ⓘ Featured Image: 360VUZ founder Khaled Zaatarah; Credits: supplied
▸ Series A round is led by Shorooq Partners, and joined by a number of well-known venture capital firms including KBW Ventures, 500 Startups, Media Visions, Visions Ventures and Hala Ventures
▸ Strategic investors in the immersive video mobile app include Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, and Jonathan Labin
▸ The Series A round brings the startup’s total amount raised to $7 million to date
The Dubai-based immersive virtual mobile app 360VUZ has today announced that the company has raised $5.8 million in a Series A investment round led by Shorooq Partners, with participation from a number of other venture capital firms including KBW Ventures, Media Visions, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, 500 Startups; and also some strategic investors including the founder and managing director of Careem, Magnus Olsson, Samih Toukan, and Jonathan Labin.
The company has a total of over $7 million capital raised until now. With the fresh funds, 360VUZ aims to augment its immersive video app technology, scale the business, expand its global reach and offer more personalised experiences along with the additional proprietary technologies.
Latest fundraise has made 360VUZ notably the most well-capitalized startups in the media and entertainment space in the region. The company has previously raised funds from a number of investors and VCs including Al Touq Group, DTEC Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Al Rashid family angel investors, Tareq Jalabi and Mohanad Alwadiya.
Commenting on the investment round and sharing his vision of 360VUZ, Khaled Zaatarah, founder & CEO of 360VUZ said,
“We are on a mission to help connect people around the globe by building a hyperconnected world while offering full control and authenticity,”
Adding to which, Zaatarah also talked about the importance of creating a hyperconnected world,
“We are expanding the ability of every individual to ‘teleport’ and connect with people and experiences virtually while removing the constraints of TTA: travel, time, and access. Today more than ever, we understand that building a hyperconnected world is vital, and it is solving one of the major problems that the entire world is facing right now.”
The 360VUZ teleporter mobile app has already had a strong global rollout, connecting users in more than 15 countries with a user engagement increase of more than 571% in 2019 in comparison to the previous year, in addition to a strong uptick of over 297% over the past 30 days. The app, ranked as one of the top featured apps on the Apple App Store, was highlighted on its main page in March.
“None of this would be possible without the tireless efforts of our team in addition to our partners who put 360VUZ on the global map. Our team is determined to keep on innovating and keeping users at the core by focusing hugely on personalization and continuing our global roll out to more cities in Asia, Europe and USA. We see the demand on our immersive and VR content increasing and we are excited to keep on innovating in the VR, AR and live virtual video space,” said Zaatarah
Shane Shin, founding partner at Shorooq Partners affirming the idea and vision of 360VUZ said,
“360VUZ reflects the true spirit of innovation. It is not only a regional, but also a global pioneer in the immersive video streaming space and we are truly privileged to join this exciting journey. By forging strong partnerships with telcos, the company has been able to rapidly scale into pivotal markets. Even during these difficult times of COVID-19, 360VUZ has continued to prove its value as an entertainment provider with massive growth in user engagement,”
360VUZ plans to offer additional proprietary technologies on top of the latest patent that has been fully granted from the United States Patent and Trademark Office related to augmented reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, virtual control, as well as new advertising solutions.
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