The 3 top funded startups keeping MENA entertained
MAGNiTT's 2019 Digitainment Venture Investment Report found that the Digitainment Industry has seen a number of sizable investments over the last 5 years, with a total of $235M invested across 98 deals from 2015 to 2019. The UAE accounted for the lion's share in Digitainment's funding and deal activity. The sectors in the report comprise Gaming, Multimedia, Entertainment & Music, Video & Animation.
The number of active Digitainment startups in MENA continues to steadily rise, highlighting the demand and need for time away from our daily lives to relax, switch off, and be digitally entertained - and startups in the region are looking to capitalise on this progressive digital evolution. The industry has shown a healthy compound annual growth rate of 10%.
Meet 3 Digitainment startups below who are looking to keep up with the demand, the entertainment giants of the world, and ultimately keep MENA entertained!
Discover more than 340 Entertainment & Music startups on MAGNiTT
The companies listed are based on MAGNiTT data of the top 3 MENA-based Digitainment startups, which have raised the highest amount of disclosed funding.
STARZ Play utilizes advanced technology to provide a premium viewing experience with full HD and 4K content sourced from some of the most important studios in the entertainment business, such as Disney, Warner Bros, Sony, Showtime, BBC Worldwide, Paramount, and CBS. The Dubai-based platform is available in 19 countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The startup has raised $125M in total funding.
2. Mawdoo3
Jordanian Mawdoo3.com was officially launched in 2012 to address the lack of Arabic content online. To date, the site boasts more than 50M MAUs, with more than 6000 freelance writers and 300 full-time employees. Mawdoo3’s group started a journey in the field of Artificial Intelligence, with a particular focus on Arabic NLP tools capable of covering the Arabic dialects, and developed the region’s first Arabic speaking digital assistant, “Salma”. The startup has raised a total of $25M in funding.
3. Anghami
Lebanon-based Anghami provides a seamless experience to listen to unlimited music on-the-go on your mobile. With millions of songs to search from, stream, download, and share, Anghami makes listening to music enjoyable again. Anghami features licensed content from leading Arabic labels such as Platinum Records, Mazzika, Melody, and many others, but also houses music from international labels including Sony, Universal, and Warner. The startup has secured $23.6M in investment from multiple rounds and investors.
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The Digitainment Industry saw a number of sizable investments over the last 5 years, a total of $235M invested across 98 deals from 2015 to 2019. Discover more trends and insights in our 2019 Digitainment Venture Investment Report.