing a secure and centralized view of the entire airport’s operations – resulting in safer, more efficient, and more integrated operations.
Recalling early days in 2010 when EMMA Systems was born, Wisam Costandi, CEO and Co-Founder, said: “We deployed the first version of EMMA at Qatar’s Hamad International Airport, later crowned the ‘Best Airport in the World’ by Skytrax in 2021, which boosted our recognition in the industry.”
Since then, EMMA initially received support from the Qatar Science and Technology Park’s (QSTP) Product Development Fund (PDF) for the development of its technology, and later received seed investment from the Tech Venture Fund (TVF) to continue its commercial efforts.
“Qatar is a springboard for startups. It’s a small country with large, world-class projects and startup-friendly programs. Once QSTP invested in us, they became part of EMMA. They didn’t ask ‘How are you doing?’, but rather ‘How are we doing?’. It was important to have an institutional ally to help us navigate the startup ecosystem and the entrepreneurial journey at each stage,” said Costandi. “The Tech Venture Fund essentially allowed us to double down on commercial outreach, and to invest in sales and marketing.”
Since then, the company has grown significantly and its pipeline has expanded across the globe.
Having successfully navigated the challenges of working through the pandemic, the startup has secured deployment in Brussels South Charleroi Airport (BSCA) and its network is soon set to expand even more.
“Another 25 global airports are in the pipeline for us. We saw things come to a halt given the pandemic’s impact on aviation, and we were disheartened; however, air traffic is gradually returning back to normal, and we have witnessed a renewed interest in solutions that can help improve airport efficiency and sustainability,” Costandi remarked.
Like EMMA Systems, promising entrepreneurs and innovative startups find their seed-stage funding and follow-on capital with the QSTP Tech Venture Fund, a strategic venture capital fund designed to support Qatar’s burgeoning tech and innovation ecosystem that targets a growing regional and global market.
To apply and find out more about QSTP’s TVF, please visit: https://qstp.org.qa/tech-venture-fund/
To learn more about EMMA Systems, please visit: https://emma.aero/
