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SRMG Ventures Invests $5 Million To Boost Anghami’s Growth
As part of the agreement, the Riyadh venture capital firm will also have the option to increase its investment in the future.
With 120 million registered listeners and a catalog of over 100 million songs, streaming platform Anghami has become the go-to destination for Arabic and international music, podcasts, and entertainment in the MENA region.
Now, the venture capital arm of the Saudi Research and Media Group, SRMG Ventures, has invested $5 million in the Arab world’s Spotify equivalent, giving a further boost to the company’s growth.
SRMG Ventures announced that it will offer its “extensive media reach, content library, and portfolio of leading assets in audio/podcasts,” enabling Anghami to grab a larger share of a fast-growing music streaming sector predicted to “reach $700 million in the Middle East and North Africa in 2026”.
Last year, the market size for audio in the MENA region increased by 35%, primarily due to the popularity of cloud-based music streaming services.
“This demand coupled with the commercial opportunity […] makes digital audio and media one of the investment priorities for SRMG Ventures. These opportunities are also demonstrative of our strategy and commitment to support and develop the media ecosystem,” explained Jomana Al-Rashid, chief executive of SRMG.
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According to Grand View Research, global music streaming is projected to hit a value of $103 billion by 2030, growing at a yearly rate of 15%. Anghami is a key player in that growth, becoming the first technology company from the Arab world to be listed on New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange in February 2023.
SRMG Ventures explained that its investment in Anghami aligns with its strategy of backing businesses showing strong commercial growth. The venture capital company is also focused on media creators and immersive, interactive entertainment, with initial investments including Telfaz11, a Saudi media studio, and Vuz, a VR social media application.
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LUVED Is A New Curated Preloved Marketplace For The UAE
Sellers keep 100 percent of every sale and AI can build a listing in five seconds — though the app’s smartest tools are still coming.
Secondhand shopping has become mainstream in the UAE, but the experience is still scattered across resale sites, social media and informal group chats. LUVED, a mobile-first marketplace that launched in Dubai this month, is betting it can pull that activity into one place — and that the thing buyers and sellers actually want is not more inventory, but trust.
The app trades in what it calls circular luxury: preloved fashion and lifestyle pieces across men’s, women’s and children’s categories, bought, sold or given away peer to peer. Its main pitch is economics, with sellers keeping 100 percent of every sale under a zero-commission, fast payout model, while buyers are promised vetted pieces at lower prices.
Where LUVED is staking its reputation is verification. Sellers pass a KYC check, and items run through a two-layer authentication system powered by Entrupy that pairs instant AI screening with human expert review for high-value pieces. Authenticity certificates travel with each item, payments sit in escrow, and a buyer-protection package the company calls The Safety Net adds a 48-hour return window and dispute resolution. Door-to-door logistics removes the in-person meetups that make most resale deals awkward.
An in-app assistant called Luvbot — offering selling insights and demand-based recommendations — is soon to be introduced to the platform. Other features include autofill and dynamic pricing that lets users build a listing in as little as five seconds from three photos, plus a swipe-based feed, story-style drops and in-app chat in English and Arabic. Finally, a gifting layer, Luved & Gifted, lets users pass items to others inside the app rather than sell them.
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“After moving to Dubai, I saw how difficult it was to sell or even give things away,” says founder and CEO Shaima Sibtain. The friction is real, and so is the competition. In resale, trust is won transaction by transaction — and that is the test LUVED has set itself.
The app is live on the App Store now, with Google Play to follow. The company also plans to expand across the region, which will be the real test for a marketplace staking everything on trust.
