Shuaa invests in Lebanon-born music streaming service Anghami

Started in 2012, the Middle East’s answer to Spotify has more than 55 million users

Shuaa Capital is aiming to continue its investment journey into the technology space, with a focus on technology solutions and services. Jaime Puebla/The National

Dubai investment banking firm Shuaa Capital said on Tuesday it invested an undisclosed amount as part of a new funding round in Middle East music streaming service Anghami.

Shuaa's managed funds platform will invest to help grow Anghami, the Middle East's answer to Spotify with more than 55 million users, the asset management company said in a statement on the Dubai Financial Market, where its shares trade.

“We have been working closely with Anghami, bringing our expertise in originating and structuring deals to bear in order to successfully complete this investment round,” Jassim Alseddiqi, Shuaa Capital’s chief executive, said.

"Anghami is ideally aligned with our investment criteria, having been the first music streaming platform here in the region in 2012 … delivering exponential growth. This is a continuation of our investment journey into the technology space and we are keen to invest in technology solutions and services.”

Anghami, which started with an investment of $200,000 from it’s two founders in 2012, has raised over $40 million from investors including Dubai venture capital firm Middle East Venture Partners and investment firm Samena Capital.

The Lebanon-born music streaming app raised an undisclosed amount from a Series B round in November 2016, led by Samena Capital and telco Du.

Prior to that, it had two fundraising rounds, led by MEVP, in 2012 and 2014.

"As Anghami continues to target rapid growth and penetration, combined with our dedicated focus on profitability, we are delighted to have secured the support of Shuaa Capital and its co-investors in this latest round,” Elie Habib, co-founder of Anghami, said.

“Having last raised funds in 2016, it was important for us to partner with the right investors, who understand our region and our growth model,” he added.

The global music streaming market is expected to deliver continued growth, with the Middle East and Africa market forecast to grow over 21 per cent from 2020 to 2027, compared with 17.8 per cent globally, according to recent research by Grand View Research.

Currently, Anghami has a catalogue comprising more than 50 million songs. It has offices in Beirut, Dubai, Cairo and Riyadh.

It remained the market leader in the region for almost seven years before other players such as Swedish audio streaming company Spotify and Deezer, the music streaming platform backed by Saudi Arabian businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, entered the market in 2018.

In 2019, Anghami said it delivered 10 billion music streams.