Anghami is a music streaming service with headquarters in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Launched in November 2012, Anghami translates to “my tunes” in Arabic.
The platform provides the largest Arabic and international licensed music catalog in the Middle East and North Africa, across both a free ad-supported restricted tier and a premium paid tier, Anghami Plus.
It operates in multiple regions including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and UAE.
Users, subscribers, and catalog
In March 2019, Anghami co-founder Elie Habib told Music Business Worldwide that the platform boasted more than 21 million monthly users.
He further confirmed that 78 million people had used Anghami up to that point, and that only 18% of these users were located outside the Middle East.
Habib also confirmed that Anghami had been downloaded more than 60 million times across the Apple App Store and the Google/Android Play store at this point.
Following licensing deals with major music companies – including a landmark agreement with Warner Music Group in 2017 – Anghami was hosting over 31 million licensed songs in Q1 2019.
According to reports, Anghami was delivering over 50 million songs to 70 million users in Q1 2021.
Funding rounds
According to Elie Habib, Anghami’s first funding round took place in February 2011 for around $1 million.
Subsequent Series A rounds then took place, including an $8 million round led by MBC ventures in 2013, and a $3.5 million round led by Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP) in 2015.
In 2016, Anghami raised a Series B round for an undisclosed value from lead investors such as private equity firm Samena Capital. That round also included money from UAE telecommunications company, Du.
In January 2021, Anghami announced that it had sold a stake to Dubai-based asset management and investment banking platform, Shuaa Capital.
Elie Habib told MENAbytes that this raise was part of an ongoing $50 million investment round.
NASDAQ listing
Anghami announced in March that entered into a definitive merger agreement with publicly traded special purpose acquisition company Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc.
The merger will result in Anghami listing on the NASDAQ in New York, with the combined company set to operate under the Anghami name and trade under the new symbol ANGH.
Music Business Worldwide