- Among largest venture capital deals inked in the region in 2015
- Substantial investments in network of weather stations to further enhance accuracy of hyper-local weather information
ArabiaWeather Inc., the Middle East's largest weather company, has announced a new round of funding totaling $5.0 million, following the $2.1 million it raised earlier this year. The round, one of the largest venture deals raised in the region in 2015, is led by Silicon Badia and Wamda Capital, and includes the founding investor Jabbar Internet Group and DASH Ventures.
The investment will be used to continue growing ArabiaWeather's consumer and enterprise offerings in the region. ArabiaWeather serves millions of consumers across the Middle East and North Africa with weather forecasts, information, and content, delivered through its web and mobile properties. The company will invest in expanding the reach of its flagship mobile app, which is one of the most popular native Arab mobile applications on both iOS and Android. For its consumer business, ArabiaWeather is also expanding its video coverage and content, and launching new specialized mobile apps targeted at weather aficionados.
Finally, the company is launching a new digital monetization unit that will allow advertisers to create smarter digital ad products which leverage ArabiaWeather's weather and consumer data.
On the enterprise side, ArabiaWeather will further invest in developing integrated industry-specific solutions for businesses in the Middle East. The decision-support solutions enable companies in sectors that are particularly affected by weather conditions - such as aviation, marine, oil and gas, agriculture, insurance and retail - to save costs, enhance safety and drive operational efficiency.
Commenting on the investment, ArabiaWeather CEO Mohammed Al-Shaker said: "We are happy with the continued growth of our consumer-focused properties, and we will continue to serve our millions of users with the most accurate and informative weather forecasts and content by enhancing our mobile offerings and expanding our original video content. We are also extremely excited to continue working with some of the region's leading enterprises and to provide them with cutting-edge weather products and services. We are expanding our regional sales presence and have a range of exciting products in our pipeline which we will introduce to the market very soon."
ArabiaWeather's products run on proprietary algorithms and numerical models which transform raw and isolated weather data points into processed, organized, and packaged weather information. The company plans to invest a portion of the proceeds of the round in its weather infrastructure, including expanding the deployment of its own weather stations across the region and the unique weather forecasting technology. The company also has plans to utilize its 35 million strong user-base to crowd-source more accurate hyper-local weather observations.
Commenting on the investment, Badia Impact Fund Managing Partner Namek Zu'bi said: "We were thrilled with the growth and progress the company had made since our initial investment in 2014 so we decided to lead the company's Series A alongside Wamda capital, Jabbar, and DASH Ventures. We continue to be surprised by the demand for weather products in this market. This round is purely for growth; we want to own weather in the Middle East region."
Khaled Talhouni Managing Partner at Wamda Capital added: "The funding is fully dedicated to further growing the company, which has established an exceptional track record as a premier provider of highly useful weather information in the region. We believe there is a true opportunity to further build ArabiaWeather's portfolio of decision-support weather solutions for the benefit of companies and consumers in the region."
