News

Carasti Expands To Saudi Arabia After Raising $2 Million

To celebrate its recent expansion, Carasti is launching with a Ramadan offer of 50% off the first-month subscription for new Saudi subscribers.

Published

2 months ago

March 25, 2022

David Morelo

carasti expands to saudi arabia after raising $2 million

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From March 23, 2022, on-demand car subscription service Carasti is available in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The expansion of the UAE-based company into the Kingdom comes after a successful bridge round that helped Carasti raise $2 million from venture firms Net Ventures and Rua Growth.

The bridge round will soon be followed by Carasti’s Series A funding round, which should help it further drive growth and establish itself as a dominant player in the car rental and leasing market in Saudi Arabia, which is expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2026, according to a report by Mordor Intelligence.

“After a successful 2.5 years of rapid growth in the UAE, we are now making it possible for Saudi drivers to get a car without any of the hassles of ownership; our full-subscription model looks set to become the go-to brand for the Kingdom’s automotive needs starting today and into the future” said Claudio Esposito-Aiardo, CEO of Carasti.

Carasti offers a growing selection of new and nearly-new cars, and its subscription process takes less than three minutes to complete. Customers can choose from all-inclusive subscriptions ranging from 1 to 24 months, with prices starting at just SAR 1,799 ($479 USD) per month. The few required documents can be conveniently uploaded using the Carasti app, available to download on both the App Store and Google Play Store.

Also Read: 4 Smartphones Coming To The Middle East This Spring

To celebrate its recent expansion, Carasti is launching with a Ramadan offer of 50 percent off the first-month subscription for new Saudi subscribers. To take advantage of the offer, simply enter the code “WOW50” when signing up. After completing the quick and easy sign-up process, the selected vehicle can be ready in as little as 4 hours.

All subscriptions include not only the car itself but also all other expenses typically associated with car ownership, such as insurance, warranty, maintenance, and around-the-clock roadside assistance and delivery.

News

Spotify Is Experimenting With Artist NFT Collections

According to a recent survey, it seems that the currently tested NFT collections are just the first step toward a much broader implementation of NFTs into the platform.

Published

4 days ago

May 20, 2022

David Morelo

spotify is experimenting with artist nft collections

NFT sales may have declined by 92 percent since September 2021, but that’s not stopping Spotify from experimenting with a new feature that lets artists display their non-fungible token (NFT) collections on the music streaming platform.

At the moment, only a small group of artists are taking part in the experiment, including Steve Aoki and The Wombats. What’s more, only select US users of the Spotify app for Android can see NFTs when they visit the profile pages of the aforementioned artists.

spotify artist nft collections

“Spotify is running a test in which it will help a small group of artists promote their existing third-party NFT offerings via their artist profiles,” said Spotify spokesperson. “We routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve artist and fan experiences.”

It’s important to point out that not all Spotify experiments result in new features. It all depends on the feedback the music streaming platform receives from users.

According to a survey some Spotify users have recently received, it seems that the currently tested NFT collections are just the first step toward a much broader implementation of NFTs into the platform. More specifically, Spotify seems to be thinking about allowing its users to directly purchase NFT art to support their favorite artists.

Also Read: 3 Best Cold Storage Wallets For Crypto In 2022

Considering how polarizing NFTs have been since their inception in 2014, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many Spotify users have immediately expressed their dissatisfaction with the idea of NFTs becoming part of the Spotify music listening experience.

Other large tech companies are also experimenting with NFTs. Instagram, for example, started testing NFT integration last week, allowing NFT creators and collectors to display their tokens on the platform. Mark Zuckerberg himself believes that NFTs and digital collectibles in general will play an integral role in the metaverse, the new iteration of the internet.