American University of Beirut

A Chimera that became a startup: why three exceptional MSFEA graduates are still based at Oxy

​​​​​​​​​​​​​For the first time at MSFEA, a standout group of students is launching their post-graduation startup, Chimera, from their office in Irani Oxy Engineering Complex. The team, which won the FYP Accelerator Program competition in Spring 2024, designed Chimera as a robust cybersecurity solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Originating in their final year project (FYP) course in which engineering students apply their accumulated knowledge and skills to solve real-world problems, their project has evolved into a successful venture with the help of MSFEA’s FYP Accelerator Program.  


Jad Oueida​, Hekmat Kassir, and Karim Shammas are  three childhood friends who were coincidentally reunited in the Computer Science Engineering program at AUB. A year ago, and as they began their final year in the program, they all made a deliberate decision to work together on their FYP. Driven by a desire to address a meaningful problem rather than merely fulfilling a course requirement, they saw an opportunity to shape their futures by creating something valuable and impactful 

To gain further insight into their innovative journey, we asked Jad, Hekmat, and Karim to answer a few questions. 

What is Chimera and what does it do?  

 
Chimera is a cybersecurity protection solution that provides small and medium-sized companies with a level of cybersecurity that they could not access before. It offers the same advanced features used by large companies but as an intuitive, user-friendly experience that makes cybersecurity easy to manage for everyone, regardless of technical expertise. 
 
The first Chimera product that we are developing works on securing user networks. Think of it as a protective bubble around your network—it safeguards all the devices connected to it, ensuring that each one remains secure. This Chimera product consists of two components: a small device that connects to your Wi-Fi router and an app. This setup allows users to easily monitor and manage everything happening within this bubble directly from their phones. Additionally, the system is designed to operate autonomously, handling all security tasks without requiring any manual intervention. We're also currently developing machine learning models and an AI copilot to further help streamline operations. 
 

Tell us more about your idea. How did it come about and how did you get the opportunity to evolve it into a startup?  

 
When we started working on our FYP, we also started researching the current market to see how the technology we were working on is being used in the real world. We quickly realized that most of the solutions that are currently on the market only service large enterprises and are too expensive for the average company. These solutions also require very deep technical knowledge to be able to use and maintain. 
 
We proposed our idea to the MSFEA FYP accelerator, and luckily, the Dean liked our idea and put us in contact with Chris Klaus, an American tech entrepreneur and founder. Klaus liked our idea and decided to fund it. This was a game changer for us since we now have one of the most strategically important people in cybersecurity on our team. Our streak continued in the spring semester when we participated in the MSFEA Accelerator Program competition and won first place and a grant from the faculty. Also, the Dean thankfully offered us offices on the 6th floor in Oxy building to allow us to develop our startup on campus.  
 

What are your next steps? 

 
We are continuing to develop our product. The next step is to deploy it to beta testers, iterate based on their feedback, and then launch it. 
 
Also, since we have funding, we are now growing our team to accelerate our growth and have started interviewing candidates from MSFEA to join our team. We are especially interested in students who are looking for internships or part-time jobs during the semester. We will soon share more openings through the Career Development Center (CDC) here at MSFEA, so keep an eye out! 
 
We are also looking for companies to collaborate with, either as potential customers or as strategic partners with tech players. We are open to any collaboration, so reach out to us if you’re interested. 
  

Tell us about your experience with the FYP Accelerator Program. 

 
The FYP Accelerator program allowed us as E4 students at AUB to turn into startup founders and entrepreneurs. The knowledge and guidance that we got from Mr. Mohamad Fanous during our final year gave us the basis and the confidence to turn down job offers and commit full-time to our startup. We encourage every MSFEA student reading this to join the accelerator program because it really is a gold mine. From the people you get to meet to the opportunities that you get access to, the accelerator program is the best place for a student at AUB to start their entrepreneurial journey. Through the program we were able to also get into AUB iPark and were one of the ten startups chosen out of 250.  
 

Anything else you wish to add? 

We would like to thank Dean Alan Shihadeh for creating this ecosystem in our faculty that enables students to innovate and realize that their ideas can impact the world. 

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