Dubai-Based Digital Media Firm Bags $5m Investment

Dubai-based digital media company Diwanee has secured an investment worth $5 billion from French digital content firm Webedia.

Diwanee, which manages a number of women-centric Arabic websites in the region and on content creation online, sold a majority stake to the French digital publishing firm, a statement said.

However, it did not disclose the size of the stake.

Founded in 2009, Diwanee’s portfolio of websites includes 3a2ilati, Yasmina, Atyab Tabkha, and Mooda, which attract around five million visitors each month.

The investment by Webedia will help the digital firm to grow its visitor base to around 38 million unique visitors around the world, the statement said. The partnership will also benefit Diwanee to ramp up its creation capabilities and video production.

Diwanee currently has offices in Dubai, Beirut and Belgrade.

“The acquisition of the majority of the capital by Webedia will enable us to reinforce Diwanee’s position as a leader in the digital media sector, to lead innovation and to accelerate its development providing the highest quality content, technology and advertising solutions,” said Hervé Cuviliez, CEO and founding partner of Diwanee.

Webedia’s co-founder Guillaume Multrier said that this acquisition would strengthen the French group’s international growth.

“Diwanee has all the elements of a successful player in the digital media space, a solid business model, strong management and a growing market segment. The capital injection is exactly what they needed to realise their potential,” said Multrier.

A number of small boutique enterprises and start-ups in the UAE have received funding recently.

Glambox, a UAE-based start-up, announced late last year that it received funding worth $1.36 million from MBC Ventures, STC Ventures and R&R Ventures.

Another local start-up Careem, which offers chauffeur driven car-booking services, said that it got an investment of $1.7 million from Saudi Arabia’s STC ventures and other angel investors in 2013.