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Anghami To Become The First Arab Tech Company To List On NASDAQ

Anghami, the first music-streaming platform in the MENA region, will soon also become the first Arab technology company to list on NASDAQ New York via a merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc., a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company.
“Today, we have taken a significant step forward in our growth plans in seeking to become the region’s first Arab technology company to list on Nasdaq,” said Anghami co-founder Eddy Maroun. “Being a US-listed public company gives us access to growth capital and a global platform that is the best in the world.”
Anghami, which translates into “my tunes” in Arabic, was founded in 2012 by Maroun and his fellow Lebanese entrepreneur Elie Habib, providing convenient access to Arabic and international music alike. Over the years, the platform has become the leader in the MENA region, offering around 60 million songs to more than 70 million registered users.
In early 2021, Anghami moved its headquarters to Abu Dhabi, after a partnership with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office. The merger with Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. implies an initial pro-forma valuation of around $220 million. The music-streaming platform will continue to operate under its name and trade under the symbol “ANGH”.
Also Read: Anghami Review: The MENA’s Favorite Music Streaming Service
“This is a landmark transaction for the MENA region and for Vistas,” commented Saurabh Gupta, co-founder of Vistas Media Acquisition Company Inc. “The combination of Anghami and the Vistas team will be a powerful force in the media and entertainment world, and we couldn’t be prouder of the hard work from everyone to get to this stage, but our work has only just begun.”
Anghami founders would like to use the new funding to not only attract additional customers from the MENA region, but they would also like to expand into new markets and compete with services like Spotify and Deezer, both of which are significantly more popular outside the Middle East.
News
Checkout.com Brings Visa Direct Push-To-Card To The UAE
The payment company is the first acquirer in the UAE to launch Visa Direct’s solution, enabling safe, instant money transfers.

Checkout.com has taken the UAE a step closer to its goal of a fully digital economy by becoming the first acquirer in the country to offer Visa Direct’s Push-to-Card solution. The new service will streamline money transfers for both businesses and consumers, enabling near-instant transactions across local and international markets.
Visa Direct connects over 190 markets and supports over 8.5 billion endpoints, including cards, bank accounts, and digital wallets. Push-to-Card transactions enhance efficiency for business users and consumers by allowing money to be sent quickly and easily to eligible Visa cards while leveraging the company’s secure network for reliability.
“Visa Direct is transforming the way money moves globally, and we are excited to see Checkout.com leverage this technology to meet the evolving demands of businesses and individuals alike by offering them a faster, more convenient, and secure way to send and receive funds,” said Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President and Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions, CEMEA.
The UAE has been at the forefront of digital payment adoption, driven by a national push toward a cashless economy. Remo Giovanni Abbondandolo, General Manager for MENA at Checkout.com, emphasized this shift: “By providing seamless, secure, and real-time payout capabilities, we’re empowering merchants with the agility to thrive in this fast-evolving landscape, while effectively meeting the growing consumer demand for speed and convenience. The Push-to-Card solution not only reinforces our commitment to powering payment performance but also showcases our agility in bringing yet another innovation to the UAE market.”
Also Read: Qareeb Partners With Pantheon For GCC Bitcoin Mining Expansion
Checkout.com’s latest MENA eCommerce data highlights the region’s increasing engagement with financial technologies, with around 80% of consumers participating in activities beyond basic online payments, such as money transfers and personal wealth management. The growing demand for real-time financial transactions has made fast, seamless payment solutions a priority.
To meet this demand, Account Funding Transactions (AFTs) have gained traction in the UAE. By integrating AFTs with Visa’s Push-to-Card services, Checkout.com is helping merchants offer secure, real-time account top-ups. Currently processing over one million AFTs per month with Visa, Checkout.com is now playing a leading role in modernizing financial transactions in the region.
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