SRMG Ventures, the venture capital arm of Riyadh-based Saudi Research and Media Group, has announced a $5 million strategic investment in Anghami, Spotify’s main rival in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), to tap into a fast-growing audio streaming market in the region.
SRMG announced in a statement Monday that with the investment, the company will “bolster Anghami's growth trajectory” through its media reach, content library and portfolio of assets in audio/podcasts, and enable it to capture a larger share of the fast-growing audio streaming market in the MENA region. The MENA music and audio industry is forecast to grow at 11% a year, at a faster rate than the global market.
Launched in Beirut in 2012, Anghami is the most popular music streaming platform in the MENA region, with 120 million registered users, up from 75 million in 2021. The company, which is headquartered in Abu Dhabi, has a catalog of more than 100 million songs, including Arabic and international music, podcasts and entertainment. Anghami also provides in-house productions, branded music and video content, concerts and live events, a record label for Arab artists, podcasts, a music lounge with live entertainment, and exclusive and original Arabic content.
In December 2021, Anghami partnered with Sony Music to launch Vibe, a boutique record label that supports independent Arab music. In July 2022, Anghami acquired Spotlight Events to host regular live concerts for local artists in the region.
