Tamatem, the leading mobile games publisher in the Arabic speaking market, has raised a $ 2.5 million Series A investment with the funding lead by Wamda Capital, Discovery Nusantava Capital, Raed Ventures and Vision Venture Capital.
Existing investors, include 500Start Ups, General David Petraeus, Kima Ventures, Arzan VC and Kai Huang. The new funding will be focused into closing bigger deals for better hardcore mobile games, expansion and also hiring aimed at growing market share.
The new investment also brings in board members, which include CEO & founder Hussam Hammo, COO Eyad Al Basheer and Wamda Capital.
Tamatem is currently dominating the MENA market by localizing mobile games, with international partners, to become culturally relevant for the Arabic speaking market. Partnering with studios and developers from around the world to localize games for the Arabic market, Tamatem has published over 40 games that have unlocked more than 45 million downloads in the MENA region.
“At Wamda Capital we have been closely monitoring the evolution of the regional gaming market and believe there to be a very significant opportunity in further developing the space driven by strong consumer demand for access to global titles adapted for local preferences,” Wamda Capital’s Managing Partner, Khaled Talhouni said.
According to Strategy&, the MENA’s (Middle East and North Africa) mobile gaming market is expected to become a $ 2.3 billion industry in 2022, triple of what it currently is. The market is severely underserved with less than 1% of games on app stores in Arabic, which creates a huge gap for users to consume culturally relevant and localized mobile games.
“As such, we are thrilled to be partnering with Hussam and the Tamatem team in our first investment in the gaming space,” Talhouni added. “The company has a track record that is second to none in publishing and localizing titles in regional markets.”
“We at Tamatem have been working and partnering with some of best developers and studios in the world, to bring the highest quality games possible to the region,” founder and CEO of Tamatem, Hussam Hammo said. “This investment will help us localize better mobile games and will also allow us dig deeper into the Arab gaming market.”
About Tamatem:
Tamatem is the leading mobile games publisher in the MENA market. We partner with international studios and developers, take their games, localize them and make them culturally relevant for the Arabic gamer. In 2017, Tamatem became part of the Endeavor network and won Ernest & Young’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year.
About Wamda Capital:
At Wamda Capital, we invest in transformational businesses and create meaningful partnerships with entrepreneurs. Our experience in launching and growing MENA businesses, together with a community of experts and mentors at the Wamda Platform, mean our entrepreneur partners are uniquely placed to realize their vision.
