Amman-based Mawdoo3 has raised $10 million in fresh funds to close its Series B with $23.5 million, the startup announced today. The investment came from UK-based Kingsway Capital, US & Egypt-based Endure Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Choueiri group’s investment arm Equitrust, and Amman-based AdamTech Ventures. The startup had raised $13.5 million as first tranche of this round in July last year.
Founded by Rami Al-Qawasmi and Mohammad Jaber, Mawdoo3 that is often labeled as Wikipedia of the Arab world is currently the largest Arabic website, receiving tens of millions of visitors every month. The website features over 150,000 articles on different topics ranging from lifestyle and food to health and education. The two had started the platform to enrich the Arabic content on the internet.
Dr. Mohammad Jaber, CO-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, said that this strategic investment will be used for launch of Ujeeb which is apparently a Quora-like digital Q&A platfrom that allows users to ask questions, and receive detailed answers from experts, specialists, and individuals who have shared similar experiences around the world, in Arabic. The platform is already live and has over 200,000 answers already. Mawdoo3’s team is aiming to take this number to 10 million within first year of the launch.
“We believe that Ujeeb will fulfill a vital need in the Arab world through a unique, more interactive type of Arabic content that Mawdoo3.com, our flagship website, does not cover. The Ujeeb platform was launched to complement the approach we had started with the establishment of Mawdoo3.com, allowing us to address both general and very specialized topics through a personalized knowledge-sharing experience,” said Jaber in a statement adding that Ujeeb will be supported by artificial intelligence and tools to optimize the users’ experience while browsing the platform on the basis of users’ interests and needs.
Patrick Thiriet, Chief Strategy Officer, Choueiri Group, said: “From the very beginning of our partnership with Mawdoo3.com, we’ve always been extremely impressed by the team’s constant learning journey and their passion to deliver Arabic content to the Arab population. Mawdoo3.com, and now Ujeeb, are a testament that there is a bright future for smart digital content platforms in the MENA region.”
Mawdoo3 last year had also launched Salma, a Siri-like Arabic AI assistant that uses Mawdoo3’s large database to answer different questions and allow users to consume Mawdoo3’s content in a new way. Salma can also be used by companies in different sectors to better interact with their customers through voice services.
