Profile of Abu Dhabi-based music streaming service Anghami, which has 1.4M paying subscribers and 70M total users, as it goes public via a $220M SPAC merger (Profile Abu Dhabibased Anghami 1.4m 70m)

Profile Abu Dhabibased Anghami 1.4m 70m:

What if you knew your favorite artist intimately, down to the personal details of their life? What if they could collaborate with you on a musical project? What if you had direct access to their work, as well as an opportunity to engage in meaningful conversation with them at any time in any place?

Anghami is one such company that strives for this intimacy with its community. Anghami’s mission is to “provide artists and listeners around the world a better connection.” By providing access to music, streaming services and the artists who produce it, Anghami has created a platform where it is possible to meet both artists and consumers on equal terms.

Anghami is not a single entity but rather an aggregation of four different platforms that are owned and operated independently by independent teams in Abu Dhabi, Los Angeles and India. Because these teams work separately, they have not been able to share data efficiently and be able to identify global trends more quickly than they can individually.

This challenge of sharing data was one of the major drivers towards Anghami’s IPO. In 2017, Anghami consulted with UBS and Goldman Sachs to gauge interest in the company’s offering on the NASDAQ. Subsequently, the company received interest from numerous parties including Spotify, SoundCloud and more to either acquire a stake or merge with Anghami.

The most compelling offer came from Spotify who offered a preferred price for $220M USD in exchange for a 34% stake. Subsequently, Anghami reached out to its other stakeholders in the U.S., India and the Middle East to reach a consensus on what was best for Anghami and for its investors. The decision came down to three options:

1) Anghami remains independent, with a separate board of directors.
2) Anghami merges with an equal stakeholder to form an equal partnership with Spotify.
3) Anghami merges with an investor who will obtain a majority of the company, and therefore control the direction of Anghami.

In April 2018, Anghami chose to take on a new strategic partner in the form of Spotify. The merger is currently being reviewed by the SEC, but when it goes through it will automatically trigger a reverse merger with SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), which will ultimately make Anghami’s IPO go public.

The Benefits of Anghami’s IPO and its Strategic Merger with Spotify

The acquisition by Spotify will provide Anghami immediate access to a larger customer base. Currently, Anghami has 70M total customers, 4.5M of whom are premium subscribers. With Spotify contributing 70M subscribers worldwide to the portfolio, this strategic merger will increase the number of paying subscribers by over six times and therefore provide a larger total addressable market for the company.