Middle East Streaming Service Anghami Poised to Make History

Music streaming platform Anghami will soon make history. It’ll become the first Arab tech company to list on a US stock exchange. Following a merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc., Anghami will list on New York’s NASDAQ. The merger allows the platform to scale up and go “beyond music”.

Founded in 2012 by Eddy Maroun and Elie Habib, Anghami is the first music-streaming platform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Maroun described the merger as “a significant step forward” in the company’s growth plan. “Being a US listed public company gives us access to growth capital and a global platform that is the best in the world,” he added.

Valuation

Dubai’s iconic Burj Khalifa lit up with a special light show to celebrate the news. Based in the US, Vistas Media Acquisition Company is a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company. Expected to close in Q2 this year, the transaction implies an initial pro-forma enterprise valuation of $220 million. Under the merger, the combined company will still operate under the Anghami name. It will trade under the new symbol ANGH.

Data Points

The Anghami music app and platform offers listeners unlimited Arabic and international music to stream and download. It offers more than 57 million songs to 70 million registered users and clocks up around one billion streams per month. The company’s AI and machine learning algorithms process over 56 million data points from its user base every day.

“We’re proud of the product and technology we’ve built,” said Co-founder Elie Habib. “Now we will have the ability to invest more in R&D and innovate, providing a product that goes beyond music to immersive experiences around media and entertainment while remaining relevant to our users and focused on our local edge.”

Growing Revenue

Anghami enjoys long-standing partnerships with all major global labels including Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. It also has licensing agreements with thousands of independent labels and distributors. The company has grown revenues 80% over the last three years. Anghami forecasts its revenue will increase five-fold over the next three years.

With its headquarters at Hub71 in Aby Dhabi, Anghami has offices in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo and Riyadh. In January, Abu Dhabi Investment Office partnered with Anghami as part of its Innovation Programme.

Also read: Streaming Service Anghami Selects Abu Dhabi for its Global Headquarters