[MANAMA, BAHRAIN] – 28 March 2021 – Faceki named the winner of the Gold Stevie® Award in the Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year category in the second annual Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards, sponsored by the RAK Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards are the only business awards program to recognize innovation in the workplace in 17 nations in the Middle East and North Africa.  The Stevie Awards are widely considered to be the world’s premier business awards, conferring recognition for achievement in programs such as The International Business Awards® for 19 years. More than 400 nominations from organizations across the Middle East and North Africa were considered this year. Faceki won in the Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year category. Faceki is Bahraini startup that specialized in AI powered digital face biometric authentication, KYC, and Digital onboarding. All built with localization and Arabic support at heart. Focusing on simplifying users’ journey and fight fraud with the aim to create safer, more accessible user experiences. for all, powered by. Faceki users AI and machine learning to power it’s certified liveness and anti-spoofing detection technology which help verify if users who they are claim to be. Protecting customer, enterprises and reducing onboarding process time by up to 95%. “Pandemic pushed organizations to speed up their digitization plans, but with the rise of fraud and identity theft in the past 12 months, made a lot of organization review their plans. The need for a more secure verification alternative to the current traditional method, is becoming a must” said Hamza Al-Ghatam, Co-founder and CEO of Faceki. “Being honoured with Gold Stevie® Award as the Most Innovative Tech Startup of the Year for 2021 which shows how significant our technology is to combat fraud and protect users and enterprises.” Gold, Silver, and Bronze Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 60 executives around the world acting as judges on six juries. “We are delighted to recognize the achievements of such a diverse group of organizations across the MENA region in the 2021 edition of the Middle East & North Africa Stevie Awards,” said Stevie Awards president Maggie Gallagher.  “Despite the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, these organizations show us that it is possible to innovate and succeed at any time, regardless of the challenges.  We look forward to celebrating them during our virtual ceremony on 2 June.”