MENA: Anghami eyeing live events with Spotlight acquisition

Spotlight is based in Dubai, UAE, with satellite offices in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Jordan and Lebanon. The company will now become Anghami’s arm for live events and concerts, including offline activities and activations.

Spotlight will provide a stage for artists to perform and reach their audiences offline, while Anghami’s technology will bridge the gap between offline and online by providing access to digital concerts and immersive AR and VR experiences.

The deal will enable Anghami to unlock opportunities between artists and brands, and enrich user experience with more access to private concerts, VIP lounges and backstage passes. In-person and virtual concerts will be accessible either through tickets or brand sponsorships.

Spotlight will also execute all of Anghami’s events, including Amr Diab Live, who signed an exclusive licensing deal with the streaming platform in February. The event company has confirmed the line-up of its upcoming concerts in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Paris, Cairo and Riyadh, with an additional six concerts expected to be announced for this year.

Following Anghami’s official public listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York earlier this year, the music streaming platform published in May its preliminary financials for Q1 along with its 2021 earnings report, boasting $35.5m in returns, or an 16% increase.

“Our vision is to expand from music streaming to a fully integrated entertainment platform that meets our goal of building our own unique category that no other provider can compete with,” Anghami co-founder and CEO Eddy Maroun said. “This partnership will allow us to deliver unique experiences to our users while giving artists a stage to perform and reach their fans physically and virtually.

“Spotlight and Anghami Lab are among a number of initiatives we plan to develop as new business extensions to accelerate our growth and improve our margins while widening the gap with our competitors.”