Wajeez, an app that offers Arabic audio and text summaries of non-fiction English books by foreign and local writers, has secured $3 million (11.25m Saudi riyals) through an early stage (pre-Series A) funding round led by technology venture capital fund STV.
Set up in December 2020, the audiobook company already has more than 800,000 subscribers. Wajeez, which has offices in Amman and Riyadh, currently has a library of more than 3,500 Arabic audio and text summaries.
Other participants in the funding round included Abu Dhabi's Shorooq Partners, Jordan's Mawdoo3 and Wise Ventures.
“Despite there being more than 400 million Arabic speakers globally, there is relatively little Arabic content available. People in the region often have a preference for shortened summaries of books and content, rather than full books,” said Wajeez co-founder and chief executive Mohammad Zatara.
“Through Wajeez, we offer anyone the opportunity to distil the main points from the most popular and award-winning non-fiction books, in Arabic, saving people the time while still extracting the key points.”
Although Arabic-speaking Mena users comprise 7 per cent of the world’s internet users, Arabic content constitutes only 3 per cent of overall internet content, highlighting a big gap between demand and content, according to Statista.
Start-ups in the Mena region secured $1.03 billion in funding last year, up 13 per cent compared with 2019, according to data platform Magnitt. E-commerce start-ups and FinTech companies received the bulk of the money.
Wajeez was founded by Mr Zatara, former chief executive of Amman-based online book shop Faylasof, and Rami Abu Jbara, a former executive at Sky News Arabia and Asharq News, who now leads the company’s content strategy as a co-founder and chief content officer.
Despite there being more than 400 million Arabic speakers globally, there is relatively little Arabic content available
Mohammad Zatara,
co-founder and chief executive at Wajeez
In addition to text and audio summaries, Wajeez aims to expand into shortened podcasts (WajeezCast) and business-to-business partnerships, in addition to developing products in other languages such as Turkish and Urdu in its next phase of growth.
“We are happy to partner with a fast-growing start-up like Wajeez, which marks our first investment in the Levant,” said Talal Damen, senior associate at STV.
“With the largest library of non-fiction summaries in the region, the company has created a flywheel that only gets stronger with more time, content and listeners.”
STV has backed some of the Mena region’s most disruptive technology companies, with more than $500m in capital. The venture capital fund began operations in 2018 and has offices in Riyadh and Dubai.
STV was an early investor in ride-hailing company Careem, which was later acquired by Uber for $3.1bn. It has also backed Egypt’s online healthcare start-up Vezeeta and UAE-based Trukker.
Anti-semitic attacks
The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises the Jewish community on security , warned on Thursday that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had reached a record high.
It found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Semitic crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged “the eradication of Jewish people” and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5
The Details
Kabir Singh
Produced by: Cinestaan Studios, T-Series
Directed by: Sandeep Reddy Vanga
Starring: Shahid Kapoor, Kiara Advani, Suresh Oberoi, Soham Majumdar, Arjun Pahwa
Rating: 2.5/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Duterte Harry: Fire and Fury in the Philippines
Jonathan Miller, Scribe Publications
MATCH INFO
Champions League last 16, first leg
Tottenham v RB Leipzig, Wednesday, midnight (UAE)
You may remember …
Robbie Keane (Atletico de Kolkata) The Irish striker is, along with his former Spurs teammate Dimitar Berbatov, the headline figure in this season’s ISL, having joined defending champions ATK. His grand entrance after arrival from Major League Soccer in the US will be delayed by three games, though, due to a knee injury.
Dimitar Berbatov (Kerala Blasters) Word has it that Rene Meulensteen, the Kerala manager, plans to deploy his Bulgarian star in central midfield. The idea of Berbatov as an all-action, box-to-box midfielder, might jar with Spurs and Manchester United supporters, who more likely recall an always-languid, often-lazy striker.
Wes Brown (Kerala Blasters) Revived his playing career last season to help out at Blackburn Rovers, where he was also a coach. Since then, the 23-cap England centre back, who is now 38, has been reunited with the former Manchester United assistant coach Meulensteen, after signing for Kerala.
Andre Bikey (Jamshedpur) The Cameroonian defender is onto the 17th club of a career has taken him to Spain, Portugal, Russia, the UK, Greece, and now India. He is still only 32, so there is plenty of time to add to that tally, too. Scored goals against Liverpool and Chelsea during his time with Reading in England.
Emiliano Alfaro (Pune City) The Uruguayan striker has played for Liverpool – the Montevideo one, rather than the better-known side in England – and Lazio in Italy. He was prolific for a season at Al Wasl in the Arabian Gulf League in 2012/13. He returned for one season with Fujairah, whom he left to join Pune.
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