MEVP invests in online travel site

Regional venture capital firm has followed MBC by investing in Asian company Wego for an equity stake

MEVP, a regional venture capital firm, announced yesterday that the fund had invested in Wego, an online travel marketplace, in exchange for an equity ownership.

The fund declined to provide any details of their investment in Wego, which operates across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), including the size of the investment or their equity stake.

MEVP is investing in Wego as part of the company’s latest equity round alongside MBC Group (Middle East Broadcasting Centre), which announced an investment and strategic partnership with Wego in July.

Wego opened its regional headquarters in 2013, capitalising on a new generation of travellers wanting to shop for and book flights and hotels online. Wego currently has over 10 million monthly visits, and collaborates with over 700 local and global airlines, hotels and online travel agents.

Connections

“With Wego’s rapid Mena expansion we decided to seek out smart investors from the region who have deep experience and connections and in MEVP we’ve definitely found that and more,” said Ross Veitch, Wego CEO andCo-Founder, in a statement. “I welcome the MEVP investment and I look forward to working with the team at MEVP as we develop Wego’s business across the Mena region.”

Wego was founded in Singapore in 2005 but is now dualheadquartered in Dubai and Singapore after recording rapid growth across the Mena region.

Walid Hanna, MEVP founder and CEO, said in a statement: “Online travel in Mena is a large vertical and continues to grow rapidly aided by a shift in consumer behaviour from offline to online. Wego is capitalising on such favourable market dynamics and is already a leading travel brand that is highly recognised by travellers in the region, especially Saudi Arabia. We are also pleased to have media giant MBC on-board as a strategic partner with whom we have had three other successful partnerships on other platforms. Wego has an exciting growth plan and with the support of MBC and MEVP, we believe it is well positioned to dominate the travel metasearch play in Mena.”

Wego CEO & Co-Founder